15 Cy Young winners
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 12:38 AM EDT
92 comments
In advance of tomorrow's pitching matchup, I was thinking about Cy Young winners who pitched for the Tribe. We all know that three Indians pitchers have won the award, but other Cy Young winners have hurled for the Tribe, either ante- or post-award (or both, in one case).
As I thought about it, the list kept going on. And on. Until it reached 11. So as far as I can tell, fourteen Cy Young winners have pitched for the Indians. Maybe I'm even missing somebody.
I thought we could do a group exercise and name the other eleven. They are an interesting aggregation. So how about one name per person until we identify them all. Then I may pose a bonus question about a former Tribe farmhand.
Then I'll delete the post so we don't have to look at it for two months.
(For whatever it's worth, I doubt any other team can match this number. I can think of seven Dodgers who have won Cy Youngs, but they would still need seven more to reach fourteen, and all I get off the top of my head is Bob Welch. So maybe the Indians are the cradle/graveyard of Cy Young winners. Or something.)
Edit: As FredOx and emd2k3 posted below, Don Newcombe, the inaugural Cy Young winner, closed out his career with a brief stint in Cleveland in 1960. So there are fifteen.
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He had his Cy Young-caliber seasons with the Spiders.
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 1:03 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
CC Sabathia.
Just kidding. Jack McDowell.
by jefftribe on Apr 16, 2009 1:04 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Probably the best pitcher on the list. And the worst Indian.
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 1:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Tommy John, Dennis Eckersley, Luis Tiant, Gaylord, in both leagues ……….haven’t look at the award list, but there’s a start.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
by mauichuck on Apr 16, 2009 3:13 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Eckersley ¡si!, John and Tiant ¡no!
Actually, Chuck, there is another guy I thought you would name. You’ve mentioned him before, and he pitched for the Tribe a long, long time ago. You know, back in your day.
To summarize, we have five names: Hershiser, McDowell, Carlton, Wynn, Eckersley. There’s six more.
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 9:11 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Wouldn’t be the other half of the only brother combo to win the CY would it?
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
by mauichuck on Apr 17, 2009 12:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Flag = sorry, just read the one per person deal.
by woodsmeister on Apr 16, 2009 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
John Denny.
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 16, 2009 10:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Here’s who I can think of for the Dodgers: Koufax, Valenzuela, Hershiser, Pedro, Welch, and Newcombe?
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 16, 2009 10:25 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Oh, and I think that Drysdale guy won it once. Correct?
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 16, 2009 10:25 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I forgot about Pedro as an ex-Dodger.
The Dodgers have had two relievers who won: Mike Marshall and Eric Gagne.
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 10:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
So, the Dodgers have 9 total, then.
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 16, 2009 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Seven who won with the Dodgers. Pedro and Welch won elsewhere. There are probably more of them.
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Hershiser, McDowell, Carlton, Wynn, Eckersley, Gooden, Sutcliffe, Perry, Colon, Denny.
So there’s one left. I knew he’d be the toughest one.
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 10:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Excellent!
Dean Chance memory: Alvin Dark often moved his pitcher to a position (usually 1B) while he brought in a reliever to get one out. He once brought in Chance to get a righty, and put Sam McDowell at 2B (!). The 0.1 inning for that slick fielding lefty 2B shows up on B-Ref.
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
And there’s one more besides, but I won’t say who it is.
by FredOx on Apr 16, 2009 10:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I looked it up and was surprised. I won’t say it either, but one hint is the answer may be found somewhere on this page.
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 16, 2009 10:51 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Does somebody want to reveal it?
I just went through the whole list and don’t see it.
by afh4 on Apr 16, 2009 11:03 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 16, 2009 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Newcombe pinch hit 87 times in his career.
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Cool, I figured that I missed one.
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 11:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
How about the Phillies? Carlton, Lonborg, Denny, Lyle, Jenkins …
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 16, 2009 10:40 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Okay, the bonus question:
The Indians once acquired a minor leaguer who had pitched briefly in the majors several years earlier. He spent a year in AAA but never made the big club. The Indians traded him away after one season, but he didn’t make it with the new team, either. Traded again to a very bad team, he put together a few very good, but largely unnoticed, seasons.
At the age of 32, he was traded for a young slugger who had been Rookie of the Year. The slugger fizzled, but our guy promptly won the Cy Young, helped his team into multiple World Series, and was a key part of one of the great pitching rotations ever.
The Indians were one of four teams to give up on his late bloomer. Who was he?
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 11:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
On a related but unrelated note, the Indians drafted and did not sign Doug Drabek.
by afh4 on Apr 16, 2009 11:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
And as a completely unrelated note, Roland Glen Fingers was born here in Ohio. Steubenville.
