Born Harold Ralph Rasmussen, he legally changed his name to Eric during the 1976–1977 offseason. The right hander was originally selected by the Boston Red Sox in the fourth round of the January 1971 Major League Baseball draft, but opted instead to attend the University of New Orleans, where he was named first team All-America. The St. Louis Cardinals then selected him in the 32nd round of the 1973 Major League Baseball draft.\n', '

Rasmussen moved through the Cardinals\' organization rapidly, reaching Triple-A with the Tulsa Oilers in just his second full season in 1975. He was called up to the majors that July, and hurled a seven hit shutout (7 strikeouts, 1 walk) of the San Diego Padres in his major league debut. He also collected his first major league hit and drove in the second run of the game with a fifth inning single. He wound up starting 13 games for the Cardinals over the rest of the season, going 5-5 with a 3.78 earned run average.\n', '

After splitting 1976 between the bullpen and starting rotation, Rasmussen had perhaps his best season statistically in 1977. He set career bests in ERA (3.48), strikeouts (120), innings pitched (233) and complete games (11). Despite his good numbers, Rasmussen lost 17 games against 11 wins for the third-place Cards.\n', '

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