Dennis Leonard was Jack Morris before being Jack Morris was cool

I was perusing Dennis Leonard's b-r page last night when I couldn't help but notice that his stats mirrored those of future Hall of Famer Jack Morris. What might have been definitely applies to Leonard because you have to wonder how his career might have turned out had he not missed two and a half years after hurting his knee in 1983. Morris is a good comp since besides sharing similar numbers they also pitched in the same era. Here are their 162 game averages.

Name	W	L	ERA	GS	CG	IP	BB	SO	ERA+	WHIP	H/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
Morris	16	12	3.90	33	11	242	88	157	105	1.296	8.4	3.3	5.8	1.78
Leonard	16	12	3.70	33	11	242	69	147	107	1.262	8.8	2.6	5.4	2.13

Despite Dave Stieb having a better OPS+ Morris is often called the 80's best pitcher because he led the decade in wins. Leonard had some league leading extended success too, from 1975-1981 he led the AL with 120 wins and was second to Steve Carlton in all of baseball. Interestingly enough Leonard is the only non-HoFer in the top 5.

1. Steve Carlton - 129
2. Dennis Leonard - 120
3. Jim Palmer - 119
4. Tom Seaver - 113
5. Phil Niekro - 110

Pretty heady company. ERA+-wise he was tied for 20th (min 1000 IP, Larry Gura was 6th) which means he wasn't among the elite but was still above average. If Leonard doesn't get hurt and pitches into his upper 30's like Morris he probably wins 200+ games.

But of course he did get hurt and came back to pitch one of the most inspirational games in team history - a nationally televised 3 hit shutout versus the Toronto Blue Jays. With all said and done his 144 wins are second to Paul Splittorff in franchise history and he is the only Royals pitcher to have three 20 win seasons ('77,'78,'80).

Here is a video filmed by Lee Warren in which Leonard talks about his injury and comeback. Good stuff.