Sam McDowell (#295)

After being bumped 5 times (for Al Dark, Red Schoendienst, and 3 opening-day posts), Sam McDowell finally gets his turn. 


“Sudden” Sam McDowell was a hard-throwing strikeout artist who pitched for 15 seasons from 1961 to 1975, the first 11 seasons with the Cleveland Indians.

McDowell was signed by the Indians in 1960, and after one season in class-D ball, he jumped to triple-A in 1961. Sam made his major-league debut in 1961, pitching one game on September 15th.

In 1962, he played 25 games with the Indians, but spent most of June and July back in triple-A. McDowell was in the Indians rotation for most of ‘63 and ’64, except for a stint in AAA from July ’63 to May ’64.

Topps re-used the same photo in the 1969 set:

1965 was the beginning of a 6-year stretch where Sam was a dominant pitcher in the American League. He led the AL in strikeouts every season from ’65 to ’70, except for 1967, when he finished 10 strikeouts behind Jim Lonborg. Sam was also the ERA leader in 1965 (2.18), and won 17 games that season. He also won 18 in 1969 and 20 in 1970, and was a 6-time all-star.

After the 1971 season, McDowell was traded to the Giants for pitcher Gaylord Perry and shortstop Frank Duffy. After starting for the Giants in 1972, he worked out of the bullpen in 1973 until he was sold to the Yankees in early June.

Sam started for the Yankees for the remainder of that season, but was back in the ‘pen in 1974. Released after the season, he hooked on with the Pirates for his final season in 1975. After 14 appearances, he was released in late June, ending his career.

During his final 4 seasons, he never came close to the success he had with the Indians.



If a picture is worth 1000 words, what are 5 pictures worth?

(He missed the top spot in 1967 by 10 strikeouts) 

McDowell also hobnobbed with the ERA leaders from time to time:

American League Pitching Leaders (#233,235,237)

Here are the 1967 cards showing the previous season's American League pitching leaders in ERA, victories, and strikeouts.

Jim Kaat and Earl Wilson each nabbed 2 of the 9 spots, with 5 other players appearing once. In contrast, the AL Batting Leaders had 3 players manning 7 of the 9 spots. Oddly enough, Earl Wilson was traded from Boston to Detroit DURING the 1966 season. Sporting a 5-5 record at the time of the trade, he went 13-5 with the Tigers, vaulting into the leader board.


Last year, the AL ERA leaders included 2 Indians and a White Sox. Now, it's 2 White Sox and 1 Indian (with 6 different pitchers!)  If I recall correctly, Gary Peters and Joel Horlen also appear on the following season's ERA leaders card. Steve Hargan continues the tradition set last year by teammates Sam McDowell and Sonny Siebert.

Jim Kaat won 25 games in 1966, and scored himself a "floating head" on one of the 1967 checklist cards, (ostensibly the 7 top players in baseball). Denny McLain won 20 games, which was just a tune-up for his 31-win season in 1968. Wilson won 18, then added a league-leading 22 wins in 1967.

Sam McDowell takes his customary spot atop the AL strikeout leaders, with Kaat and Wilson rounding out the 200+ strikeout club.

Indians' Multi-player Cards

In 1967, Topps made multi-player cards for some teams, where 2 stars were featured. For some reason, only 11 teams were included in this subset. Given that 9 teams had no card, it seems a bit odd that the Cleveland Indians would get two cards:

Tribe Thumpers (#109) featured the Indians' two sluggers Rocky Colavito and Leon Wagner. However, Colavito was traded to the White Sox 63 games into the 1967 season. For Wagner, his power years were 1961 - 1966, as he finished 1967 with only 15 homers in 135 games.




Tribe Hill Aces (#463) featured two of the Indians' fine 4-man pitching rotation. Sam McDowell led the AL in strikeouts for 1965-1966, and 1968-1970.