Or nearly so. Look at Splitt’s numbers and Al Fitzmorris – they were almost nearly as strikeout deficient. The league as a whole struck out 4.6 per nine, as opposed to last year when it was 6.9.

he was Bruce Chen before Bruce Chen was Bruce Chen. The advanced stat guys will probably prove me way wrong, but that’s how I remember Gura. Lefty who didn’t throw hard and didn’t strike people out, but also managed to prevent solid contact more often than not. And Gura did have the benefit of good defense behind him.

I do remember at least 2 seasons (one had to be 1980) when Gura got off to great starts and seemed a lock to win 20 games, but both times he faded at the end and came up just short. I was just a kid and had not yet discovered that “pitcher wins” are fool’s gold, so it pissed me off that he didn’t make it.

Gura had a good curveball and a decent slider. It also helped that he had great speed in the outfield (Wilson/Otis/Cowens), and Frank White at 2B.