1931 Cy Young Awards

1931 American League - Lefty Grove, Philadelphia Athletics

31-4, 2.06 ERA, 175 K

It was the greatest season in the career of one of the greatest pitchers ever, and among the best pitching seasons of all time.  Along with winning the Triple Crown by a substantial margin in every category (9 more wins, 0.60 runs lower, and 23 more strikeouts than anyone else), he set career highs in both wins and ERA+.  He won more games (31) than he started (30), and his ERA of 2.06 was less than half the league average of 4.38.  Only two other pitchers since then have won 30 or more games: Dizzy Dean in 1934 and Denny McLain in 1968, and even then, McLain's accomplishment came in a season when hitting was at a post-1920 low point.  The league's .637 average OPS would've been low even by Dead Ball Era standards.  Grove, by way of contrast, pitched in a league with an average OPS of .740, which is roughly comparable to modern averages.  He didn't even have the advantage of starting more games than most modern pitchers; he started four fewer games than 2011 Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, who led the league with 24 wins.  So, even if Grove was somehow transported from 1931 to 2011, he would still probably put up similar numbers.  In any case, Grove also led the league with an .886 winning percentage, which is tied for 8th highest of all time, and he led in shutouts (4), WHIP (1.077), and WAR (9.4).  Overall, it was Grove's greatest season, and the fourth year in a row (and fifth in six years) that he was the best pitcher in the American League.


1931 National League - Bill Walker, New York Giants

16-9, 2.26 ERA, 121 K

What makes Lefty Grove's 31-win season even more impressive was the fact that in the National League, nobody even won 20 games.  The best NL pitcher was not nearly as clear cut as in the AL, but overall Walker had the best season, leading the league in ERA by a substantial margin, an ERA+ of 163, and WAR, at 5.3.  He also finished second in WHIP (1.153) and hits per 9 innings (7.972).  He did finish sixth in strikeouts and a distant ninth in wins, but overall I think ERA is a better judge of a pitcher's abilities than either of the other two Triple Crown categories, so I gave Walker the edge here.  This was the high point of Walker's career, which was above average but not spectacular.  He led the NL in ERA twice (1929 being the other year) but only once started more than 28 games in a season, and his career high in wins was just 17.  He made one All-Star appearance in his ten year career, in 1935, and retired after the following season.

1930 Cy Young Awards

1930 American League - Lefty Grove, Philadelphia Athletics

28-5, 2.54 ERA, 209 K

For the third year a row and fourth in five years, Lefty Grove is the best pitcher in the American League.  There was really little doubt about this one; he easily won the Triple Crown, and his ERA was over three quarters of a run better than anyone else, and he had an ERA+ of 185.  He also had the league's best winning percentage, at .848, and along with starting 32 games, he also pitcher 18 in relief, leading the league in both games pitched (50), and even saves (9), although it wasn't an official statistic in 1930.  Still, how many pitcher have ever won the "Quadruple Crown" (when you include saves)? Probably not many. Overall, it was another impressive year for Grove, but the best was yet to come for him.

1930 National League - Dazzy Vance, Brooklyn Robins

17-15, 2.61 ERA, 173 K

His win-loss record isn't terribly impressive, but Dazzy Vance, the 39 year old Hall of Famer and two-time Retroactive Cy Young Award winner was too good in 1930 to let that stand in his way.  His ERA was substantially better than the league average; it was 1.26 runs lower than anyone else, and 2.36 runs lower than the league average, which was an astronomical 4.97; even in the 1900s and early 2000s ERAs were rarely that high.  Vance also finished second in strikeouts, first in shutouts (4), WHIP (1.144), hits per 9 innings (8.385), ERA+ (189 to the runner-up's 125), and WAR (7.3).  Overall, not a bad season for a 39-year-old pitcher in one of the most hitter-dominated years in baseball history.

1929 Cy Young Awards

1929 American League - Lefty Grove, Philadelphia Athletics

20-6, 2.81 ERA, 170 K

For the third time in his five years in the majors, Lefty Grove has been the best pitcher in the league, and for the fifth time in five years he led the league in strikeouts.  He also led the league in ERA for the second time, and finished third in wins, 4 behind league-leading teammate George Earnshaw.  His ERA was probably the most impressive part of this season; he had an ERA+ of 151, and he was 0.25 runs lower than anyone else, despite also pitching the third-most innings.  He was the only pitcher in either league to finish with an ERA under 3.00, in a year when the league average was 4.24.  Although Grove's career ERA of 3.09 doesn't seem particularly impressive, especially compared to pitchers of the dead ball era like Mathewson and Alexander, it is important to note that Grove's career fell right in the middle of one of the greatest hitter-friendly eras in baseball history; probably second only to the 1990s-early 2000s steroid era, making what Grove did even that much more impressive.

1929 National League - Burleigh Grimes, Pittsburgh Pirates

17-7, 3.13 ERA, 62 K

It's been a while since we've heard from Burleigh Grimes; he won my Retroactive Cy Young Award in 1921, and didn't do much until 1928, when he was in contention for it, and this year, when he won it for the second time.  Even then, his stats don't exactly jump out as being particularly impressive; he just happened to have the best season out of a lot of mediocre ones in 1929.  Grimes finished second in ERA (although first in ERA+ at 154), although he was a distant seventh in wins, and eighth in WHIP (1.354), seventh in hits per 9 innings (9.477), and fifth in WAR (4.8).  Still, he was the best of a weak field, and even the MVP voters of his day agreed; he finished fourth overall, and first among pitchers.  Interestingly, Grimes is one of few Hall of Fame pitchers to win my NL Retroactive Cy Young Award in the past 12 seasons.  Only five awards have been won by Hall of Famers in the NL since 1918, but in the AL a future Hall of Famer has won every year.  Grimes has won two such awards, and even then his Hall of Fame credentials are questionable; he was featured in my Worst Pitchers in the Hall of Fame post as the sixth worst.
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1928 Cy Young Awards

1928 American League - Lefty Grove, Philadelphia Athletics

24-8, 2.58 ERA, 183 K

Lefty Grove won for the second time, without a whole lot of competition.  This time, he substantially improved his win-loss record, leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and finishing third in ERA.  He also finished second in WHIP (1.116), hits per 9 innings (7.842), ERA+ (155) and shutouts (4), and first in WAR (6.3).  Benefiting from a much improved lineup (they finished second in runs and batting average instead of second to last in 1926), Grove helped the A's win 98 games, and finished just 2.5 games behind the defending world champion Yankees.  Interestingly though, Grove did not even place in the MVP voting, behind five other AL pitchers, all of whom had ERAs substantially higher than his.

