1976 Hostess #41 - John Montefusco

 

Hello! I finally got to a place where I can spend a bit each month on cards. One thing I decided to do was to work on completing sets from my prime card collecting years (1974-1981). I'm a big Giants fan, so a lot of the first cards I get for these sets will be Giants.

John Montefusco didn't spend much time in the minors. He was dominant in A ball in 1973 and really rose through the system in 1974, going from AA to AAA to the majors all in the same year. I may have seen him pitch in Phoenix in 1974, but I was only seven and don't have any specific memories of the games my dad took me to that year.

John had great  years in 1975 and in 1976 before he started to tail off a bit. Injuries hampered him and by 1979 he was struggling to stay in the rotation.

By the way, the card is in better shape than the scan indicates. I'm still learning how to operate this thing.

1976 Topps #203 - NL Strikeout Leaders

• Tom Seaver led the NL in strikeouts five times. He set a record by striking out over 200 batters nine years in a row (1968-1976). Tom fell four strikeouts short of extending that streak in 1977. He struck out 3640 batters in his career (6th all-time).

• John Montefusco had his biggest strikeout season (215) in 1975. He never again struck out over 200 batters in a season.

• Andy Messersmith had three seasons of striking out 200 or more batters (1969, 1974, and 1975). Andy never led the league in strikeouts, but struck out 6 or more batters per nine innings in all but three of his 12 seasons.

1976 Topps #30 - John Montefusco

There have been a lot of blog entries about Mr. Montefusco lately, so there probably isn't a whole lot to say. I loved that nickname (The Count). He pitched for the Phoenix Giants (SF's AAA team) in 1974, right about when my father started taking me to ballgames. I don't have any memories of seeing John pitch, but I had a poster in my room that had line drawings of the players. I think he was on it.

John was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1975. He was the last Giants pitcher to pitch a no-hitter (9/29/76 vs. Atlanta).