mike strahler never did get his own topps card as a dodger. in 1971, he was featured along with bobby valentine, and then in 1972, he shared space with charlie hough and bob o'brien. by the time 1973 rolled along, strahler had been traded to the angels, and only then did he get a solo card. he also signed all three of those cards through the mail for me a while back.
here they are, in all of their ballpoint glory. 1971 topps:
1972 topps:
1973 topps:
it's too bad that topps didn't have a nice dodger stadium shot of strahler to use like they did for the bobby v and frobby 1973 cards. still, this card is still interesting to me because, not only is strahler wearing dodger gear, but he never pitched for the angels in the big leagues. he was part of the big offseason trade that sent valentine, frank robinson, bill singer and billy grabarkewitz to the angels for andy messersmith and ken mcmullen. however, the angels sent strahler to the tigers early in the 1973 season before he had a chance to pitch for the halos.
strahler had an interesting debut for the dodgers on september 12, 1970. he relieved ray lamb in the bottom of the 7th inning in a game against the giants. the first (and only, as it turns out) batter he faced that day was bobby bonds. bonds singled to drive in a run, but a second runner was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. strahler was then pinch hit for by joe ferguson who was making his major league debut as well (he hit a sac fly). in all, strahler pitched in 31 games as a dodger over 3 seasons. he went 2-3 in that time with an era of 2.76. as a tiger in 1973, he pitched in 22 games, posting a record of 4-5 with an era of 4.37, and while he was picked up by the brewers after the season, he never appeared in another big league game.
here's to you, mike strahler, and thanks for signing my cards!
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