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.