Bill was a good middle of the rotation starter. He had a couple of 20 win seasons, but he was still the second banana to Don Sutton and Claude Osteen with the Dodgers and Nolan Ryan and Frank Tanana with the Angels. 1972 was a down year, with only a 6-16 record. In 14 of his 25 starts he got 2 runs or fewer of support and he won 2 of those games. However, moving down I-5 to Anaheim in the offseason did him a lot of good, winning 20 and throwing 315 innings in 1973.
Bill had quite an interesting and up and down career. He threw a no-hitter in 1970, striking out 10 and walking nobody. He could have had a perfect game if he hadn't hit Oscar Gamble in the 1st and made a throwing error on a Don Money grounder. A few weeks before that he had a no-hit bid spoiled by Clete Boyer of the Braves with 2 out in the 8th. He had the 2 20-win seasons and 2 All-Star Games. He also had a season interrupted when he had to have surgery to repair a circulatory problem.
I kind of remembered the save became an official stat in 1969. It was unofficial before that and statisticians have gone back and credited pitchers in prior years. Bill is usually thought of as a starter, but he was credited with the first official save on April 7, 1969. That's one of those things that makes you sit there and say "Hmmmm." I have to wonder, however, if relief pitchers would be used as they are today if the save was not an official statistic. I hate hearing announcers talk about "this is a save situation" or "that hit by Damon just put the Yankees ahead by 4, so it is no longer a save situation for Rivera. He'll sit down in the bullpen and Bruney will loosen." BFD.
Finally, Bill was the first starting pitcher for the Blue Jays. He was eminently forgettable as a Jay, his ERA never dipping below 5.90 that season.
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