As I mentioned in my article about
pitchers winning the MVP, the Cy Young Award was created in 1956, the year
after the winningest pitcher history died. What has been lost to the memory of
all but the oldest baseball fan is the fact that from its inception until 1966
that award covered the best pitcher in both leagues.
By this point in baseball history the
Most Valuable Player Award had covered both leagues since 1922. The Rookie of
the Year Award which had been created in 1947 had covered both leagues the
first two years and starting in 1949 then went on to give an award in both
leagues. So the obvious question is: why didn't major league baseball make the
same decision for the Cy Young Award?
I suspect there is room for
speculation but if I had to guess it was because the Yankees were in the midst
of the greatest period of domination of baseball in their forty-three year
dynasty. They'd already won seven
American League Pennants and six world championships in the past eight years
and in the next eight they would win another seven pennants and three more
World Championships. During this same
period five New York Yankees (not five different ones) had won five of the last
seven AL MVPs and in the next eight years they would win five more. Two of the
first winners of the AL Rookie of the Year Award had gone to Yankees (Gil
McDougald in 1951 and Bob Grim in 1954) and two more Yankees would win it
before the dynasty was over in 1964 (Tony Kubek in 1957; Tom Tresh in
1962). Most of the baseball fan base was
not thrilled at the Yankee dominance of the game by this point and it would get
worse in the years to come. Perhaps the commissioner and other league
Presidents were concerned what would happen if they were to give an award that
would yet again be dominated by another Yankee. These fears, I should mention,
were far from ill-founded: as we shall see two different Yankee pitchers would
win the Cy Young Award when it was given for both leagues regardless.
Correlation doesn't necessarily equal
causation but I think my theory has legs when you consider two other facts of
the historical record. First when the Cy Young Award was given for both
Leagues, seven of the first eleven winners were National League pitchers and
two of the four American League winners were Yankee pitchers. Second when major
league baseball finally decided to create a Cy Young Award for both leagues it
was after the 1966 season, in which the Yankees had finished dead last for the
first time since 1912 and everyone knew the Yankee dynasty was dead.
This is pure speculation and I don't
have any real evidence to back it up, for the record. But what I do know is
that it was unfair for the first eleven years of the Cy Young Award. So with
that in mind I'd like to give an alternative list of who I would have picked
for the first eleven Cy Young winners in the leagues that didn't have winners.
In some cases those choices are obvious, in others less so. And I will
acknowledge my picks are based purely on the amateur idea of it. Anyway I like the idea of writing the piece
so here goes.
1956
Don Newcombe, Brooklyn Dodgers (NL)
My Pick for the AL Cy Young: Herb
Score, Cleveland Indians
The decision to pick Newcombe as the
Cy Young Award winner – and later on the MVP for the National League – no doubt
had to do with his 27 wins and his leading the both leagues in victories,
winning percentage and the fact Dodgers won the pennant by just one game.
In the American League it would have
been a tougher question because it would have meant choosing which of three
Cleveland Indian pitchers who'd won 20 games apiece – the third time Cleveland
managed that feat during the 1950s – was the best pitcher in the American
League. And considering that Early Wynn,
Bob Lemon and Herb Score basically all had spots among the leaders in the
American League in every major pitching category, it might have taken more work
than the sportswriter were capable of. Retroactively I think it should have
gone to Score.
In his sophomore year as a pitcher
Score had not only won 20 games but led both leagues in strikeouts. He
was second in the American League in ERA to Whitey Ford with an impressive 2.53
ERA and threw five shutouts to lead the American League. He accomplished all
this in just 249 innings.
Sadly as anyone who knows baseball
history this would be as good as got for Score. On May 8th 1957
while pitching against the Yankees Gil McDougald hit a line drive that hit Score
in the face. Many feared he would lose his eye and he was out of baseball for
the next two years. He never returned to his former ability and his promising career
ended before he was 28.
