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Sunday, April 26, 2015

Least Wins and Save for Kelloggs guys

It's been interesting to look at the careers of players who appeared on Kellogg's cards from 1970 - 1983.  Today I was trying to find the pitchers with the least amount of career wins who managed to get a card in the Kellogg's set.

The 11 players listed below did not manage to get 50 wins during their careers.  Future posts will address how some of their careers ended.  

Wayne Twitchell (1974 card) started 133 games over 10 seasons.  He won 48 and lost 65.  He won 13 games in 1973, which I guess was enough to get him into the 1974 set.



Steve Kline (1973) was 43-45 in eight years.  His best year of course was 1972 when he had 16 wins and four shutouts.



Dick Selma (1971) was 42-54 in ten years.  He was primarily a reliever with only 76 starts in 307 career games.  He added 31 career saves.  He was the lead cheerleader for the Cubs in 1969 his only season with the team.  I only remember his voice since it can be heard on the Cub Power album that was sold that year.



Pete Broberg (1973) was 41-71 in eight years, primarily as a starting pitcher.  He was 5-12 in 1972 so I don't know how he was selected for the 1973 set.  He was probably included because he went from being drafted directly to the majors, being on the fifth player to do so.  That would have made him 22 years old during his rookie season.



Don Stanhouse (1977) finished with a career record of 38-54.  In 10 seasons he only started 66 games.  He recorded 64 saves in his career.  I remember his Greg Brady/Groucho Marx hairstyle more than anything else.  



Wayne Simpson (1971) was 14-3 as a rookie in 1970 on his way to a 36-31 record in six seasons.  He managed to be honored with card #1 in the 1971 Kellogg's set.  



Mark Fidrych (1977) pitched in only 58 games over five seasons due to injury.  31 of those starts were in his rookie year , 1976, when he posted a record of 19-9.  He was named Rookie of the Year and he finished second in the Cy Young voting to Jim Palmer.  His colorful career ended with a record of 29-19.



Bill Parsons (1972) pitched only four seasons.  His career record was 29-36 in 93 games, mostly starts.  His 13-17 record in 1971 earned him runner-up in the Rookie of the Year voting to Carlton Fisk.



John Henry Johnson (1979) was 26-33 in eight seasons.  He was primarily used in relief, starting on 61 or his 214 career games.



Tom Johnson (1978) doesn't seem to be related to John Henry Johnson.  Tom played five seasons for the Twins and had a career record of 23-14.  He only had one career start and 22 saves.  He got 16 of those wins in relief in 1977.  Not bad for a guy who wasn't drafted in 1970.



Less Cain (1971) finished his career with a record of 23-19 in four major league seasons.  He appeared in 68 games, 64 of them as a starter.  An arm injury ended his career at the age of 24.



Only four of the 11 pitchers listed ended their careers with winning records.

Look out for a future post which lists position players who pitched at some point in their careers.

1 comment:

  1. I have two of these cards in pretty good condition. I have saved them since I was a child. Jerry Levias with the helmet on the left, and Selma Pitcher.

    Please let me know if you are interested. foxrydegardens@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete