The Long and Winding Road

And so, the last of my seven set blogs shuts down today. I have had a lot of fun doing this since I started in September 2009, but I must admit the last year or two has felt more like work than fun. 

I still plan to check in 2 or 3 times a week to read the handful of blogs I never miss, and to enable any comments that readers may have left on my blogs. (I have comment moderation turned on (for posts older than 30 days) to avoid my blogs becoming a haven for gambling tips, porn links, fortune tellers, medical miracle workers, and other spammers. I've seen too many blogs overrun by that noise.)

 

AL Pitching Leaders (#68, #70, #72)

Here are the AL ERA, Wins, and Strikeout leaders for the 1969 season.

ELEVEN starting pitchers had an ERA under 3.00! What gets ignored on the card front are the relievers, but the back shows that Angels' reliever Ken Tatum had an ERA of 1.36, and two others were lower than Dick Bosman's "league leading" mark.

All six 20-game winners are shown on the middle card, with Denny McLain in his final year of glory.

Sam McDowell leads the league for the last time (and 4th time in the past 5 years!) Mickey Lolich is right behind him, but Andy Messersmith finished a distant third, 60 strikeouts behind Lolich.

The Orioles are well-represented with Mike Cuellar (twice), Jim Palmer (in his comeback season), and Dave McNally. We also have two Twins (Dave Boswell and Jim Perry, but surprisingly not Jim Kaat) and two Tigers (McLain and Lolich). 

AL Batting Leaders (#62, #64, #66)

Here are the AL Batting Average, RBI, and Home Run leaders for the 1969 season.

On their way to the inaugural AL West title, the Twins also snared the Triple Crown, though it took two players to do it. For good measure, teammate Tony Oliva finished 3rd in the batting race.

Boog Powell and Frank Howard made frequent appearances on these cards in the late-60s/early-70s. 

In his 2nd full season, Reggie Jackson finished 3rd in RBI and home runs.

The other Reggie (Smith) was not one of the usual players you would think of for the batting title.