1928 National League - Dazzy Vance, Brooklyn Robins

22-10, 2.09 ERA, 200 K

It's been a long time since ERAs have been below 2.00, but Dazzy Vance came pretty close in 1928.  The 1924 winner was once again the best in the league, leading not just in ERA and ERA+ (192), but also in strikeouts, WHIP (1.063), hits per 9 innings (7.256), shutouts (4), and WAR (9.0).  Interestingly though, he only finished third among pitchers in MVP voting; apparently ERA was not particularly important to voters back then, who seemed to favor pitchers with higher win totals.  Still, Vance's 22 wins were third in the league, with the two leaders tied with 25.  It was also the seventh and last consecutive season that he led the league in strikeouts, the most of any NL pitcher.  Like Ray Kremer, the NL winner in the previous two seasons, Vance didn't play full-time in the majors until he was 31; he played just 11 games in the majors over the course of two seasons prior to that.  In the end, he won 197 games and was elected to the Hall of Fame, but it's interesting to speculate how much better his career could've been if he had played in the majors earlier.

1927 Cy Young Awards

1927 American League - Waite Hoyt, New York Yankees

22-7, 2.63 ERA, 86 K

It only seems natural for a Yankees pitcher to win the award in 1927; the 1927 Yankees tend to be the benchmark for measuring any other team's greatness.  They are best known for their impressive lineup, but their pitchers also claimed the top three spots for ERA leaders.  The leader was rookie Wilcy Moore, who somehow managed a 19-7 record despite only starting 12 games.  His ERA was 0.35 runs lower than runner-up Hoyt, but Hoyt started almost three times as many games, and pitched more innings.  Hoyt also led the league in wins and winning percentage (.759), and finished third in WAR (5.6), WHIP (1.155), and tied for second in shutouts (3).  Of course, it could be said that Hoyt had the advantage of not having to pitch against his own team, which every other team in the league had to do, but it can't really be held against him either.


1927 National League - Ray Kremer, Pittsburgh Pirates

19-8, 2.47 ERA, 63 K

Probably the most surprising thing about the top pitchers in the NL in 1927 wasn't that Ray Kremer won for the second time in a row, but that the runner-up when I was looking at the stats was Grover Cleveland Alexander.  That's right, Grover Cleveland Alexander, who hadn't been anywhere near the top pitchers in the league since he won in 1920, was now, at the age of 40, back among the best in the league.  However, Kremer was better, leading in ERA and ERA+ (167), and finishing fourth in WHIP (1.142) and shutouts (3), and second in hits per 9 innings (8.164) and WAR (6.1).  Kremer also continues an unusual trend among winners of my NL Retroactive Cy Young Award; only three of the past ten seasons have been won by a Hall of Famer, with three non-Hall of Famers (Kremer, Dolf Luque, and Hippo Vaughn) each winning twice.  He pitched for ten seasons, all with Pittsburgh, but none of his other eight seasons were particularly noteworthy.  It may have been different for him had he reached the majors sooner though; he didn't play his first MLB season until he was 31, after 10 seasons in the minors.

1926 Cy Young Awards

1926 American League - Lefty Grove, Philadelphia Athletics

13-13, 2.51 ERA, 194 K

Like in 1925, the best pitcher in the league didn't exactly have the best win-loss record.  In this case, I gave Lefty Grove the award despite him having just 13 wins.  Like I said in the previous post for Dolf Luque's NL win, pitchers don't have a whole lot of control over wins and losses.  In Grove's case, he pitched for a team that finished second to last in runs scored and batting average.  It was only his second year in the majors, but it was already his second time leading the league in strikeouts (with 35 more than anyone else), and his first of many ERA titles.  It wasn't his best season, but he did lead the league in several other categories, including ERA+ (167) and hits per 9 innings (7.919), and he finished second in WHIP (1.271) and WAR (6.1).  The only other pitcher who really competed with Grove was Cleveland's George Uhle, who had more than twice as many wins.  Still, his ERA was a distant second to Grove's, and even their contemporaries agreed  Grove had a better season; Grove finished 8th in the MVP voting, and Uhle wasn't even in the top 26.  One pitcher did finish ahead of Grove in the voting; New York's Herb Pennock.  Pennock, however, had a mediocre 3.62 ERA and had the advantage of getting run support from players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel, and Tony Lazzeri.  In any case, it was the first of many great seasons for Grove.

1926 National League - Ray Kremer, Pittsburgh Pirates

20-6, 2.61 ERA, 74 K

I don't like to just use MVP voting as my basis for making a decision on who was the best pitcher in a given year, but it's sometimes helpful to not just look at the raw numbers but also to see how contemporary sportswriters viewed each pitcher's contributions and abilities.  In this case, both the raw numbers and the MVP voting point to Kremer, who led the league in ERA and tied for the lead in wins, and also finished third in MVP voting, as the highest-ranked pitcher.  Other than ERA+ (150) and winning percentage (.769), Kremer didn't lead in any other categories, but he finished second in WHIP (1.176), WAR (5.5), and fourth in shutouts (3).  If one thing can be held against him, it's that he only finished 10th in innings pitched, but the fact that he was able to lead the league in wins despite pitching fewer innings than 9 other pitchers says something about his abilities.  Along with that is the fact that the ERA runner-up, Charlie Root of the Cubs, finished 0.21 runs behind him, indicating that Kremer was definitely the best pitcher in the NL in 1926.

1925 Cy Young Awards

1925 American League - Stan Coveleski, Washington Senators

20-5, 2.84 ERA, 58 K

For once, there's a Washington Senators pitcher featured here whose name isn't Walter Johnson.  Johnson did pitch for the Senators in 1925, and they did win the AL pennant again, but this time their best pitcher was 1920 winner Stan Coveleski, who was just acquired from the Indians.  Although 35 years old, the future Hall of Famer had one of his best seasons, leading the league in ERA, and finishing second in wins.  He also had an impressive, league-leading win-loss percentage of .800, and finished third in WHIP (1.257), hits per 9 innings (8.589), and first in WAR (6.0) and ERA+ (150).  Along the way, he helped the defending World Series winners to win the AL pennant again, although he was the losing pitcher in two of the games in the World Series, which the Pirates ultimately won four games to three.

1925 National League - Dolf Luque, Cincinnati Reds

16-18, 2.63 ERA, 140 K

This was a tough call; it's hard to name someone as the best pitcher in the league when he had a losing record, but that was the case for Luque, the 1923 winner, in 1925.  Although other pitchers had more wins and better records, Luque was so far above them in every other category that it was hard to hold his record against him.  After all, a pitcher only has so much control over getting the win or loss.  In Luque's case, the Reds scored two runs or less in 13 of his starts, which accounted for over a third of his starts.  Ironically, he pitched best in games that his team scored two or fewer runs - his record was 3-10 in those games, but his ERA was 1.83, which suggests that it was bad circumstances, rather than bad pitching, that accounted for his sub-.500 record.  What Luque did do was lead the league in ERA (by a lot, with an ERA+ of 156), shutouts (4, 2 of which accounted for 2 of his 3 wins when his team scored 2 or fewer runs), WHIP (1.172), hits per 9 innings (8.134), and WAR (6.2).  He also finished second in innings pitched (291) and third in complete games (22).  Overall not bad for a pitcher who finished under .500.

