My First Cards

Brian Allard looks to be in a good mood here....confident, happy, gum chewing, and perhaps even a little cocky.

Brian's a mystery to me. Originally in the Texas Rangers organization, he was part of an 11 player trade in December 1980 with the Seattle Mariners. His first start for the Mariners was awful, giving up 8 ER's in 6 1/3 against the visiting Brewers.

After that it's puzzling. See, May 9 - June 10, he goes on this tear— 3-1, 2.59 ERA, 1 CG, holding batters to a mere .286 OBP, & allowing just 2 HR's in 41 2/3 IP; then he never pitches in the majors again.

Seriously.

The Mariners never had him on the mound in the 2nd half of the 1981 season. He goes on this month long tear to finish off the first half of the 1981 season, sits around during the strike like everyone else, but doesn't come back and doesn't go to AAA. He just never made another appearance in a major league game.

He pops up in AAA in 1982 and posts a 9.12 ERA that summer. That's in AAA. IN '80 & '81, he had a 3.14 & 1.29 ERA in AAA. Now he suddenly can't pitch in AAA anymore?

Was he injured? I don't know, I can't find any record of a stint on the DL. Did the Mariners just not see he was starting to pitch well consistently? I don't know. Why didn't he pitch well in AAA anymore? I don't know... but if he didn't pitch for nearly a year, that could have affected his pitching mechanics and he might've been out of shape. I just don't know about that either though.