1885 Cy Young Awards

1885 American Association - Bob Caruthers, St. Louis Browns

40-13, 2.07 ERA, 190 K

This award was a toss-up between Caruthers and Pittsburgh's Ed Morris.  Caruthers led the league in ERA and wins, with Morris finishing third and second, respectively.  Morris did, however, lead the league in strikeouts, innings pitched, lowest walks & hits per inning, and highest WAR.  I ended up choosing Caruthers for the award though, on the basis of his lower ERA (2.07 to 2.35), significantly higher winning percentage, the fact that Caruthers was right behind Morris in most of the other categories, and the fact that Caruthers led the Browns to the league pennant.

1885 National League - John Clarkson, Chicago White Stockings

53-16, 1.85 ERA, 308 K

After three years of Old Hoss Radbourn dominating the NL, another future Hall of Famer, John Clarkson, took over as the league's best pitcher.  Clarkson led the league in just about every "counting" statistic: wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, starts, complete games, shutouts, saves, etc., and did well in the "average" stats as well, finishing third in ERA and second in WHIP.  He also led in WAR (13.8) by a substantial margin.  His 53 wins are the second most of any season, behind only Radbourne's 1884 season, and it was one of only three times when a pitcher won 50 or more games in a season.  Clarkson also pitched a no-hitter on July 27, beating the Providence Grays 4-0.