1974. This is Ron Bryant, who pitched in the MLB from 1967-1975. He primarily played for San Francisco during his career, in his home state of California.

He had a pretty magical statistical season in 1973, accounting for 24 wins which was the most of anyone in the NL that year. He finished 3rd in the NL Cy Young voting that year, which is the award given to the best pitcher in your league. Unfortunately during spring training of 1974, Ron was involved in a hotel swimming pool accident in which he tumbled off a pool slide. He wound up with 25 stitches along his right side, which limited his ability to fully participate in spring training, and his win record only hit 3 that year.

He sported the nickname “Teddy Bear,” and was known to enjoy life. Ron was fond of playing billiards, which I’m using that term instead of pool to avoid confusion given the aforementioned swimming pool accident. My clarifying sentence likely only muddied the water, but it allowed me to use a word I’ve never used in my life. Guess which one. After his playing days, Ron became a casino card dealer, which I’m sure allowed him to happily discuss his ball playing days with numerous patrons as they handed their money over to the casino.