Today's Nitty Gritty Card of the Day is card #11 from 1968 Topps. This card showcases the National League's strikeout leaders from 1967.
Across the front this card gives you 3 Hall of Famers. Jim Bunning (who used to be a baseball player!) led the league with 253 Ks. Fergie Jenkins placed second with 236 and Gaylord Perry was close behind with 230. The cards back shows the Top-50 pitchers in the NL in that category.
There were some big name hurlers in '67 and its a little crazy that Hall of Famers Steve Carlton, Juan Marichal, Phil Niekro and Bob Gibson couldn't crack the top 10 that year. I love this game, I love this hobby! 42 years LATER!
I am not going to go into a full history of Perry’s career like I normally do. We all know that he won the Cy Young Award in both leagues, he won 15 games or more in 13 consecutive seasons, he won over 300 games and he is deservedly in the Hall of Fame. I picked this card because it came out before he became that guy. He was just a young guy fighting for a spot in the rotation. He would win over 20 games the next year, 1966, and he and Juan Marichal would be a one-two punch that rivaled Koufax and Drysdale, but in 1965 he was just Jim Perry’s little brother. 
45 years, LATER!
