1981 Topps #489 John Littlefield
John Andrew Littlefield was born on January 5, 1954 in Covina, California. He only played two seasons in the Major Leagues, his rookie season in St. Louis and the other in San Diego. The Cardinals traded John after his rookie year along with six other players to the Padres for Rollie Fingers, Gene Tenace, Bob Geren, and Bob Shirley.
John led the Cardinals in saves with nine during the 1980 season. It's unclear why he was released by the Padres after the 1981 season after posting a 3.66 ERA. John's career ERA is 3.39 which leads us to wonder why his career was cut short.
The only thing I could think of is that he had a hard time missing bats. His k/9 was only 3 and for a reliever that is pretty terrible.
ReplyDeleteGreat comment! I hadn't fully thought about that. I looked at his Minor League stats on baseball reference and he played the 82 season in AA for the Toronto affiliate in Syracuse. He posted a 7.46 ERA. It makes me wonder if injury was involved, possibly dead arm before Tommy John surgery came about.
Delete