1933 Cy Young Awards

1933 American League - Lefty Grove, Philadelphia Athletics

24-8, 3.20 ERA, 114 K

It was Lefty Grove's last season in Philadelphia, and although it wasn't quite as dominant as some of his previous seasons were, Lefty Grove was still, for the sixth time in a row and seventh time overall, the best pitcher in the American League.  He led the league in wins, but finished a distant sixth in strikeouts, and fourth in ERA.  Still, the only people ahead of him in ERA were Mel Harder, Tommy Bridges, and Lefty Gomez.  None of them pitched as many innings as Grove, and both Harder and Bridges had mediocre win-loss records.  I only briefly considered Gomez, before realizing that his low ERA was a product of the fact that he didn't have to pitch to his own team, unlike Grove and the others.  In any case, his contemporaries agreed; he finished fifth in MVP voting, ahead of any other pitcher, and using the modern WAR statistic, which he led all pitchers in, it shows that the voters were justified in their choices.


1933 National League - Carl Hubbell, New York Giants

23-12, 1.66 ERA, 156 K

For the past few seasons, Hubbell had been one of the better pitchers in the league, but in 1933 there was no doubt that he was the best.  Along with finishing first in wins and ERA, he finished second in strikeouts, and first with 10(!) shutouts, 308.2 innings pitched, 0.982 WHIP, and an ERA+ of 195.  Overall, he had a season that would've been good in the Dead Ball Era, never mind in one of the greatest periods of offensive dominance in baseball history.  For his efforts, Hubbell received his first of two MVP Awards, and was selected to the first ever All-Star Game, (and first of nine) in which he pitched two shutout innings for the NL.