1976 Topps #84 - Brent Strom

Brent Strom's major league career was relatively short (1972-1977). He was up and down between AAA and the majors from 1970-1981. Brent had some good years with the Padres in 1975 (8-8, 2.54 in 16 starts) and 1976 (12-16, 3.29 in 33 starts).

Brent helped pitch USC to national championships in 1968 and 1970. Strom started in the Mets organization in 1970 and had a standard progression through the Mets' system. He had good years in the minors but was never able to stick with the Mets. He was traded to the Indians after the 1972 season. Brent spent the 1973 season with the Indians, posting a 2-10, 4.61 record.

Strom was in the minors in 1974, starting in the Cleveland organization and then being traded to the San Diego organization. He made the Padres in 1975 and had his two best seasons. But in 1977 Brent only appeared in eight games for the Padres and had a 12.42 ERA. He started six games for AAA Hawaii that year, and then missed the entire 1978 season. An elbow injury was the culprit. Strom spent 1979 and 1980 pitching for the Houston organization and then pitched for the Dodgers' AAA team (Albuquerque) before calling it quits.

After his pitching career, Brent was a pitching coach for Houston and Kansas City. He is now a minor league pitching instructor for the St. Louis Cardinals.

He now runs Strom Baseball Institute in Tucson, AZ. He wrote an essay about long toss here.