On this day in 1973, the Rangers were desperately trying to sell seats.
They were coming off a 54-100 record in 1972. Their best player in the opening season in Texas was an aging Frank Howard. The roster included young guys like future AL MVP Jeff Burroughs and All Star Toby Harrah but they were not exciting anybody in North Texas yet.
In other words, the '73 Rangers needed a shot in the arm. Enter David Clyde, a young man from Houston.
The good news is that David Clyde was a great high school baseball prospect. The bad news is that he was rushed to the majors years ago. The Rangers sold many tickets for his debut but not much happened after that!
Clyde never developed into the major league pitcher that everyone predicted. At the same time, he should have spent a couple of years in the minors before pitching in the majors. He wasn’t ready and it probably hurt his career.
He won 7 over a 2-year period. Clyde was eventually traded to Cleveland. By the way, I saw him pitch with Cleveland against Baltimore before he retired.
Overall, a sad story.