What a difference 45 years makes! – 1973 Topps all time pitching leaders
BaltimoreYankee
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Hopefully an interesting read after the picture):
I was going through my childhood collection box and took a look at the backs of these 1973 Topps all time strikeout leaders and shutout leaders cards. It got me thinking how much those all time records have changed (in one case) and stayed the same (in the other).
When the 1973 cards came out, there was only one(!) pitcher with 3,000 Ks, the great Walter Johnson. Now there are 16 pitchers with 3,000 Ks, 4 pitchers with at least 4,000 Ks and Nolan Ryan with almost 6,000! Walter Johnson barely makes the top ten now at #9 all time. This shows how dominant the strikeout has become.
What’s really interesting is the other card, the all time shutout leaders. In this case, all of the nine players listed on the 1973 card are still in the top 13 all time, some 45 years later. The top six from 1973 are still the top six all time to this day! This shows how dominant relief pitching has become, as pitchers just don’t throw many complete games any more so they can’t be posting shutouts.
I’m sure a lot of you out there got your baseball education from the backs of Topps cards, just as I did. There are so many stats I remember to this day just from seeing them on cards. It's great to break out the old stuff and reminisce. (And I'm sure this never crossed my mind looking at that strikeout leaders card in 1973: " Wow - this card is so off center and tilted".
Comments
Very interesting.
With the 5 man rotation, 300 wins is just about out of reach.
Shane
And all the relief/bullpen work.
Very interesting post.
Shows you just how dominant Bob Gibson was for him to still be active and be on both lists.
The correlation between the two seems to say the modern day pitcher is throwing harder, earlier in the game. So he's not lasting past the 6th, but is blowing his arm up in those 6 innings using all his best stuff, and of course, getting more strikeouts. There's no need to "pace" yourself for 9 innings, and save some gas in the modern game.
Whose to say that those 10 pitchers on the '73 card could of had more strikeouts if they had 10 relievers behind them? They had to pace themselves for 9 innings; probably didn't throw fastballs every other pitch, or +95 mph on every pitch.
Also explains why so many pitchers have Tommy John surgery now, or are injured. Some kids are having it pre-scheduled without any symptoms. They're telling young kids to not throw hard until 16/17 years old when their arms are developed. Nolan Ryan really screwed everything up...
Collecting Unopened from '72-'83; mostly BBCE certified boxes/cases/racks.
Prefer to buy in bulk.
Gibson’s 1968 numbers are amazing
22-9 with 1.12 ERA
34 games started...28 complete games
13 shutouts
Always wondered how could he lose 9 games....could have won 27 or 28 that year
Lost 1-0 twice, 3-2 three times, and 3-1 once.
Gibson was not knocked out of a game all year. Only ever lifted for pinch hitters.
I was looking at Mark Fidrych’s stats the other day and he had 24 complete games in 1976. No wonder his arm was shot after one season!!
Speaking of amazing pitching numbers from that era, Denny McLain won 55 games in 2 years (1968-69) to only 15 losses. He had 51(!) complete games over those 2 years.
Pitchers these days are conditioned to go 6 or 7 inning at best which I think is a farce.Back in the pre 80s they never worried about pitch counts/speeds etc.I have to think that the guys beck in the days kept quiet if they were injured etc so they could pitch as much as possible.
No long term guaranteed contracts etc so they had to make as much as they could while playing,a majority of the played held 2nd jobs during the off season in order to maintain.
250 to 350 innings a year was the norm,I would say they completed at least 80 % of their starts if not more.bBack in 1961 Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn pitched against each other for 16 innings.
At the end of May he was 3-5. He then won all twelve starts in June and July, pitching a complete game every time, (eight of which were shutouts), and allowed only six earned runs in 108 innings pitched (a 0.50 ERA). He pitched 47 consecutive scoreless innings during this stretch, at the time the third-longest scoreless streak in major league history. He also struck out 91 batters, and he won two-consecutive NL Player of the Month awards.