Wednesday, June 18, 2014

NL Pitching Leaders (#234, 236, 238)

Here are the National League pitching leaders for the 1966 season. These cards made a cameo appearance on my first 1966 blog post.

Sandy Koufax won the pitching triple crown in his final season. Because of his dominance in the early-to-mid 1960s, MLB created a Cy Young Award for each league beginning in 1967, instead of one overall award.


Koufax was the only qualifying starting pitcher with an ERA below 2.00. Joining him is the Astros' Mike Cuellar, who would be traded to the Orioles after 1968, and Juan Marichal. In the relievers' category, Joe Hoerner and Phil Regan both came in under 2.00.



It's Sandy Koufax again! Marichal was joined by his teammate Gaylord Perry in the 20-win club in 1966. Bob Gibson's 21 wins tied with Perry for 3rd place.



Jim Bunning checks in at 2nd place with 252 strikeouts, a whopping 65 behind Koufax. Bunning also finished 4th in ERA and 6th in wins that season. The Pirates' Bob Veale was a regular among the top strikeout artists in the late 1960s. Gibson and Marichal were not far behind in 1966.


2 comments:

Mark Hoyle said...

Absolutely love these leader cards

Jim from Downingtown said...

Yes, a lot of great stars! Check near the bottom of my blog index (the big "JD" on the sidebar) to see all the leaders cards that have been posted.