1902 Cy Young Awards

1902 American League - Cy Young, Boston Americans

32-11, 2.15 ERA, 160 K

This one was a close call between Young and Philadelphia's Rube Waddell.  Waddell had a slightly better ERA (2.05 to 2.15), a better win-loss record, more strikeouts (he led the league, and young finished a distant second), and a marginally better WHIP (1.042 to 1.048).  However, there were several factors that gave Young the advantage: he led the league in wins by 8 over the second-place Waddell, and he led the league in innings pitched, with over 100 more than Waddell.  I have said it before, but I believe that if two pitchers have similar stats, but one has slightly better average stats (like ERA), but the other has substantially more innings pitched, the award should go to the one with more innings.  After all, I feel that someone who provides his team with 384.2 innings pitched with a 2.15 ERA is more valuable than someone who pitches 276.1 innings with a 2.05 ERA.  That's of course not to take anything away from Waddell; he certainly had a strong season, but in the end I believe Young's was superior.

1902 National League - Jack Taylor, Chicago Orphans

23-11, 1.29 ERA, 88 K

Compared to most of the other pitchers who have been featured here as the best of each year, Jack Taylor is a relatively unknown pitcher today.  However, his performance during the 1902 season certainly earned him a spot here and a retroactive Cy Young Award.  His win total wasn't impressive - he finished fourth in the league - and he didn't even come close to the top 10 in strikeouts, but his ERA set him far above everyone else in terms of overall performance.  This season was in the midst of a stretch from 1901 to 1906 when he started 107 games, and completed all 107 of them.  Among his 34 starts/complete games in 1902 were 8 shutouts, tying him for the lead league.  In addition, his ERA+ was far above the rest of the league at 209, with 100 being league average.  There were certainly plenty of other great pitchers in the NL in 1902, some of whom exceeded Taylor in strikeouts, hits per 9 innings, etc. but what Taylor did far better than anyone else was the ultimate goal of any pitcher - to avoid giving up runs.  And that was something that he did very well at in 1902.