1890 Cy Young Awards

1890 American Association - Scott Stratton, Louisville Colonels


34-14, 2.36 ERA, 207 K

Although I wouldn't refer to his season as a "lock" for the retroactive Cy Young Award, Stratton certainly pitched very well, and I would say better than anyone else in the league in 1890.  Stratton led in ERA, WHIP, WAR, win-loss percentage, and fewest walk per 9 innings (by far).  He also finished second in both wins and shutouts.  Pitching for the team that won the pennant that year, Stratton started 49 of Louisville's 132 games, but it would be the highlight of his career by far.  He eventually retired after the 1895 season with a 9-114 record and an ERA+ of 99, barely below league average.  However, at least for the 1890 season he was better than anyone else in the league.

1890 National League - Billy Rhines, Cincinnati Reds

28-17, 1.95 ERA, 182 K

This was the year and league in which the award's namesake, Cy Young, began playing Major League Baseball.  However, he would not be much of a contender in this particular season, so the award named after him would go to Billy Rhines instead.  Just like the year before in the AA, there was no clear winner in the NL in 1890.   However, it was once again a pitcher from Cincinnati (a team which moved from the AA to NL during the offseason) who was, in my opinion, the best overall pitcher.  Although his win total ranked only 5th in the league, he was the ERA leader by far (better over a quarter of a run) and also led the NL in WHIP.  Although he didn't lead too many categories, he was consistently near the top in almost every category, and it was his substantial lead in ERA that put him over the others in my opinion. 

1890 Players League - Silver King, Chicago Pirates

30-22, 2.69 ERA, 185 K

Billy Rhines did well in the NL by posting an ERA more than a quarter run lower than anybody else in the league, but 1888 AA winner Silver King had an even bigger lead in that category in the newly-created Players League.  King's ERA of 2.69 was over a half of a run better than the next lowest, Henry Staley, who finished with a 3.23 ERA.  King also had a huge lead in ERA+, 162 to 134.  King also led in WAR, and finished second in many other categories, including wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, and WHIP.  The fact that he was near the top of almost every category, plus the fact that he had such a wide margin of victory for the ERA title, leads me to give King the retroactive Cy Young Award without much hesitation.  As I mentioned in my 1888 post, King didn't have many great seasons, and was done in the majors by age 29, but he still managed a couple seasons as the best pitcher in his league, the last of which was 1890.  The Players League didn't fare much better after the 1890 season either; the league disbanded after just one season, leaving King as technically the best pitcher in the history of the league.