1924 Cy Young Awards

1924 American League - Walter Johnson, Washington Senators

23-7, 2.72 ERA, 158 K

It had been a while for Walter Johnson, who had not won the award, or had even a moderately spectacular season in five years, but he had one of his finest years in 1924 at the age of 36.  At an age when most pitchers had since moved on to different careers, Walter Johnson won the Triple Crown and led the Senators to their first World Series title.  It was his third Triple Crown, and the second time (along with 1913) that he won the MVP Award.  In addition, it's the seventh time that I've chosen him for a Retroactive Cy Young, the same number of real Cy Young Awards that Roger Clemens has won.  He led the league in many other categories too, including WHIP (1.116), hits per 9 innings (7.552), ERA+ (149), and shutouts (6).  After 1924, Johnson played for three more seasons, and in 1936 was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of their first induction class.  His 110 career shutouts are the most ever by a pitcher, his 417 wins are second only to Cy Young, his 3509 career strikeouts were first all-time for many years, and his ERA+ of 147 is fifth all-time.

1924 National League - Dazzy Vance, Brooklyn Robins

28-6, 2.16 ERA, 262 K

Walter Johnson won the Triple Crown in the AL, and fellow Hall of Famer Dazzy Vance easily did so in the NL, winning each category by a huge margin.  He had 6 more wins than anyone else (he could've stopped pitching after August 23rd and still have led the league), an ERA lower than anyone else by over half a run, and nearly twice as many strikeouts.  Vance had 262, followed by Burleigh Grimes's 135, and then Dolf Luque's 86.  He also led in WHIP (1.022), hits per 9 innings (6.947 - nearly a hit lower than anyone else), ERA+ (174) and WAR (9.1 - twice that of any other pitcher).  It was the third of seven consecutive seasons in which he led the NL in strikeouts, and he easily won the league MVP Award.  Although he was certainly a great pitcher, 1924 was definitely his best, and without it, it's very unlikely he would've ever made it to the Hall of Fame.

1923 Cy Young Awards

1923 American League - Herb Pennock, New York Yankees

19-6, 3.13 ERA, 93 K

There isn't much that is outstanding about Pennock's 1923 season, other than the fact that it was marginally more outstanding than anyone else's.  That's nothing against the future Hall of Famer; he just happened to pitch at a time when offense was way up and pitching suffered.  He finished seventh in ERA, sixth in wins, and ninth in strikeouts, along with fifth in WHIP (1.271), second in WAR (5.0), and first in win-loss percentage (.760).  However, no other pitcher consistently ranked higher than Pennock in most of those categories; either they had a low ERA but a poor record, or a lot of wins but a poor ERA, or some other combination like that.  It also didn't hurt Pennock that he helped lead the Yankees to their first-ever World Series title.

1923 National League - Dolf Luque, Cincinnati Reds

27-8, 1.93 ERA, 151 K

It's one of the greatest pitching seasons that any Reds player has had in the modern era.  Unlike in the American League, where the race was wide open, in the NL there was little doubt that Luque was the best.  He very nearly won the Triple Crown, finishing first in wins and ERA (with an ERA nearly a run better than anyone else) and second in strikeouts.  He also had the second lowest WHIP (1.140) second most innings pitched (322), and the most shutouts (6), hits per 9 innings (7.798) and WAR (9.9).  Luque's numbers would've looked pretty good in the previous decade, but in the 1920's, with much more powerful offenses, such numbers were nearly unheard of.  His ERA+ put him at 201, more than double the league average.  And the closest pitcher to his 1.93 ERA was fellow teammate Eppa Rixey, at 2.80.  Interestingly, Luque, whose full first name Adolfo has since fallen out of style, played in the Negro Leagues before the majors.  Although light-skinned, he was born in Cuba and played on several Cuban Negro League teams. 

1922 Cy Young Awards

1922 American League - Red Faber, Chicago White Sox

21-17, 2.81 ERA, 148 K

Who would've imagined a time when the two best pitchers in the league would both be named Urban?  Faber (whose real first name was Urban) and St. Louis's amusingly-named Urban Shocker were the top two, with Faber getting a slight edge over the other Urban (to think he was only the second best pitcher in the league named Urban) because of his lower ERA.  In any case, it was the second year in a row that Faber led the league in ERA, although like I mentioned before, part of that had to do with the fact that he was allowed to throw the spitball.  One might argue that because of that, the other Urban should win the award instead, but he was grandfathered in as well, making it a moot point.  It's possible that it was an Urban thing to be allowed to throw the spitball, but Cleveland had an infielder later in the decade named Urban Hodapp, and by all accounts he was not permitted to throw the spitball, not that he would've tried.  And who knows, maybe if he had tried, they would've given him a pass because of his name.  But anyway, moving on from the topic of unusual first names, Faber finished first in WHIP (1.185), complete games (31), innings (352), and WAR(7.9), and second in strikeouts (one behind league-leading Urban Shocker), and shutouts (4).  He only finished fifth in wins, and had a mediocre 21-17 record, but much of that had to do with the fact that, following the Black Sox scandal, the White Sox quickly collapsed, and in 1922 finished fifth with a 77-77 record, and had the third lowest OPS in the league, as opposed to Urban Shocker's second place Browns, who led the league in OPS.


1922 National League - Wilbur Cooper, Pittsburgh Pirates

23-14, 3.18 ERA, 129 K

It was a pretty mediocre year in the NL for pitching - there was nobody who was particularly dominating, and the pitcher I chose as the best didn't lead the league in any category except WAR (6.0) complete games (27).  However, he was overall ranked higher in more statistics than anyone else; he finished second in wins, fourth in ERA, and second in strikeouts, and he was the only person to finish in the top 4 in all of those categories.  He also had the second most innings pitched (294.2) and the third most shutouts (4), although he finished a distant tenth in WHIP (1.327).  However, although he gave up more walks and hits than other pitchers, he was better at not letting them score than most of the rest; he had the fourth highest ERA+ at 129.  Such an ERA+ certainly doesn't indicate a particularly dominating season, but none of the three pitchers ahead of him came close to pitching as many innings; none of them even topped 200. 

1921 Cy Young Awards

1921 American League - Red Faber, Chicago White Sox

25-15, 2.48 ERA, 124 K

Pitchers' ERA's increased dramatically in 1920 because of the end of the Dead ball era, and they continued to rise in 1921.  The league average ERA was 4.28, up from 2.77 just three years earlier.  By way of comparison, the 2011 AL ERA was 4.08.  Even with today's emphasis on power hitters and the use of the designated hitter, it's still not as bad for pitchers as it was back then.  That make's Red Faber's 2.48 ERA (and 170 ERA+) even that much more significant; not only was it 1.80 runs lower than the league average, it was 0.52 runs lower than anyone else.  No other AL pitcher finished the season with an ERA under 3.00.  He was also third in wins, fourth in strikeouts, and led the league with a 1.149 WHIP, 7.975 hits per 9 innings, and a 9.9 WAR.  Interestingly, one of the reasons for the sudden jump in offense was the banning of the spitball after the 1920 season.  However, 17 pitchers, including Faber, were allowed to continue throwing it if it was considered to be their primary pitch, which helped him have such an advantage over other pitchers in the league.  He was a member of the 1919 White Sox, but he did not participate in the fix to throw it, and played until 1933.  He was elected to the hall of Fame in 1964.

