1954 Cy Young Awards

1954 American League - Bob Lemon, Cleveland Indians

23-7, 2.72 ERA, 110 K

Several posts ago, I mentioned how good of a starting rotation the Indians had in the late 40s and early 50s, and 1954 was probably the best of any of those years.  The award for best AL pitcher was a close call between three great pitchers: Bob Lemon, of the Cleveland Indians; Early Wynn, of the Cleveland Indians; and Mike Garcia of, you guessed it, the Cleveland Indians.  It's not too often that the three best pitchers in the league happened to play on the same team, but that was the case in 1954 for the Indians.  Their other two starters were no slouches either; their #4 starter was Art Houtteman, and #5 was Bob Feller, who also had a decent season.  It's no wonder that the Indians went on to win 111 games in 1954, although they ended up being swept by the Giants in the World Series.  In any case, Bob Lemon had a great season, tying Wynn for the league lead in wins, and finishing third in ERA.  It was a close call between Lemon and Wynn, but I gave it to Lemon mostly because of the better win-loss record.  The MVP voters agreed; they finished 5th and 6th, respectively in the voting, higher than any other pitchers.

1954 National League - Johnny Antonelli, New York Giants

21-7, 2.30 ERA, 152 K

It's only appropriate that the two winners in 1954 both came from pennant-winning teams, and in Antonelli's case, his team won the World Series against an Indians team that had won 14 more games in the regular season.  Antonelli won the only game that he started in the World Series, and allowed 1 run in 10.2 innings over the course of two games.  However, he was most valuable for the Giants in the regular season, leading the league in ERA by a healthy margin, along with leading in winning percentage (.750) and shutouts (6), and finishing second in wins and strikeouts (1.171) and fourth in strikeouts.  He finished third in MVP voting, first among pitchers, and made his first of five All Star appearances in a respectable career with the Giants.