Why this card is awesome: Because all the Phillies cards in this set make them look like minor leaguers. And that almost looks like a windmill behind Carman on the left.
Cool stat: Carman had sort of a sad, gradual career trajectory. He had a great rookie year in 1985 with the Phils, going 9-4 in 86.1 IP with a 178 ERA+. He was solid again in 1986, at 10-5 in 134.1 IP with a 120 ERA+. By 1987, he was just a bit above league average, at 13-11 in 211 IP with a 101 ERA+. (Didn't help, I'm sure, the that Phillies were bad.) In 1988, he flip-flopped to the other side of average, at 10-14 in 201.1 IP with an 83 ERA+. His WHIP went continuously up every year too. And it was downhill from there. A very slow but linear decline.
Carman was an absolutely horrid hitter. In fact, since 1901, he has the second-fewest career hits for a player with at least 200 ABs. Or, another way to look at it: since 1901, he has the fewest times on base for a player with at least 230 career PAs. But at least he never tripped over third base.
3 comments:
According to b-ref, Carman is only one of 41 players since '56 to earn a save in his debut. He did it on the 2nd to last day of the season, October 1st, 1983, against Pittsburgh.
"Because all the Phillies cards in this set make them look like minor leaguers"
As a lifelong Phillies fan who was just starting to reach that diehard/obsessive status around that time, I can tell you it wasn't just the cards that made the Phils look like minor leaguers in those days!
I know what you mean, jred. I was a first-time baseball fan in 1988 living just outside Philly, and I was dumbfounded as to how their pitching and hitting seemed so poor in comparison to every other team, especially the Mets.
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