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.