bunning wasn't on empty

why did the dodgers release jim bunning at the end of the 1969 season?  bunning was 3-1 as a dodger, but the team went 3-6 in the 9 starts he made for them at the end of the 1969 season.  that doesn't look too good, i suppose, but bunning didn't pitch that poorly.  he had a couple of bad starts, but overall had a 3.36 era during his time in los angeles.

he had been acquired in august 1969, shortly after don drysdale made his last appearance, and one would have thought that the dodgers still needed another veteran arm in the rotation to complement claude osteen and don sutton heading into 1970.  instead, bunning was released by the team in october of 1969 and he re-signed with the phillies quickly thereafter.

bunning went 10-15 in 1970, so even with him in the rotation, it would have been unlikely that the dodgers would have challenged the reds that year.  it would have been nice, however, to have forced topps into issuing a card for bunning as a dodger.

at any rate, bunning went on to other things after baseball, and has been known to be a good ttm signer.  he filled my requests by signing his 2001 fleer greats of the game card

and his 1970 topps card

he also signed a copy of his 1970 topps card that should have been

i think that many people don't realize that when bunning retired after the 1971 season, the only pitcher in history to have more strikeouts was walter johnson.  and 33 of his 2855 k's came as a dodger.

thanks for signing my cards senator!