76 Topps Tribute: AL ERA Leaders

The 1975 AL ERA leaders were Cakes, Catfish, and Eck. (I can refer to Jim Palmer as Cakes...can't I?):


WOW! 3 Hall of Famers on 1 leaders card. I believe this is the only one that can make that claim in the set. (Why not ERA Leaders to avoid the awkward LDRS abbreviation?)



Palmer won the Cy Young award. He won the award 3 out of 4 years from '73 to '76. He notched 20+ wins 8 times. He was good!



Hunter won his Cy Young the previous year when he won 25 games. He won 20+ five years in a row. He also has 5 rings, 2 more than Palmer. He was good!

Eckersley was the rookie. He did not win the ROY because the Sox had two pretty good rookies in Fred Lynn and Jim Rice. (Both have 1975 RCs - Stale Gum may be looking for these soon) Eck won 20 once, saved 50+ once, and won duel MVP and Cy Young awards in 1992. He was good!

Reader "Mr. Schwartz" requested some Stats on the Back so here you go:

Cool! Every AL ERA Leader back to 1901. Lefty Grove lead the league 9 times. Newhouser led 2 years in a row. That would not happen again until Guidry in '78 and '79. Then some guys named Roger and Pedro took over for a few years.

If I had to pick one, I would go with Palmer. He was dominate for a lot of years. And maybe he could score the team some free briefs.




Next Up: A 1975 Rookie who is now on the managerial HOTSEAT!