1921 National League - Burleigh Grimes, Brooklyn Robins

22-13, 2.83 ERA, 136 K

There were no pitchers who had particular standout seasons in the National League in 1921, but Burleigh Grimes was the best overall; he won two thirds of the Triple Crown (finishing fifth in ERA) and leading the league in complete games (30) and WAR (6.1).  Like Red Faber in the American League, Grimes owes some of his success to the fact that he was among those allowed to continue throwing the spitball.  Also a Hall of Famer, Grimes was, of the 17 spitball pitchers grandfathered in, the last one to retire, in 1934.  And nobody has thrown the spitball since.  Just ask Gaylord Perry.

1920 Cy Young Awards

1920 American League - Stan Coveleski, Cleveland Indians

24-14, 2.49 ERA, 133 K

This year marked the end of the Dead-ball era in baseball, and for the first time in the history of the American League, the league leader had an ERA over 2.00.  Coveleski finished second in both ERA and wins, first in strikeouts, and first in WHIP (1.108) and hits per 9 innings (8.1).  It was a mediocre season by pre-1920 standards, but in 1920 it was the best; his ERA of 2.49 gave him an ERA+ of 154; a few years earlier the same ERA would've barely been better than the league average.  along the way, Coveleski led the Indians to the World Series, winning the pennant over a White Sox team that imploded after the players suspected of throwing the 1919 World Series were suspended.  Coveleski's Indians had to overcome problems of their own though, with star shortstop Ray Chapman getting killed by a pitch on August 17.  However, Chapman's replacement, Joe Sewell, would go on to have a successful career of his own, and both Sewell and Coveleski would end up in the Hall of Fame.

1920 National League - Grover Cleveland Alexander, Chicago Cubs

27-14, 1.91 ERA, 173 K

The end of the Dead-ball era didn't seem to affect Grover Cleveland Alexander, who was returning to form after spending most of his 1918 season in the army fighting World War I.  Along with winning the Triple Crown for the third time,  he also led the league in innings (363.1), starts (40), complete games (33), ERA+ (168), and WAR (10).  It was the fourth time that he would be the best pitcher in the league, but it was also his last great season.  He would pitch until 1930, winning 373 games to put himself in a tie with Christy Mathewson for third all-time.  However, he was never again able to duplicate his prewar success; despite nine more seasons with an ERA above the league average, he never again led the league in any major categories.

1919 Cy Young Awards

1919 American League - Walter Johnson, Washington Senators

20-14, 1.49 ERA, 147 K

It's the sixth such award for Johnson, who was actually better even than his numbers suggest.  Although he won two thirds of the Triple Crown, he finished fifth with 20 wins and a seemingly mediocre win-loss record of 20-14.  However, he did so on a Senators team that finished seventh out of eight teams in the NL, with a 56-84 record.  That means that Johnson alone accounted for 36% of his team's wins.  All of this makes it easy to imagine how good Johnson would've been if he had spent his entire career on contender teams, instead of pitching for a mostly mediocre to poor Senators team for his entire career.

1919 National League - Hippo Vaughn, Chicago Cubs

21-14, 1.79 ERA, 141 K

Hippo Vaughn and Grover Cleveland Alexander, the only two NL pitchers to win a Retroactive Cy Young Award in the past four seasons, were both contenders in 1919, but Vaughn's substantially more innings pitched and substantially more wins gave him the edge over Alexander's marginally better ERA.  Vaughn led in strikeouts, and he also finished second in ERA and wins, the only pitcher to finish in the top three of all three categories.  It was the second year in a row that he was the best in the league, but Vaughn quickly declined; he had a decent 1920 season but was 3-11 with a 6.01 ERA in 1921 and never pitched in the majors again after that.

1918 Cy Young Awards

1918 American League - Walter Johnson, Washington Senators

23-13, 1.27 ERA, 162 K

This was another contest that wasn't even close.  Johnson easily won the Triple Crown; the only category that was even close was wins, which Johnson led by one.  Considering Washington's mediocre offense, Johnson could've easily won more with a better team.  His ERA was more than half a run lower than anyone else, and he had an ERA+ of 216.  He also led in shutouts (8),  WHIP (0.954), and WAR (8.7), and it was the 5th time in his career that Johnson was the best in the league.

1918 National League - Hippo Vaughn, Chicago Cubs

22-10, 1.74 ERA, 148 K

It literally took a World War to keep Grover Cleveland Alexander from winning the Retroactive Cy Young Award for the fourth year in a row; he was drafted and spent most of the season in the army.  In any case, that fact doesn't take anything away from Hippo Vaughn, who won the Triple Crown and led the Cubs to the NL pennant.  However, Vaughn is probably best known for two other incidents, with one being getting stabbed by his father-in-law, and the other being his participation in the closest thing MLB has ever had to a double no-hitter, which occurred in the previous year when neither he nor Cincinnati's Fred Toney allowed a hit in the first 9 innings, the only time that has happened in MLB history.  However, he lost the no-hitter (and the game) in the 10th inning, but made up for it by winning the Triple Crown in 1918.  He led in many other major categories, including starts (33), innings (290.1), WHIP (1.006), and hits per 9 innings (6.7).  The counting stats such as wins, starts, and innings are all fairly low because the season was shortened due to World War I; his Cubs played just 129 games.

1917 Cy Young Awards

1917 American League - Eddie Cicotte, Chicago White Sox

28-12, 1.53 ERA, 150 K

Cicotte very nearly won the Triple Crown in 1917 (he finished first in wins and ERA but second in strikeouts), led the White Sox to their last World Series win until 2005, and is generally credited with inventing the knuckleball, but he will always be best known as one of the eight conspirators banned from baseball for throwing the 1919 World Series.  However, that is still two years in the future, and in 1917 he was definitely the best pitcher in the American League.  Along with wins and ERA, he also led the league in ERA+ (174), WHIP (0.912), WAR (10), and innings pitched (346.2).  His ERA was .21 runs lower than anyone else, and he won 4 more games than Babe Ruth, ho had the second most.  At 33 years old, he was at an age when most pitchers started to decline, but, like most knuckleball pitchers, he was just hitting his prime.  We'll never know how his career might have turned out if he hadn't been banned after the 1920 season, but it's not a stretch to say he could've ended up in the Hall of Fame; after Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson, he probably has the best Hall of Fame credentials of any banned players.

1917 National League - Grover Cleveland Alexander, Philadelphia Phillies

30-13, 1.83 ERA, 200 K

It's another easy win for Alexander, who was the best pitcher in the league for the third year in a row and nearly won the Triple Crown for the third year in a row, finishing second in ERA to Fred Anderson, who barely pitched enough innings to qualify for the title.  Once again, he led the league in shutouts, although he "only" had 8 - half as many as the previous year.  He was also the leader in complete games (34) and innings pitched (388).  This year was the third in a row (at least) that he led in wins, strikeouts, shutouts, complete games, and innings pitched, making it one of the best three year runs that any pitcher has ever had.

