Player Profile: Jack Billingham

I have three cards of Jack Billingham. This one is from 1978 Topps.

Playing career: Jack Billingham pitched for five teams in his thirteen-year major league career, but spent most of his career in Cincinnati. A key member of the Big Red Machine, he won at least 10 games in every year of the 1970s. His 0.36 World Series ERA is the lowest for any pitcher with at least 25 innings pitched. His best season was 1973, when he was a National League All-Star, going 19-10 with a 3.04 ERA. A fuller account of his career can be found at Playing With My Cards and the 1970 Topps blog.

Where he is now: He was a minor league pitching coach for many years and is now retired.

My memories: Before my time. Only know him from his card.

Interesting facts: He is a distant cousin of Hall-of-Famer Christy Mathewson.

Google Autocomplete results: He is first when you type Jack Bil, ahead of Jack Bilello, Senior Sales Executive at InfoNgen. Another prominent Jack Billingham was a soccer star in England.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Chad Billingsley.