I wonder which state (or country) has produced the most CY winners….
by lenred on Apr 16, 2009 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
They did a trivia question on an Indians-Reds game about 300-game winners born in Ohio. I don’t remember how man there were. Cy Young, Phil Niekro, Roger Clemens are three I can think of.
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I’m going to guess California has produced the most.
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 16, 2009 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
And you would be correct …. 11 total in fact (going by birthplace on Bref):
Mike McCormick, Jim Lonborg, Tom Seaver, Randy Jones, Mike Scott, Mark Davis, Dennis Eckersley, Jack McDowell, Randy Johnson, CC Sabathia
Totals:
CA – 11
NY – 6
MI, OH – 4,
IL, NC, PA – 3
AL, FL, LA, MA, MO, NH, TX – 2
AR, AZ, CO, ID, KY, NE, NJ, NV, SC, WA – 1
[That leaves 26 states without one]
Non-US:
Canada, Dominican Republic – 2
Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela – 1
Interesting fact, Clemens is from Dayton, I assumed he was a Texas guuy through and through …..
by talonk on Apr 16, 2009 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Vandalia High. His family moved to Texas while he was in HS.
So the four Ohio-borns are Clemens, Fingers, Stone, and Chance?
by SuddenSam on Apr 16, 2009 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
[That leaves 26 states without one]
I think it might be a while before we see one from Alaska or Hawaii. Although Schilling was close to winning in ’01-02.
by lenred on Apr 16, 2009 12:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
why pick on Hawai? Something against chuck? /sarc
I could have sworn seeing a Little League team from Hawaii in the finals a few years back …..
Now I agree Alaska might be tough, but if Pronk (yeah I said it) can make it from North Dakota, who’s to say a pitcher can’t make it from Alaska either.
by talonk on Apr 16, 2009 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
NDakota also produced Darin Erstad and Rick Helling.
I’m surprised to see that Alaska has produced 10 major leaguers. Although I’m less surprised that, of the 10, 6 played after 2005, which indicates that the sport is growing there. Among the Alaska notables : Shawn Chacon, Schilling, and former Indian Josh Phelps.
by lenred on Apr 16, 2009 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Waipio, dude, Waipio – won the whole enchilda back in ’08.
Ron Darling is Kama Aina not exactly a CY winner but the boy could pitch a little. And don’t forget Shane Victorino and Kurt Suzuki, not only Kama Aina but Maui boyz too.
Ain’t no NBA basketball players from the islands, coupla baseball players, but if you wanna talk NFL, lots – considering there’s only ~ 1.5M people out here.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
by mauichuck on Apr 16, 2009 11:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Alaska has produced some pretty decent basketball players recently — Carlos (Traitor) Boozer, Trajan Langdon, Mario Chalmers — but the weather isn’t really conducive for baseball obviously.
Is hockey big in Alaska? I don’t even know. You’d think it would be with the weather there and the proximity to Canada, but I haven’t heard of any Alaska college being hockey powers or many players coming from the state. I don’t really follow hockey, though, so I could be mistaken.
by Buckeye Brad on Apr 16, 2009 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Name the only Candian-born Cy Young winners.
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 16, 2009 11:44 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
CANADIAN. Jeez.
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 16, 2009 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Rec. We need more FanPosts like this.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 16, 2009 5:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Wow. I could have sworn Jack Morris won a Cy.
by odradek on Apr 17, 2009 12:05 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Ok, after further review, I count 15 hurlers that have won a Cy and pitched for the Tribe at some point in there careers:
Early Wynn, Cliff Lee, John Denny, Dennis Eckersley, Jack McDowell, CC Sabathia, Bartolo Colon, Steve Carlton, Dwight Gooden, Rick Sutcliffe, Jim Perry, Gaylord Perry, Don Newcombe, Orel Hershiser, and Dean Chance.
I do believe all those names wer ementioned above at one point or another. Just figured a summary would be nice.
And as SuddenSam discussed, the Tribe does the lead the majors in this category. However, the teams behind us are pretty close as well:
Indians – 15
Mets, Yankees – 14
Red Sox – 13 (if Smoltz appears for them this year, make it 14)
Giants -12
Dodgers, Cardinals -11
Braves, Orioles, White Sox – 10
Twins, Phillies – 9
A’s, Padres, Blue Jays – 8
Cubs, Astros, Brewers, Rangers – 7
Angels, Royals – 6
Reds, Tigers – 5
Nationals – 4 (all with the Expos)
Diamondbacks, Pirates, Mariners – 2
Rockies, Rays – 1
Marlins – 0
Expectantly, the expansion teams have had very few. What I was most surprised was that the Pirates only have had 2 ever appear for them, both of them winning it for them. They have never signed or traded for a former winner at the tail end of his career, etc.
