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Last guy for tonight. I have to share this, because I find this guys career fascinating:
In every career sim, you look at one or two players and think "what could have been. . ."
In this one, the guy who jumps out at me is named Kane Bucknell.
Kane was drafted in teh second round by the Dodgers in 1958. He was the 48th overall pick.
He pitched for the rookie league team that year and did so/so, going 7-3 with a 4.06 ERA in 12 starts.
He spent the next year in the PCL and flat out dominated. 199 K's in 163 innings. The Dodgers called him up for a cup of coffee late in 1959 and we'd see the beginning of one of the greates 8 year stretches in the history of baseball.
He went 3-0 that fall. He struck out 31 in 30 innings, walking only 5.
The following seven years are the stuff legends are made of. The highest ERA of his MLB career would happen his last year in 1966. The ERA? 2.03.
After the terrific fall in 59, he took the majors by storm. In 1960 he went 22-3 with a 1.42 ERA. In 228 innings he allowed 123 hits, walked 43 and struck out 258 batters.
His WHIP line looks like this for his 8 year career: .82, .73, .86, 1.06, .80, .93, .88, 1.07
For his career, he tossed 1426 innings, allowed 919 hits, 355 BB and struck out 1495 batters.
His one problem was with injuries. He always had a nick here and a nick there. He had very little endurance and it showed. In September of 1966, after another pitcher of the month award, he blew his arm out and his career came to an instant halt.
The most dominant pitcher in the history of the league would be forced into early retirement.
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