1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: N.L. RELIEVER TUG McGRAW

Good day everyone!

With today's post, we have my selection for the National League's "Reliever of the 1970s", Tug McGraw, a selection that may surprise some on here:

Now hear me out!

While the popular pick may be guys like Rollie Fingers, Mike Marshall or even Bruce Sutter, I went with McGraw because of his FULL tenure in the N.L. that decade, while also being the "Fireman" for my two starting pitcher picks for the All-Decade team, Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton!

McGraw is easily overlooked these days, posting some solid All-Star seasons that led to four Post Season appearances with the Mets and Phillies, bookended by two World Championship years with 1969 (Mets) and 1980 (Phillies).

His 1971 and 1972 seasons were stellar, posting a 1.70 earned run average each year, while going a combined 19-10 with 35 saves.

After putting in nine solid if not excellent seasons with the Mets between 1965 and 1974, McGraw would go on to turn it up a notch and play ten years for the Phillies, closing out his career after the 1984 season at the age of 39.
He would make the All-Star team twice, get MVP consideration three seasons, and finish fifth in the Cy Young race in 1980 after helping the Phillies to a World Championship.
In that season he had perhaps the best year of his career, posting a record of 5-4 with a miniscule 1.46 earned run average over 57 games, with 20 saves, before posting another four saves in the Post Season, including the final out of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals.
His final numbers were a career record of 96-92, with a 3.14 ERA over 824 appearances, with 180 saves and 1109 strikeouts in 1514.2 innings pitched.
I can’t believe it’s already been 16 years since he passed away on January 5th of 2004 from a brain tumor which was first diagnosed just about a year earlier.
A true character of the game, he was only 59 years old.
R.I.P. Tug.

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1974 N.L. FIREMEN

Up on the blog to close out another week, an expanded 1974 league leader card for the National League's top relief pitchers of 1973:

 

We begin of course with the Montreal Expos' reliever extraordinaire Mike Marshall who was the dominant "closer" of the era.

Marshall led the pack with his 45 "points", combining saves and wins at that time to determine the top arm to put out late-inning fires for his team.

Marshall was on his way to a dominant few seasons, with his 1974 season for the Los Angeles Dodgers the peak, as he would set the Major League record with 106 appearances, taking home the Cy Young Award and helping the Dodgers make the World Series for the first time since 1966 before losing to the three-peat Oakland A's.

Right behind him with 30 points is the New York Mets reliever Tug McGraw, who had a very nice 1973 campaign with 25 saves and five wins for the National League champs.

For McGraw, his 1973 season was actually a bit of a step DOWN from his previous two seasons where he posted ERA's of 1.70, with 19 wins and 35 saves combined.

Nevertheless, he was far from over as a Big League reliever, going on to the Philadelphia Phillies where he would close out games until 1984 and helping the team take home the championship in 1980.

One point behind McGraw with 29 points in 1973 was another long time Major League reliever, Dave Giusti of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who posted nine wins to go along with his 20 saves.

Giusti had a very nice 15 year career that saw him post 145 saves and a 100-93 record, leading the league in 1971 with 30 saves, helping the Pirates to their World Championship over the Baltimore Orioles.

The year prior, he finished fourth in the Cy Young race after he posted 26 saves while winning nine, even getting enough points in MVP voting to end up with a sixth-place showing.

Next week, we move on to the American League and their top relievers of 1973.

EXPANDED YEARLY LEADER CARDS: 1973 N.L. FIREMEN

Rolling right along in my on-going "expanded league leader" series, we move on to the national League's finest relievers of 1972, aka "Firemen", determined by simply adding a pitcher's wins and saves for a "point" total:

 

The leader in this department for 1972 was Cincinnati Reds reliever Clay Carroll, who had an impressive season with six wins and 37 saves, good for 43 points.

Carroll finished fifth in the Cy Young race that year, finishing with a record of 6-4 with an ERA of 2.25 for the National League champs, appearing in 65 games while making his second straight All-Star team.

Right behind him with 35 points was New York Mets reliever Tug McGraw, who posted a record of 8-6 while saving 27 games, pitching to a brilliant 1.70 ERA over 54 appearances.

He made his first All-Star team that year and it was also the second straight season with a 1.70 ERA.

So over 105 games between 1971 and 1972, the man was incredibly "light's out" with that miniscule ERA.

In third place with 32 points, and giving us a small glimpse of what was about to happen, is iron-man pitcher Mike Marshall, who posted a record of 14-8 for the Montreal Expos with 18 saves.

Marshall was just getting started as the premier reliever in the National League for the next few seasons, the pinnacle of which was his 1974 Cy Young Award winning campaign when he appeared in a STILL MLB record 106 games while going 15-12 with 21 saves and a 2.42 ERA over 208.1 innings, ALL out of the bullpen!

By the way, I'm sure you've already noticed that as per the usual back then, I also recycled an airbrushed image of Marshall since there really are none of him during that period, as he avoided Topps photographers, leaving us with nothing to use on custom cards all these years later.

Nevertheless, a fun card to add to the "collection"! Hope you enjoy it!

TRADED- 1975 TUG McGRAW

Time to go and create a 1975 “traded” card for long-time reliever Tug McGraw, who found himself moving on to the “City of Brotherly Love” with a December trade from the New York Mets:

McGraw was traded over to the division rival Philadelphia Phillies on December 3rd of 1974 along with Doh Hahn and Dave Schneck for Mac Scarce, John Stearns and Del Unser.
After putting in nine solid if not excellent seasons with the Mets between 1965 and 1974, McGraw would go on to turn it up a notch and play ten years for the Phillies, closing out his career after the 1984 season at the age of 39.
He would make the All-Star team twice, get MVP consideration three seasons, and finish fifth in the Cy Young race in 1980 after helping the Phillies to a World Championship.
In that season he had perhaps the best year of his career, posting a record of 5-4 with a miniscule 1.46 earned run average over 57 games, with 20 saves, before posting another four saves in the Post Season, including the final out of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals.
His final numbers were a career record of 96-92, with a 3.14 ERA over 824 appearances, with 180 saves and 1109 strikeouts in 1514.2 innings pitched.
I can’t believe it’s already been 16 years since he passed away on January 5th of 2004 from a brain tumor which was first diagnosed just about a year earlier.
A true character of the game, he was only 59 years old.
R.I.P. Tug.