(11-29-2018, 03:35 PM)Embo Wrote:(11-29-2018, 03:25 PM)BobK Wrote: In 1973 this Giant lefty won 24 games. How many games did he win in the rest of his career?I don't know the answer, but I know it's Ron "Bear" Bryant. IIRC, his career was derailed by a swimming pool accident. (Didn't he break his arm sliding down a pool slide in Arizona?) I always thought he was cheated out of the Cy Young that year, but being a young Giants fan, of course I was biased.
I do remember seeing him in Lake Tahoe when I was in med school. He was working up there in casino security. (Harrah's maybe, but that was around 36 years ago.) I was tempted to go up to him and let him know he should have had the Cy Young, but I was too polite to interrupt him.
Ron was a little bit of a hard luck guy. He lost five games his senior year in high school despite not giving up an earned run. He was the N.L.'s only 20 game winner, winning 24 in 1973, but only finished third in the Cy Young voting behind Tom Seaver's 19-10 season and Mike Marshall's oddball 14-11, 92-appearance, 179 inning season. That was partly because Ron was 24-12 with a 3.53 ERA, almost a full run per game more than Seaver and his WHIP was a worse than average 1.35.
He first hurt his back in 1970 and had to go on rehab. He was hurt in 1972 as well, then found an arm-and-shoulder guy who really helped him. The slide incident really torqued up his back in 1973. He got 25 stitches and lost strength, flexibility and was in a great deal of pain. He was dealt to St. Louis, then tried a minor league comeback with the Giants a few years later. Didn't go well.
Audaces fortuna iuvat
