1977 Topps Baseball #75 - Dennis Leonard

• Dennis Leonard was a 20-game winner for the first of three seasons in 1977 and tied for the AL victory lead with Jim Palmer and Dave Goltz. Leonard finished fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting in '77. After starting the season 4-8, Leonard went 16-4 after June 20. Dennis went 6-1 with seven complete games in seven starts in September and October.
• 1977 Stats: 20-12, 3.04 ERA
• 1977 Highlights:
• Oct 2 - Pitched a 6-hit shutout against the California Angels to earn his 20th win of the year.
• Oct 7 - Had a complete game victory over the New York Yankees in game 3 of the ALCS. Leonard allowed two runs (1 earned) in the 6-2 win.
• Oct 9 - Relieved in the 9th inning in game 5 of the ALCS with the Royals leading 3-2. He allowed two runs (one earned) and took the loss as the Yankees went to the World Series. Royals manager Whitey Herzog was second-guessed by a lot of people for bringing Leonard into the game in that situation.
• Other card blogs: 1975, 1976, 1978
• On this day in 1977: 
• Ernie Banks is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• Here are the results of that election. Four of the top seven vote getters were Dodgers (Gil Hodges, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, and Don Drysdale). Although Hodges had the most support in the 1977 election, he is the only one of the four who didn't make the HOF. Hodges was #3 that year with 58.5% of the vote. Except for Hodges, all of the top 12 players in that ballot eventually made the HOF either by being voted in by the writers or via the Veterans Committee.