1916 Cy Young Awards

1916 American League - Babe Ruth, Boston Red Sox

 23-12, 1.75 ERA, 170 K

People tend to forget that before Babe Ruth was a great hitter, he was a great pitcher.  His pitching career was essentially over once he was sold to New York, but in the meantime he helped Boston win the World Series in 1915, 1916, and 1918.  His 1916 season was definitely his best in terms of pitching though; he led the league in ERA, hits per 9 innings (6.396), shutouts (9), and ERA+ (158).  He was also second in WAR (7.4 to Walter Johnson's 7.8), and third in wins and strikeouts.  It could be argued that Johnson was as good as Ruth, but Ruth's lower ERA gives him the advantage.  It has been argued that, had he not been moved to the outfield, Ruth might have ended up in the Hall of Fame as a pitcher.  We'll never know for sure; he could've just as easily blown his arm out in 1920 and been yet another "no-name pitcher" who happened to have one good season.

1916 National League - Grover Cleveland Alexander, Philadelphia Phillies

33-12, 1.55 ERA, 167 K

For the second year in a row, not only was Grover Cleveland Alexander the best pitcher in the NL; he was a Triple Crown winner for the second year in a row.  However, perhaps most impressive of all was his 16 shutouts.  Not only did he tie a MLB record that will likely never be broken; he pitched ten more shutouts than anyone else in the NL in 1916.  By way of comparison, Roy Halladay is the active MLB leader in career shutouts, with 20.  It took Halladay 291 starts to pitch 16 shutouts; in 1916, it took Alexander 45 starts to do so, meaning he did not give up a single run in 35% of his starts.  With that many shutouts, it's amazing that his ERA was even as high as 1.55.  The only other pitcher to throw 16 shutouts in a season was George Bradley, way back when the NL was first founded in 1876.  In the modern era, the next highest single-season total is 13, set by Jack Coombs in 1910 and Bob Gibson in 1968, and the most in the past 20 years is Cliff Lee, with 6 last year.

1915 Cy Young Awards

1915 American League - Walter Johnson, Washington Senators

 27-13, 1.55 ERA, 203 K

This season was simply more of the same for Walter Johnson, who at the age of 27 has already been the best pitcher in the AL four times by now.  Had it not been for Smoky Joe Wood beating him in ERA by 0.06 runs, it would've also been Johnson's second Triple Crown season.  As it was, he led the league in wins, strikeouts, innings pitched (336.2), shutouts (7), WHIP (0.933), and WAR (9.5).  He also had the highest ERA+, even higher than Wood's, at 191.  This was the third consecutive year that Johnson led the league in wins, and the fifth year (and fourth in a row) that he led in strikeouts.  Just another typical year for Walter Johnson.

1915 National League - Grover Cleveland Alexander, Philadelphia Phillies

31-10, 1.22 ERA, 241

Grover Cleveland Alexander might be one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, but he is also the answer to an odd trivia question: "Who is the only baseball player named after one US president and portrayed by another in a movie?" with the presidents in question being Grover Cleveland and Ronald Reagan.  In any case though, by 1915 he had consistently been among the best pitchers in the league, but 1915 was his first great season.  Along with winning every Triple Crown category by a substantial margin, he led in shutouts (12), innings (376.1), ERA+ (225; 14th all-time), WHIP (0.842), winning percentage (.756), complete games (36), and WAR (9.8).  Although he would go on to have more great seasons, 1915 was definitely the best of his career, and one of the greatest of all time.

1915 Federal League - Eddie Plank, St. Louis Terriers

21-11, 2.08 ERA, 153 K

Unlike in the AL and NL, there was no clear-cut best pitcher in the Federal League in 1915, its second and final year of operation.  However, Hall of Famer Eddie Plank was overall the best, finishing second in ERA (first in ERA+ with 153), fifth in wins, fourth in strikeouts, and first in WHIP (0.991).  Dave Davenport was a worthy candidate as well, and I considered choosing him, but he was lower than Plank in most categories, although he led the league with 392.2 innings pitched, over 100 more than Plank.  However, his relatively mediocre 22-18 record, along with an ERA that was higer by 0.12 runs, suggested that Plank was the better pitcher.  For Plank, it would be his third to last season in the majors, and the only time that he would win a Retroactive Cy Young Award.  Interestingly, although he won over 300 games and is in the Hall of Fame, he never led any league in any of the Triple Crown categories.  Still, he was remarkably consistent over 17 years, averaging 19 wins a year, with an ERA of 2.35 and an ERA+ of 122.

1914 Cy Young Awards

1914 American League - Dutch Leonard. Boston Red Sox

19-5, 0.96 ERA, 176 K

Walter Johnson, the winner in the previous two years, had another good season in 1914, but there was no way it could possibly compare to how well Dutch Leonard pitched.  No pitcher in modern baseball history (since 1893) has won the ERA title with an earned run average of less than 1.00.  None, except for Dutch Leonard, of course.  Only Tim Keefe in 1880 had a lower ERA (0.86), and it was in only 105 innings - less than half of the number that Leonard pitched (224.2).  Since the pitchers mound was moved to its current location 60'6" from home plate though, the closest anyone has come to Leonard's record was Mordecai Brown in 1906, when he had an ERA of 1.04.  Leonard's ERA was 0.74 runs lower than anyone else, and his ERA+  of 279 was over 100 points higher than anyone else and the third best of all-time (behind Keefe in 1880 and Pedro Martinez in 2000).  In addition, he led the league in WHIP (0.886), hits per 9 innings (5.568; 6th all-time), strikeouts per 9 innings (7.050), and finished second in shutouts, pitching 7 in 25 starts.  He didn't rank as high in counting stats like wins because he pitched fewer innings than some of the leaders (he pitched 224.2, compared to Walter Johnson's 371.2) but he was so dominating that nobody else even came close to being as valuable to their team as he was.  Apparently the MVP voters in 1914 agreed as well - although he finished a dismal 16th place, it was higher than any other pitcher.  It was definitely the high point of his career, though.  Despite helping Boston win three World Series titles in the four years following his 1914 season, he never again had an ERA that was even under 2.00 (something that was not at all uncommon in the early 20th century) and his ERA+ never went above 123 again.  After Boston, he spent his remaining five seasons as a moderately effective starter in Detroit.


1914 National League - Bill James, Boston Braves

26-7, 1.90 ERA, 156 K

No, not that Bill James.  I had never even heard of this particular Bill James before I started doing research on the 1914 season.  And there isn't much reason why I would have heard of him; unique among all of the pitchers that I've featured so far, his Retroactive Cy Young Award winning season was also his only full season in the majors. However, he was certainly effective, finishing second in wins and ERA (and ERA+ with 150), fifth in strikeouts, and first in winning percentage and WAR.  There were other pitchers who did well in 1914, but overall James was the best.  His successful season didn't come in vain either; he was the ace of the "Miracle Braves."  In early July, the Braves were 26-40 and in last place; they then went 70-19 for the rest of the season and won the pennant by 10.5 games, and beat the A's in the World Series, for the only title that the Braves won while in Boston.  It was his second year in the majors, and his first full season (he pitched 135.2 innings in 24 games in 1913), but the next year he pitched just 68.1 ineffective innings, and other than a one game stint in 1919, was out of the majors after that.  As far as one hit wonders go, it was a pretty good season though.  In addition to winning my Retroactive Cy Young Award, he finished third in MVP voting (the real one), behind two of his teammates, Hall of Famers Johnny Evers and Rabbit Maranville, making James the highest-ranked pitcher in the league.