1957
Warren Spahn, Milwaukee Braves (NL)
MY PICK FOR THE AL CY YOUNG: Jim Bunning,
Detroit Tigers
At age 36 Warren Spahn had what was
for him a typical season 21 wins, 4 shutouts, 18 complete games and a 2.69 earned
run average. The difference was now there was an award to match the kind of pitching
he'd been capable of for the last eleven years and as it was by far the best performance
in the National League – and the Braves won the pennant – they gave him the Cy
Young Award.
Trying to figure out the American
League winner is trickier because there were two dominant American League
pitchers that year: Billy Pierce of the White Sox and Jim Bunning of the Tigers,
each of whom twenty games and were among the league leaders in every pitching
category. I think that Bunning deserves it more for some key reasons. For one
his ERA was 2.69, third best in the American League. He also led the American
League in innings pitched, was second in strikeouts with 182 and was third in
winning percentage. Finally Detroit was nearly as good a team as the White Sox
were that year or indeed throughout the 1950s as a whole.
1958 Bob Turley, New York Yankees (AL)
MY PICK FOR THE NL CY YOUNG, Warren
Spahn
Bob Turley was by far the best pitcher
in the American League in 1958, leading the league with 21 victories, throwing
six shutouts and striking out 168. Turley had been one of the best pitchers in
the American League since his debut in 1954 and was one of the leagues biggest
workhorses even among the Yankees who used a five-man rotation decades before
it became the norm. As a result, the fact that after this year his arm
collapsed may not have been a shock.
Perhaps the other reason Turley won
was because the writers were wary of giving the same pitcher back-to-back Cy
Young Awards this early in the awards existence. (They'd get away from that by
the 1960s as we shall see.) Because Warren Spahn was once again by far the best
pitcher in the National League. He led
both leagues with 22 victories (he tied with Bob Friend of the Pirates in that
regard) threw 23 complete games to lead the National League, was second in
strikeouts, fourth in earned run average and led both leagues in innings
pitched with 290 as the Braves won their second consecutive pennant.
The two teams faced off for the second
straight year in the World Series. Spahn won the first and fourth game to give
the Braves a 3-1 edge but the Yankees then won the next three games to come
from behind almost entirely due to Bob Turley. He pitched a shutout in Game 5,
came in during the eleventh to retire the last batter to save Game 6 and
Stengel called him in to relieve Don Larsen in the third and he would pitch 6
1/3 innings of relief to win the final game for the Yankees. He won the World
Series MVP that year as well as the Cy Young award, the first pitcher to do so.
(Quite a few of the others would follow in the decade to come.)
1959 Early Wynn, Chicago White Sox
(AL)
My Pick For the NL Cy Young: Sam
Jones, San Francisco Giants
1959 was the year of the Go-Go Sox as
the Yankees collapsed to third and Chicago won its first American League
pennant in 40 years. With no real power to speak of the Sox relied on speed on
the bases and pitching. Wynn was the ace of the staff by far, going 22-10
throwing 5 shutout and leading the league in innings pitched, impressive for
any pitcher especially won who'd been pitching since 1939.
Trying to figure out the best pitcher
in National League is tougher because three different pitchers won 21 games, Spahn
(again) his fellow Brave Lew Burdette and Sad Sam Jones of the San Francisco
Giants. Considering that Jones led the
league in ERA and was second in the league in strike outs with 209, provisionally
I think he would deserve it more even though yet again Spahn was just as
comparable.
The problem is an issue of control,
which Jones always struggled with. He did league the National League in
shutouts with 4 but he also led the league in walks with 109. Jones had one
more good season left in him and by that point age caught up with him. By the
time the Giants won their first pennant in San Francisco he'd be with the Tigers.
1960 Vern Law, Pittsburgh Pirates (NL)
My Pick for the AL Cy Young: Jim
Perry, Cleveland Indians
There's an argument Vern Law not only
wasn't the best pitcher in baseball or the National League but even on the Pirates:
while he won 20 games that year he was second both there and in winning
percentage among league leaders. By comparison Bob Friend was among the league
leaders in earned run average and strikeouts and Elroy Face had the kind of
year in the bullpen that he thought was better than his previous year when he
had gone 18-1 in relief to set marks in relief victories and winning percentage
that have never been broken. 20 games was all the writers saw.
