John Denny had a tough year in 1977. He injured his hamstring on May 2 and missed two weeks. Denny had a hot start -- he was 7-0 at the end of May. But John missed five more weeks in June and July with another hamstring injury and struggled after he came back. John's ERA rose by nearly two runs from his league-leading 2.52 of a year ago.
1977 Stats: 8-8, 4.51 ERA in 26 starts
1977 Highlights:
May 21 - Singled in two runs and earned the victory in the Cardinals' 8-5 win over the San Francisco Giants.
June 11 - Hit Reggie Smith in the back with a pitch after allowing seven runs in 1 1/3 innings. Smith charged the mound and punches were exchanged between John and Reggie. Neither Smith or Denny were ejected, but Denny was pulled from the game by St. Louis manager Vern Rapp after the brawl. The Cardinals lost the game to the LA Dodgers 9-8.
There are a lot of lesser-known pitchers on this card.
The 1976 season was a magical one for Mark Fidrych. It really is too bad he was unable to repeat his success in future seasons. He was fun to watch.
Here is a video of Mark's appearance on Monday Night Baseball in June 1976:
John Denny had a good year in 1976. His 11-9 record prevented him from getting consideration for the NL Cy Young Award, but he would win the award in 1983.
