Why this card is awesome: Because of awesome control. Look at the fantastically low walk totals, and fantastically high K/BB ratios throughout Tanananana's career!
Cool stat: Check out Tanana's neutralized stats at his B-R.com page. In reality, he went 240-236 (.504) in his career with a career-best 19 wins in 1976. If neutralized, he's at 245-216 (.531) in his career with 20 wins in 1976. If those had been his real stats, he'd probably be remembered closer to the great pitcher that he actually was.
3 comments:
wow, the angels had a pititful lineup in the 70's! 78-79 were good years, but imagine the possibiilites if they had something better earlier.
He had one year in the NL and that's basically the only time he hit. He wasn't a bad hitter, given that. He had a double (off Bud Black, scoring on a shallow SF to B. Bonds -- what a surprise) and a bases clearing triple (off the Reds' Jerry Spradlin). He only struck out 11 times in 58 AB that year, which is about 1/2 the frequency that Rob Deer struck out.
Oh, man. This was the very first card in the very first pack of baseball cards I ever got. Looking at all the players, and all those indecipherable but still extremely interesting stats on the back made my five-year-old self want to understand more about what it all meant. In some ways, this card is responsible for starting my love of baseball.
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