The American League is tougher because
no one won even that many: the most anyone won that year was Chuck Estrada of
the Orioles and Jim Perry of Cleveland, each of whom won 18 games. Neither had
an impressive era (Perry actually led both leagues in home runs allowed) but I'm
inclined to give Perry the edge. He did manage to lead the league in both games
started and shutouts in what was his sophomore year and there were better days
to come.
1961 Whitey Ford, New York Yankees
(AL)
My Pick for the NL Cy Young: Jim
O'Toole, Cincinnati Reds
I certainly won't dispute that the
1961 season was by far Whitey Ford's best year in baseball and more than
deserving of the Cy Young Award. The National League is a tougher question.
The Dodgers were beginning to find
their groove with their pitching as Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Stan
Williams finished 1,2,3 in leading the league in strikeouts. This was Koufax's first good year but by the
standards he would set the following years it wasn't incredible: 18-13 with a
3.53 ERA. In fact the Dodgers collectively had a very disappointing 4.04 ERA
overall. So that leaves us with one of the two aces for the surprise National
League Pennant winning Cincinnati Reds, Jim O'Toole or Joey Jay.
Jay won 21 games to tie with Warren
Spahn in victories but O'Toole was in second with 19. O'Toole was second in winning percentage in
the National League, Jay was third. Jay
threw four shutouts to tie with Spahn for the lead in that category; O'Toole
was fourth in strikeouts. O'Toole was second in the league in ERA; Jay wasn't
even in the top ten. It's a tough call but I'll give the barest of edges to
O'Toole for this one.
1962 Don Drysdale, LA Dodgers (NL)
My Pick for the AL CY Young: Ralph
Terry, New York Yankees
Drysdale by far had his best year as a
pitcher (though not as good as you might think compared to the National League)
and deservedly won the Cy Young Award. His only rival for the best pitcher in
baseball was Ralph Terry of the Yankees.
In 1962 Terry had one of the best
years any Yankee pitcher has ever had. He went 23-12, the workhorse on a staff
that relied on him, Whitey Ford and Bill Stafford for most of its wins. (He
also saved two games, by the way.) He was third in the American league in
strikes out and threw 299 1/3 innings, leading the American League and second
only to Drysdale himself in both leagues. He threw fourteen complete games and
was fifth in the league in winning percentage. His manager Ralph Houk asked
later: "Where would we be if Terry had a bad year?"
Terry is known for being on the mound
of two of the most famous Game 7's in World Series history. He threw the pitch
to Bill Mazeroski that would lead to the Pirates beating the Yankees in the
1960 World Series. That year he was on the mound with 1-0 lead over the Giants
with two outs and two on the bottom of the ninth against Willie McCovey. McCovey
hit a pitch that looked like it was sure to go for a base hit but Richardson
caught it and the Yankees won, reversing Terry's legacy.
1963 Sandy Koufax, LA Dodgers (NL)
My Pick for the AL Cy Young: Camilio
Pascual, Minnesota Twins
I don't need to say anything about
Koufax this year (or indeed his next two awards) so I'll concentrate on the
American League
It would be easy to say that the award
should have gone to Whitey Ford, who went 24-7 and led the American League in
innings pitched and winning percentage or even Jim Bouton who went 21-7 threw
six shutouts and was fourth in the American League in ERA with 2.53. But I'm inclined to think it should have gone
to Camilio Pascual, who had been one of the most respected pitchers in the
American League for years but because he pitched for the Washington Senators,
the bottom feeders of the American League for decades, never had a win loss
record to match. Once the team moved to Minnesota and the offense started
improving he began to get the record deserving of it and this was particularly
true in 1963. He went 21-9 with an ERA of 2.46, third in the American League,
led the league with 18 complete games and for the third consecutive year led
the AL in strikeouts with 202. The Twins had been moving up in contention
during the decade and that year they finished third with him as their ace.
