The first "leading firemen" card was in the 1973 Topps set.
Bill Campbell makes the first of two appearances on a leading firemen card
In 1976 Bill had a record of 17-5 and led the AL with a .773 winning percentage. He also led the league with 78 appearances.
After the 1976 season Campbell became one of the first big-money free agents and signed with the Boston Red Sox.
Campbell was the AL leading fireman again in 1977, but he had arm problems in 1978 and wasn't the same pitcher after that.
Rawly Eastwick had his best season in 1976. He had an 11-5 record with a 2.09 ERA and an NL-leading 26 saves.
During the 1977 season Eastwick didn't see eye-to-eye with Reds' management and was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals. He didn't have anywhere near as much success in St. Louis (or any of the other teams for which he pitched).
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.
Two legendary strikeout pitchers grace the front of this card
This was Nolan Ryan's fourth strikeout title. He had nine AL strikeout titles and two NL titles. Ryan struck out over 300 batters six times.
Tom Seaver never struck out over 300 batters, but he put up some impressive strikeout numbers during his career.
1976 was the last of nine straight years in which Seaver struck out over 200 batters.
This was Seaver's fifth (and final) NL strikeout title.
Tom Seaver was one of my favorite players when I was growing up. I had posters of Seaver, Pete Rose, and Rod Carew in my room for a few years. The Seaver poster was one of those Sports Illustrated posters like the one pictured below.
There were only three 20-game winners in the American League in 1976.
This was the fewest since 1967, when three pitchers won 20 or more.
Jim Palmer led the AL in wins three straight years (1974-1976). He won 20 or more games eight times in his career.
Randy Jones' 22 wins were remarkable considering that he pitched for a team that went 73-89 and finished 5th in the NL West. The Padres finished 11th in runs scored that season
Unfortunately after two great seasons (1975 and 1976), Jones hurt his arm in 1977 and was never as dominant again.
Look at all the A's players! Oakland almost managed to keep the string of AL West championships going in 1976 thanks in part to the running offense. The 1976 A's are a fun team to play in Strat-O-Matic.
Bill North won his second (and last) stolen base title in 1976. He also was caught stealing 29 times, which was also an AL high.
It was also the second and final stolen base title for Dave Lopes. Lopes had a much better stolen base percentage than North--he was caught stealing only ten times in 1976.
Lopes must have made the most of his opportunities. He had only a .333 on base percentage in 1976.
This was the last season in which Lou Brock would steal 50 or more bases. Brock had twelve seasons in a row (1965-1976) with 50 or more stolen bases. He was the NL leader in stolen bases in eight of those seasons.
Lee May was close to the end of his career when he led the AL in RBI, while George Foster was at the beginning of his peak years.
It is surprising that May would lead the league in RBI. His team finished seventh out of 12 teams in runs scored, 11th in batting average, and 11th in on base percentage. May usually batted behind Reggie Jackson in 1976.
The 1976 season was the first of three straight years in which Foster would lead the NL in RBI.
The races for the 1976 home run titles didn't have the drama that the batting races had.
In the National League, Mike Schmidt edged out Dave Kingman 38-37.
The two players played against each other in the final series of the year.
Kingman hit his last home run of the year on September 19
At the time Kingman held a 37-35 edge over Schmidt. Schmidt homered three times in the final 14 games to pass Kingman and win the title.
Graig Nettles won his only AL home run title in 1976.
The race for the home run crowd wasn't close, as Nettles had five more homers than his nearest competition.
At first it didn't look like Nettles would be in the race. At the end of May he had only four home runs. He hit eight home runs in August and nine in September to take the title.
On September 1, Sal Bando led the AL with 24 home runs. He was followed by Nettles and Reggie Jackson, each with 23.
Nettles admired Bando as a player. If he was unable to win the title, Nettles wanted to see Bando win it.
Schmidt won the NL home run for the third straight time in 1976. Mike would go on to win a total of eight NL home run championships.
The 1976 season featured down-to-the-wire batting races in both leagues. Neither championship was decided until the final day of the season.
In the American League three players had a shot at the title on the last day. All three players were on the same field, as the Kansas City Royals hosted the Minnesota Twins.
On the previous day both George Brett and Hal McRae of the Royals sat out the game. Minnesota's Rod Carew went 2 for 4 to raise his batting average to .329. McRae was batting .33078 and Brett was batting .33073.
All three players had a good day on October 3 (the last day of the season). Carew went 2 for 4 to end up at .331. McRae also went 2 for 4 and finished with a .332 average. Brett was 2 for 3 when he came up for his final at bat in the 9th inning. Brett hit a ball that bounced over left fielder Steve Brye's head. It ended up being an inside-the-park home run. Brett won the title with a .333 average and felt bad about the way it turned out. McRae thought Brye had let the ball drop on purpose and went after Twins' manager Gene Mauch after grounding out in the 9th inning.
It was the first time since 1971 that Carew didn't win the AL batting crown.
The National League batting race came down to two players -- Bill Madlock of the Chicago Cubs and Ken Griffey of the Cincinnati Reds.
At the beginning of the day on October 3, Griffey held a 5-point advantage (.338 to .333) over Madlock
It was decided by Reds manager Sparky Anderson (after meeting with Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, and Tony Perez) that Griffey would sit out the final game of the season to preserve his lead.
Madlock went 4 for 4 in his game to raise his average to .339.
When Anderson learned that Madlock had such a good day, he put Griffey into the game. Griffey struck out twice and his average dropped to .336.
This was the second of Madlock's four NL batting titles. Madlock won the title in 1975, 1976, 1981, and 1983.
Brett won three batting titles in his career. He won in 1976 (.333), 1980 (.390), and in 1990 (.329).
If Carew had won in 1976, he would have had a streak of seven straight seasons (1972-1978) with batting titles.
Minnesota's Lyman Bostock had a shot at the AL title as well, but he tailed off in the last couple of weeks and finished with a .323 average.
