EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS- 1975 A.L. FIREMEN

Up on the blog today, we move along in my on-going “expanded league leaders” thread, with the top relievers in the American league for 1974, shown on a 1975 three-spot league leader card as opposed to the original one-and-one Topps issued way back when:

 

 

We begin with Chicago White Sox reliever Terry Forster, who paced the league with his 31 “points”, seven wins to go with his league-leading 24 saves, while appearing in 59 games and pitching 134.1 innings.

It wasn’t exactly a dominating season as evidenced by his 3.62 earned run average and eight losses, but in the days before true “closers” it was good enough to have him come out on top.

Just one point behind with 30, the A.L.’s top reliever of 1973, and arguably of 1974 as well, Detroit Tiger pitcher John Hiller, who posted 13 saves while also posting an incredible 17 wins in relief!

Over his 59 appearances, Hiller went 17-14, with a nice 2.64 ERA over a staggering 150 innings, with the aforementioned 13 saves, closing out 52 of his games.

The previous season he was all-world with his record breaking 38 saves, as well as 10-5 record with a microscopic 1.44 ERA over 65 games, 60 of which he closed out, throwing 125. 1 innings out of the bullpen.

Also coming in at 30 points, tied for second place, Milwaukee Brewers reliever Tom Murphy, journeyman righty who had a very nice 1974 season, saving 20 while posting a record of 10-10 over 70 appearances, finishing up with a 1.90 ERA over 123 innings pitched, all out of the ‘pen.

A converted starter, he’d pitch through the rest of the decade in relief, putting in 12 years in the Majors and finishing up with 62 wins and 59 saves over 439 appearances and 1444 innings.

 

EXPANDED YEARLY LEADER CARDS: 1973 A.L. FIREMEN

Today we come to the last 1973 "expanded league leaders" card in my recent thread of creating dedicated league leader cards celebrating the top 3 in their respective category, and this one is for the American League Firemen of 1972:

 

We start off with the New York Yankees Sparky Lyle, who had himself quite a year with his league leading 35 saves and 44 points.

Lyle posted a record of 9-5 with a very nice 1.92 ERA over 107.2 innings in his first season with the Bronx Bombers.

Of course, he would take home the A.L. Cy Young Award five years later when he'd go 13-5, with 26 saves and a 2.17 ERA for the eventual World Champion Yanks, on his way to a Hall-worthy (in my opinion) career that saw him appear in 899 games, all out of the bullpen, saving 238 games while winning 99.

In second place with 35 points is former Chicago White Sox reliever Terry Forster, another pitcher who put in a nice lengthy MLB career.

It was Forster's first full season in the Big Leagues, and he did not disappoint, going 6-5 over 62 appearances, with a nice 2.25 ERA over 100 innings, saving 29 games. He would eventually finish up with 16 seasons under his belt, saving 127 games while appearing in 614, with a final ERA of 3.23.

In third place with 32 points, none other than future Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, who was still in the beginning of what would be an excellent 17 year Major League career.

In 1972 Fingers helped the Oakland A's to the first of their three straight championships, going 11-9 with 21 saves, posting an ERA of 2.51 over 111.1 innings of work.

Of course, he would go on to put in season after season of excellent relief work, starring for the A's, then the San Diego Padres, followed by the Milwaukee Brewers, for whom he'd take home a Cy Young and MVP Award in 1981 when he helped them make the postseason for the first time in their franchise's history, posting a microscopic 1.04 ERA over 47 games, with a league-leading 28 saves in the strike-shortened campaign.

By the time he was done in 1985, he finished with a (then) MLB record 341 saves over 944 games, with an excellent 2.90 ERA and seven All-Star nods.

Well there you have it! 1973 "expanded league leaders" is a wrap.

Next we move on to 1974 and tackle those stats, giving the top-3 in each league the props they deserved!