1964 Dean Chance, California Angels
(AL)
My Pick for the NL Cy Young: Juan
Marichal, San Francisco Giants
Dean Chance may be the only pitcher on
this list who all but the most devoted baseball fans have forgotten. Part of
the expansion LA Angels he had in his first full year become a formidable
pitcher on a team with little offense. This was particularly true in 1964 when
he managed to win 20 games on a team that was next to last in runs scored. He
had to do everything to win that year and he did. He threw 11 shutouts and had
a 1.65 ERA to lead both leagues and threw 15 complete games. Koufax had an
easier time winning games the previous year than Chance did this year.
As for the National League Koufax had
a sore arm and the Dodgers dropped to seventh. By default the best pitcher was
the man who was always in Koufax's shadow Juan Marichal. This was a typical
year for the Dominican Dandy, 21-8, a 2.48 ERA, 21 complete games in winning
percentage.
Of course had Jim Bunning managed to
win one or two of the three games he lost with two days rest during the ten
game losing streak that would cost the Phillies the pennant that year, we'd be
having a different conversation.
1965 Sandy Koufax, LA Dodgers (NL)
My Pick for the AL Cy Young: 'Mudcat'
Grant, Minnesota Twins
On style the best pitcher in the
American League in 1965 was Sudden Sam McDowell, who won 17 games and struck
out 325 batters that year with an ERA of 2.18,the latter two categories easily leading
the American League. On substance, it's a closer question but I think it should
have gone to Mudcat Grant of the Twins
Grant won 21 games that year and threw
six shutouts, both of which led the American League. He led the American League
in winning percentage and threw 14 complete games. And that year he became the
first African-American pitcher to win a World Series game while pitching for
the American League.
It is here I must mention the
possibility that prejudice might have played a small role in Grant not winning
in 1965 just as Sam Jones might not have in 1959. Both of these pitchers were
African-American and Koufax and Wynn were white. This is to take nothing away
from the accomplishments of Koufax or Wynn but it is worth noting that after
Don Newcombe won the Cy Young Award no African-American pitcher would win in
either league until Bob Gibson in 1968. Pretending race wasn't a factor is hard
to ignore entirely.
1966 Sandy Koufax, LA Dodgers (NL)
My Pick for the AL Cy Young: Jim Kaat,
Minnesota Twins
In 1966 there is no question who the
best pitcher in the American League was and that was Jim Kaat of the
Twins. He went 25-13 with an ERA of
2.75, threw 19 complete games and 305 innings both of which led the league. He
was also a master of control, giving up the fewest walks per nine innings than
anyone in the American League. He also led both leagues in starts with 42.
Timing as they say is everything.
By this point I suspect the writers
got smart realizing that not only the Yankee dynasty was over but that they were
starting to show a California bias. The last five Cy Young Awards had gone to a
pitcher from an LA team, either the Dodgers or the Angels. They course
corrected and starting in 1967 both leagues had a Cy Young winner.
I will confess a certain preference
towards the Twins in three of my last four choices but it's worth noting the
Twins of that period were one of the more underrated baseball dynasties of all
time particularly between 1965 and 1970.
Jim Perry would in fact win the Cy Young Award while pitching for the
Twins that last year when he went 24-12. Furthermore Chance would be traded to the
Twins in 1967 and would be one of the best pitchers in the American League that
year, winning 20 games and ending up dueling with Boston ace Jim Lonborg on the
final day of the 1967 pennant race. Lonborg, as Boston fans know, started the
rally that led the Red Sox to victory when he bunted against Chance and ended
up on first that would eventually led Boston to win the game and the pennant.
Most of my alternatives are in the
Hall of Fame as of this writing and of the ones that aren't the only one who I
might consider is Perry. That said, he's a marginal candidate at best and
certainly nowhere near the level of most of the pitchers of the 1960s and
1970s. There are far better candidates from this era that began their careers
such as Luis Tiant and Tommy John who deserve induction before we consider
Perry.
I will return to the history of the
game down the road, those of you who are waiting for my articles on the A's of
the 1970s and the Senators and the Twins which I started long ago but have yet
to finish. Like the game itself I have a long memory and I will get do it,
though perhaps not until next spring training.
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