Cake or Gum? 1976 Don Gullett

RIP former major league pitcher Jose DeLeon. He shared his favorite baseball card with this blog in 2018.

Voting for the last cake vs. gum was: Gum - 7; Cake - 5; Tie - 1.

Don Gullett, who passed away last month, has almost identical photos on his two cards. The biggest difference, other than the presence of Gullett's glove on the Topps card, is the bluer sky on the Hostess card. This seems to be a difference in the printing - the Hostess photo is a little more vibrant over all. I know very little about photo printing so I don't know why there would be such a difference.

Don Gullett was a very good pitcher; injuries prevented him from what could have been an even greater career. During the 1970s he led each league in winning percentage once. That was partially due to pitching for great teams, but he had a low ERA and was the ace of the staff of the Big Red Machine. In seven seasons with the Reds he went 91-44 with a 3.03 ERA. His last game as a Red was Game 1 of the 1976 World Series, where he dominated the Yankees, allowing one run in 7.1 innings. Clearly impressed, the Yankees signed him as a free agent that winter. At age 26, having already won 91 games, it seemed the Yankees were getting a pitcher in the prime of his career. However, Gullett injured his ankle and neck in a fall in April, and was not the same pitcher after that, with a 3.58 ERA despite his 14-4 record. He was terrible in the postseason 0-3 with a 7.98 ERA, a far cry from his Cincinnati success (4-3, 2.99 in 17 games). He pitched in eight games in 1978 before needing double rotator cuff surgery, ending his major league career at age 27. He returned to the Reds organization as a coach, eventually serving as the team's pitching coach for 22 years (1993-2005).