1914 Federal League - Claude Hendrix, Chicago Chi-Feds

29-10, 1.69 ERA, 189 K

 The Federal League was the most recent "third league" to compete with the AL and NL, playing for two seasons from 1914 to 1915.  In 1914, their best pitcher was Claude Hendrix of Chicago's unusually-named Chi-Feds (which were renamed the Chicago Whales the next season).  The Chi-Feds played at a brand-new ballpark named Weeghman Park, which was later sold to the Cubs after the Federal League folded and renamed Wrigley Field.  Hendrix, who had previously pitched for the Pirates, was the winning pitcher in the first game ever played at the ballpark, and in 1914 he led the league in wins, ERA, games pitched (49), and complete games (34).  He also finished second in WHIP (0.934), WAR (9.2), and third in strikeouts and shutouts (6).  It would be by far the best season of his career though; the following year his ERA was significantly under the league average (ERA+ of 93), and after the Federal League folded he spent his last three years in the majors with the Cubs as a moderately effective if unspectacular starter.

1913 Cy Young Awards

1913 American League - Walter Johnson, Washington Senators

36-7, 1.14 ERA, 243 K

In 1912, Walter Johnson missed the Triple Crown by one win, but he won it in 1913, for the first of three times in his career.  It was the best season of his career, which says something considering how great Johnson's career was.  Along with the Triple Crown, he led in most other major categories, including winning percentage (.837), complete games (29), shutouts (11), innings pitched (346), ERA+ (259; sixth all time, sandwiched between 1968 Bob Gibson and 1995 Greg Maddux), WHIP (0.780; second in post-1893 baseball, behind only 2000 Pedro Martinez), hits per 9 innings (6.035), walks per 9 innings (0.988), and WAR (12.4, compared to second place 7.3).  His 1.14 ERA, aside from being a career high, is also the 6th lowest of all time, and he also set career highs with 36 wins and 11 shutouts. Plus, he did all of this while playing for a Washington team that only barely improved upon its hitting, finishing 5th out of 8 teams with a .252 team batting average.  Even Walter Johnson himself had a higher batting average, and he finished third on the team in home runs (with 2).

1913 National League - Christy Mathewson, New York Giants

25-11, 2.06 ERA, 93 K

At this point, Mathewson has now been the best pitcher in the league for five consecutive seasons, and I see no reason to deny him a sixth; his 1913 season, while not as great as some of his previous ones, was still enough to make him the best in the league.  There were others, particularly Pittsburgh's Babe Adams, who had good seasons, but Mathewson led the league in ERA, ERA+ (152), and WHIP (1.020).  In addition, he finished second in wins and WAR (7.6), and third in shutouts (4), although Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched as many shutouts (9) as Mathewson and the second place pitcher combined.  In any case, if the Cy Young Award had been given out during this time period, Mathewson would now be at eight, including six straight, according to my assessment.  No pitcher has ever won more than seven, and none have won more than four in a row.  However, it was the last great season for Mathewson, who pitched two more full seasons with the Giants.  After pitching part of the year for the Giants, he was traded to Cincinnati, where he pitched one game, against longtime rival and fellow Hall of Famer Mordecai Brown.  Cincinnati won 10-8 in what would be the final game for both of these all-time greats.  Mathewson finished his career with 373 wins, tied with Grover Cleveland Alexander for third all-time.

1912 Cy Young Awards

1912 American League - Walter Johnson, Washington Senators

33-12, 1.39 ERA, 303 K

The man who is arguably the greatest pitcher ever was one win away from winning his first Triple Crown in 1912; instead, Boston's Smoky Joe Wood had 34 wins to his 33.  But, although Wood had a great season, Johnson's was even better.  His incredibly low ERA was over a half a run better than Wood's second place 1.91, and his ERA+ of 243 is 9th all time, which, to put it into a modern-day perspective, is tied with Pedro Martinez's 1999 season.  He also led in WHIP (0.908), fewest hits per 9 innings (6.317), strikeouts, and WAR (11.8).  Just like in 1910, Johnson's Senators finished third to last in batting average though, which leaves open to speculation just how well he could've done with more run support.


1912 National League - Christy Mathewson, New York Giants

23-12, 2.12 ERA, 134 K

Nobody has ever won five consecutive Cy Young Awards (Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson have each won four in a row), but Christy Mathewson would've, had it existed during his playing career.  This was also the seventh time that he would've earned the award in his career; as many times as Roger Clemens won it.  In this case, there was no single pitcher who was clearly dominant in the AL, but Mathewson was overall the best.  He had the second-best ERA (behind someone who pitched far fewer innings), fourth most wins, second lowest WHIP (1.113), second highest ERA+ (161), and second highest WAR (7.2).  Interestingly, Mathewson finished 12th in MVP voting in 1912, second among all pitchers.  Only Rube Marquard finished higher than he did, although the stats seem to suggest that Mathewson was better; he led Marquard in almost every major statistic except wins.  Interestingly, it was a career year for Marquard, who is featured in this blog post of mine as being the worst pitcher in the Hall of Fame.  The same cannot be said for Mathewson.

1911 Cy Young Awards

1911 American League - Vean Gregg, Cleveland Naps

23-7, 1.80 ERA, 125 K

If you've never heard of Vean Gregg before, that's okay, because I never had before either.  But, despite pitching for a team whose nickname could easily be confused with a midday rest period, Gregg was the best pitcher in the league during his rookie season.  Along with a league-leading 1.80 ERA (and 189 ERA+), he had the second highest win-loss percentage, the lowest WHIP (1.054), and finished fourth in wins and third in shutouts (5).  It was an impressive season with an otherwise mediocre Cleveland team, but Gregg only had two more successful seasons before suffering an arm injury in 1914 that essentially ended his major league career.

1911 National League - Christy Mathewson, New York Giants

26-13, 1.99 ERA, 141 K

Mathewson faced some competition from rookie Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1911, but he remained the best pitcher in the league for the fourth consecutive year and the sixth time in his career.  Mathewson is one of the top 5 greatest pitchers of all time, and 1911 was just another feather in his cap.  He was the only NL pitcher with a sub-2.00 ERA, and he also led in fewest walks per 9 innings (1.114), second in wins, third in WHIP (1.111), and third in WAR.  Alexander finished ahead of him in some of these categories, including leading the league in wins and innings pitched, but Mathewson's ERA was so much lower (1.99 to Alexander's 5th place 2.57), and all of their other stats were so similar, that I had to give it to him.

