- Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1972 Topps #94.
- Player Name, position, team: Mickey Lolich, pitcher, Detroit Tigers; Vida Blue, pitcher, Oakland A's; Wilbur Wood, pitcher, Chicago White Sox.
- Special: 1971 AL Pitching Leaders
- Commentary: Nothing too fancy about the card above other than it features three All-Stars from the 1971 season who led the American League in wins. This was before the Sabermetrics, the WAR, and all of those other new-era statistics. This was when your best pitchers were judged by their won-loss record. And in their defense, the three gentlemen featured here wouldn't need those kinds of numbers to tell how good they were in '71. Combined, Lolich, Blue, and Wood started 126 games, completed 75 of them, 19 were shutouts. They were a combined 71-35, had a combined ERA of 2.25, a combined WHIP of 1.036 (with Wood having an even 1.000 WHIP - 334 hits and walks in 334 innings of work), and struck out a combined 819 batters. The back of the card just lists the top 10 players in the AL in wins, even though it doesn't mention that specifically. Rounding out the top 10 in wins are Jim Hunter (21) of the A's, Dave McNally of the Orioles (21), Joe Coleman of the Tigers (20), Andy Messersmith of the Angels (20), and three more Orioles, Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson, and Jim Palmer, each with 20 wins. You have to remember that in 1971, the Orioles featured four starters who would wind up with 20 or more wins, propelling the O's to the AL pennant and their third straight World Series appearance..
- Lo-Hi Beckett value: $1.00-$2.50.
In case you're actually wondering, I don't own this card, but was able to get a crystal clean copy of the image from the from the Baseball Card Cyber Museum. So thank you Joe McAnally and the folks at the BCCM.
Well, it's back to normal on Monday. Tomorrow's card will be: 1984 Topps #332. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Come on back then to see what the Topps Card Randomizer gets us to look at then.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama
Incredible how many 20 winners in 1971. There has been only 9 total in the AL since 2006.
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