Bob Bruce Detroit Tigers
Career: He pitched six seasons in the minors and spent over a year in the service before getting to debut in September 1959. After a nice rookie season, he regressed in 1961 and was traded to Houston where he went on to be a solid starter for four seasons. He peaked with a 15 win/2.86 ERA effort in '64. After an off-year in '66 he was dealt to the Braves where he finished his career splitting one season between Atlanta and AAA. Bruce was 49-71 with a 3.85 ERA while pitching for generally second division teams.
In 1960: This was his rookie season and he made the most of it. His 4-7 record doesn't reflect better stats like his 3.74 ERA and 1.40 WHIP in a season of big-hitting in the AL.
Off The Charts: He was the starting pitcher for the Colt .45s in their last game at Colt Stadium and the starting pitcher for the Astros in their first NL game in the Astrodome.
I like the comic because it pointed out his college. I started looking to see if any SJSU Spartans were featured on the backs of any Topps cards and I found two. The hunt is on. Love that I continue to learn stuff from this blog.
ReplyDeleteI had looked at Alma College on Baseball Reference and then forgot to include the fact that Jim Northrup also played there.
DeleteVery cool. Here's my latest blog post featuring one of the cards I found:
Deletehttp://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2020/04/spartan-spirit.html
It's actually a reprint, but I'll eventually pick up a vintage copy too.