1910 Cy Young Awards

1910 American League - Walter Johnson, Washington Senators

25-17, 1.36 ERA, 313 K

This one was a toss up between Johnson and Philadelphia's Pat Coombs.  Either one would have deserved to have won the award, but In the end I gave it to Johnson.  Both had very similar ERAs, with Coombs finishing second at 1.30, and Johnson third at 1.36.  However, when looking at their ERA+, it is actually reversed, with Johnson at 183.  Coombs also had a better record (31-9), but he was backed up by the league's best lineup, while Johnson's Senators finished third to last in batting average.  Johnson also led the league by a substantial margin in strikeouts (the first of twelve times that he would do so in his career), and finished ahead of Coombs in WHIP (0.914), starts (42), complete games (38) and innings pitched (370).  It was the first of many great seasons for Johnson, and the first time in four years that he actually finished the season with a winning record; the previous year he had been 13-25 despite a respectable 2.22 ERA.

1910 National League - Christy Mathewson, New York Giants

27-9, 1.89 ERA, 184 K

For the second year in a row, Christy Mathewson and Mordecai Brown were the top two pitchers in the NL, but once again I have to give the edge to Mathewson, who became the best pitcher in the league for the third consecutive year and the fifth time in his career.  It wasn't quite as good of a season as his previous ones were, but it was still enough to be the best; he led the league in wins, finished third in ERA, second in WHIP (1.106), second in ERA+ (157), and first in WAR (7.2, a win higher than anyone else).  Brown also had a good season; he finished ahead of Mathewson in ERA, although Mathewson's ERA+ was ahead of his, and Brown pitched fewer innings.

1909 Cy Young Awards

1909 American League - Harry Krause, Philadelphia Athletics

18-8, 1.39 ERA, 139 K

This was another year when there was no pitcher who stood out as being spectacular, but Harry Krause was probably the best.  Despite pitching only 213 innings, his ERA was substantially better than anyone else who pitched more innings.  It was his first full season in the majors, and not only did he lead the league in ERA - he pitched 7 shutouts in just 21 starts, meaning he pitched a shutout every third game he started.  He also had a league-leading 172 ERA+, and barely finished second with a 0.939 WHIP.  Despite the successful season though, he would spend only two more full seasons in the majors, before spending the last 18 years of his professional baseball career in the minors, without ever being called up again.

1909 National League - Christy Mathewson, New York Giants

25-6, 1.14 ERA, 149 K

Both 1906 winner Mordecai Brown and three-time winner Christy Mathewson had impressive 1909 seasons, but although it was close, Mathewson was better.  Along with a league-leading 1.14 ERA (5th lowest all time), Mathewson finished second in wins (behind Brown's 27), first in win-loss percentage (.806), ERA+ (222), and WHIP (0.828).  Both his ERA and win-loss percentage were career bests for him.  Perhaps the only unusual statistic is his 6th place 149 strikeouts, after having led the league in that category five of the previous six seasons.  He did, however, lead the league in strikeout to walk ratio (4.14) for the third time in a row; he would go on to lead that category in 8 consecutive seasons.

1908 Cy Young Awards

1908 American League - Ed Walsh, Chicago White Sox

40-15, 1.42 ERA, 269 K

This one was a tough call, not because there weren't any pitchers who stood out, but because there were too many who did.  Addie Joss, who led the league with a miniscule 1.16 ERA, and Cy Young, who at 41 years of age went 21-11 with a career-low 1.26 ERA, were both worthy candidates, but in the end I had to give it to Ed Walsh, who won 16 more games than anyone else, and in the process became the last 40-game winner ever.  Aside from leading the league in wins, he also led in strikeouts, games pitched (66), starts (49), complete games (42), shutouts (11), innings pitched (464 - a post-1900 record), and even saves (6).  Although Joss and Young both had lower ERAs, Walsh finished third with a respectable 1.42 ERA and 164 ERA+, something that certainly can be overlooked considering everything else that he did in 1908.  It was the second year in a row that Walsh was the best pitcher in the AL, and the Future Hall of Famer would finish with the best career ERA in MLB history (1.82), a record that is unlikely to ever be broken.


1908 National League - Christy Mathewson, New York Giants

37-11, 1.43 ERA, 259 K

For the second time in his career, Mathewson won the NL Triple Crown, and for the third time he was the best pitcher in the league.  In addition to the triple crown categories, Mathewson also led in WHIP (0.827), games played (56), starts (44), complete games (34), shutouts (11), innings pitched (390.2), walks per 9 innings (0.968), saves (5), and WAR (10.1).  He was no doubt the NL's best pitcher in 1908, and was also one of the best pitchers ever.  In recognition of his many accomplishments, he was one of the original five players elected to the Hall of Fame in its first year in 1936. 

1907 Cy Young Awards

1907 American League - Ed Walsh, Chicago White Sox

24-18, 1.60 ERA, 206 K

Often, the ERA leader of the league is a pitcher who pitched a fairly low number of innings,meaning they did well but in a smaller sample size.  However, not only did Walsh lead the league in ERA, but he also led in innings pitched (422.1), games pitched (56), starts (46), complete games (37), and even saves (4), meaning that not only was he very effective, he was effective in more innings than anyone else.  His win-loss record leaves something to be desired, but it needs to be taken into account that he pitched for the team with the second worst offense in the league (.238 team batting average and a dismal OPS+ of 89), so when everything else is taken into consideration, he was clearly the best pitcher in the league.  Honorable mention does go to Cleveland's Addie Joss though, for posting a 27-11 win-loss record and a third place 1.83 ERA.

1907 National League -Carl Lundgren, Chicago Cubs

18-7, 1.17 ERA, 84 K

A year after losing to the "Hitless Wonders" in the World Series, the Cubs returned in 1907, bringing with them by far the best pitching staff in the league.  The top three ERA leaders, along with 5 of the top 6, all pitched for the Cubs, and the team led the NL with an unbelievable 1.73 ERA, which translated to a 144 ERA+.  As a result, there was little doubt that a Cubs pitcher would win the retroactive Cy Young Award; the only question was who.  I ended up choosing Carl Lundgren, who finished second in ERA by 0.02 runs, but had a much better record than the ERA leader (Jack Pfiester, 14-9) and more innings pitched (207 to 195).  Although Lundgren himself didn't have very high win totals, his ERA was so far above anyone else who pitched more innings that it was hard not to give it to him.Lundgren did have a tendency to give up walks (on average 4 every 9 innings) but he also led the league in fewest hits per 9 innings (5.652 - about one hit lower than anyone else).

1906 Cy Young Awards

1906 American League - Doc White, Chicago White Sox

18-6, 1.52 ERA, 95 K

This particular race was wide open - there was no single pitcher that even came close to standing out as exceptional.  In the end though, I went with White.  Pitching for the World Series winning White Sox, White led the league in ERA, ERA+ (169), and WHIP (0.903), although he did so in "only" 219.1 innings, and had "only" 18 wins.  However, there were no other pitchers who both pitched substantially more than White and had an ERA that wasn't substantially higher than White's.  Although I will often give preference to the pitcher with a slightly higher ERA and substantially more innings pitched, there was nobody who fit that description this year.  Interestingly though, despite the fairly low innings pitched figure, White had the second highest WAR in the league (5.6).  Interestingly, the White Sox had the lowest batting average in the league, yet they still won the World Series, which says something about the quality of their pitchers, including White.

1906 National League - Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, Chicago Cubs

26-6, 1.04 ERA, 144 K

The title of the best pitcher in the AL in 1906 might have been wide open, but there was no such problem in the NL, where future Hall of Famer Mordecai Brown put up one of the best pitching seasons ever.  Brown, who acquired his nickname from a farm machinery accident when he was young (and has a given name even more interesting than his nickname - Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown), had been a successful pitcher in his previous three seasons, but 1906 was when his career really took off.  Pitching three times as many shutouts as he had fingers on his pitching hand, Three Finger Brown actually worked his disability to his advantage; his missing fingers allowed him to give extra spin that a pitcher with a full set of fingers would not be able to do.  His 1906 season was the first of four consecutive seasons with an ERA under 1.50, and his ERA of 1.04 in 1906 was by far the best in the league (by nearly half a run), and it remains the second-lowest in post-1893 baseball, and the lowest among any pitcher with over 250 innings pitched, in any time period.  In addition, he led the league in ERA+ with an absurd figure of 253, meaning his ERA was more than 2.5 times the league average, and he also led in WHIP (.934), shutouts, and finished second in wins.  With Brown's help, the Cubs reached the World Series in 1906, losing to the "Hitless Wonders" White Sox.

1905 Cy Young Awards

1905 American League - Rube Waddell, Philadelphia Athletics

27-10, 1.48 ERA, 287 K

Not much doubt about this one; after several years of being one of the best pitchers in the game, the future Hall of Famer easily won the Triple Crown, leading by 3 wins, nearly a third of a run in ERA, and 77 strikeouts.  He also had an ERA+ of 179, and a WAR of 8.8, and it was the fourth year in a row that he led the league in strikeouts.  He would go on to lead the league in strikeouts for the next two years, but would be out of the majors by age 33, largely because of alcohol problems.  He was known to have a bit of an erratic personality; he was known to (no joke) get distracted while pitching by puppies and shiny objects, and he would often run out of the dugout to chase after passing fire trucks.  Also, during a time period when most MLB players would return to work on the family farm in the offseason, Rube Waddell wrestled alligators, something that I'm sure most professional sports contracts forbid nowadays.  In any case though, he was certainly one of the best pitchers of the decade, and definitely the AL's best of 1905.


1905 National League - Christy Mathewson, New York Giants

31-9, 1.28 ERA, 206 K

This season was a relatively uncommon double Triple Crown season, with a pitcher in each league winning it.  In the NL, it was 1903 retroactive Cy Young Award winner Christy Mathewson.  As I mentioned in the 1904 post, ERAs were lower across the board in the early 20th century, but Mathewson's was incredibly low even by those standards.  His ERA+ of 230 remains the 11th-highest of all time, and the closest comparable modern-day season in terms of ERA+ would be Dwight Gooden's 1985 season, when he had an ERA of 1.53 and an ERA+ of 229.  In the end though, Mathewson's 1905 season was only one of his greatest; that's how good of a pitcher he was.  Along with winning 31 games, having an ERA of 1.28, and striking out 206 batters, he also pitched 8 shutouts, had a WHIP of 0.933, and a WAR of 10.1.  Amazingly, although he led the league in all of those categories, none of them were career highs for Mathewson.

1904 Cy Young Awards

1904 American League - Jack Chesbro, New York Highlanders

41-12, 1.82 ERA, 239 K

There are some people who argue that the only reason Chesbro was elected to the Hall of Fame was because of his 1904 season.  That's how good he was.  Although it was fairly common in the first few decades of Major League Baseball, by the turn of the century winning 40 games was unheard of.  Nobody had won 40 or more games since 1891, back when the pitcher stood 5 feet closer to the plate.  Chesbro's record still stands as the most games won in modern MLB history; only one more pitcher would ever win 40 games, and since then nobody has been close.  In any case, along with his win totals, which were 15 more than anyone else, Chesbro finished first in innings pitched (454.2), starts (51), complete games (48), hist per 9 inning (6.691), and WAR (8.8).  He also finished second in strikeouts, second in WHIP (0.937), and fourth in ERA.  Other pitchers, like Rube Waddell and Cy Young, had pretty impressive seasons in 1904, but overall they couldn't quite compare to what Chesbro did.

1904 National League - Joe McGinnity, New York Giants

35-8, 1.61 ERA, 144 K

The 1900 winner was once again the best pitcher in the league in 1904, leading in both ERA and wins for the pennant-winning New York Giants.  In addition, he led in shutouts (9), innings pitched (408), WHIP (.963), and WAR (10.2; 3.3 wins higher than anyone else).  Having an ERA under two was not at all uncommon like it is today, but his ERA was still substantially above league average, with an adjusted ERA+ of 170.  By way of comparison, Justin Verlander's Cy Young Award winning season last year had the same ERA+, despite having an ERA of 2.40.  Interestingly, McGinnity also led the league with 5 saves, which at the time tied a single-season MLB record, although the statistic was not created and recognized by MLB until over 50 years, long after McGinnity's record was broken.

1903 Cy Young Awards

1903 American League - Cy Young, Boston Americans

28-9, 2.08 ERA, 176 K

This was a close call between Young and Cleveland's Earl Moore.  Moore led the league in ERA by a decent margin, 1.74 to Young's second-place 2.08, and led the league in hits per 9 innings.  However, Young pitched a league-leading 341.2 innings, nearly 100 more than Moore.  He also led the league in wins (28, 8 more than Moore), win-loss percentage (.757), complete games (34), and shutouts (7).  He also placed ahead of Moore in both WHIP (finishing second to Addie Joss with 0.969 walks & hits per inning) and strikeouts, and he helped lead Boston to victory against the Pirates in the first World Series.  This is now the third consecutive year that, in my opinion, Young has been the best pitcher in the league, and the fifth time in his career that I have retroactively gave him the award that is named for him.


1903 National League - Christy Mathewson, New York Giants

30-13, 2.26 ERA, 267 K

This year there was situation in the NL similar to what happened in the AL; one pitcher (in this case Pittsburgh's Sam Leever) had a fairly low ERA (2.06 to Mathewson's second-place 2.26), but also pitched nearly 100 fewer innings.  As I have said before, I believe that a pitcher with a slightly higher ERA but far more innings pitched is more valuable than the one with the slightly lower ERA but far fewer innings pitched.  In this case, future Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson had an impressive season, finishing second in ERA, hits per 9 innings (7.886), innings pitched (366.1), and WAR (8.9).  Although he did not lead in any of those categories, nobody else finished in the top three for each of them.  However, possibly the most impressive thing about Mathewson's season was his strikeout totals.  Normally, I don't like to put too much emphasis on strikeout totals; just because a pitcher is capable of striking out a lot of batters doesn't necessarily make him a great pitcher.  However, not only was Mathewson a great pitcher in 1903, but he also had extraordinary strikeout totals; his 267 strikeouts led the league by nearly 100, and he was by far the leader in strikeouts per 9 innings, averaging a little over 6.5 every 9 innings.  Overall, Sam Leever and other pitchers, such as the Giants' Joe McGinnity, had impressive seasons, but I believe that, even excluding strikeouts completely, Christy Mathewson was the best in the league.