Other interesting facts, average number of teams per Cy winner is 3.39. And that number is skewed by a few of the recent winners that have only played for one team Webb, Lincecum, Lee, Peavy, etc. In fact, out of the 66 winners, only 12 have only pitched for one team in their careers.
Further trivia below ….
by talonk on Apr 17, 2009 12:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
So Sam … you may want to change the title of the thread to 15 too ….
by talonk on Apr 17, 2009 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Done. And nice work. Did you do that manually or were you able to use a b-ref search function?
by SuddenSam on Apr 17, 2009 7:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Thanx. Just perused each of the Bref pages for each winner. The Cy Young winners are all on an awards page.
by talonk on Apr 17, 2009 10:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Name the Cy hurler who has the most teams pitched for in a career. And no, it isn’t who you think it is.
by talonk on Apr 17, 2009 12:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Figured most would guess Gaylord Perry, he pitched for 8 teams (Giants, Tribe, Rangers, Padres, Yankees, Braves, Mariners, and Royals).
But Mike Marshall topped him by pitching for 9 teams (Tigers, Pilots, Astros, Expos, Dodgers, Braves, Rangers, Twins, and Mets).
by talonk on Apr 25, 2009 1:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Also, Marshall is the only Cy winner to ever pitch for the Pilots, who became the Brewers.
by talonk on Apr 25, 2009 1:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Name the only Cy hurler who pitched for the other St Louis franchise at some point in his career.
by talonk on Apr 17, 2009 12:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I thought it might be Bob Turley, so I looked it up and that was right. He went to the Yankees in a mega-player deal that also included Dod Larsen.
by SuddenSam on Apr 19, 2009 9:33 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Name the only Cy hurler who pitched for the other Boston franchise at some point in his career.
by talonk on Apr 17, 2009 12:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Warren Spahn.
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 17, 2009 12:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Name the Cy hurlers who have pitched for the Senators; this covers two franchises by the way.
by talonk on Apr 17, 2009 12:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
The Big Train, Walter Johnson.
Tribe fan trapped in Kansas
by Avindian on Apr 18, 2009 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
While his numbers would have justified a few awards, his career definitely predates the award. They started issuing them in 1956.
by talonk on Apr 18, 2009 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Early Wynn, who apparently can be an answer to any given baseball trivia question.
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 18, 2009 7:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
That is correct. Wynn actual played for the Senator franchise that became the Twins.
So McLain is one for the Senators/Rangers franchise, Wynn is one for the Senators/Twins franchise. That leaves one more …..
by talonk on Apr 18, 2009 10:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Mike McCormick was the other pitcher who pitched for the Senators/Rangers franchise.
by talonk on Apr 25, 2009 1:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I was looking up the 1920 Indians. Never realized that Smokey Joe Wood was on that team. He played outfield. I believe pitched in one game. Joe Wood would have had a Cy if they were handing them out then.
by odradek on Apr 18, 2009 8:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Ya think Feller wouldda won one if they were givin’ ‘em out back in the 40’s and 50’s.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
by mauichuck on Apr 18, 2009 9:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
1939, yes. 1940, definitely … led league in wins, ERA, games, starts, Ks, WHIP, K/9 and K/BB. He finished 2nd in the MVP voting. 1946 would have been a possibility, too, but he would have had to beat Hal Newhouser, who had a great season, but pitched less games and innings.
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 18, 2009 10:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Harder may have picked up one too.
Heck Ruth probably would have had one or two before he came a full time outfielder. One day we should research the years from 1901-1955 and take a vote on which guys “would” have won the award for those seasons.
by talonk on Apr 18, 2009 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
One day we should research the years from 1901-1955 and take a vote on which guys "would" have won the award for those seasons.
I’m guessing that some baseball website, or a guy like Bill James, has already done that. Not that it wouldn’t be fun for us to do, too.
by Buckeye Brad on Apr 18, 2009 10:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I was going to post something like this. It seems like a tall order, but could be an interesting diversion.
Eric Wedge. The Adam LaRoche of managers.
by emd2k3 on Apr 19, 2009 7:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Addie Joss, in either ’07 or ’08 – to hell with Big Ed Walsh and his 40 wins. TB is a bitch.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
by mauichuck on Apr 19, 2009 1:16 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Guess the hubbub dies out on this post, but I’ll put the answers above for the ones nobody answered.
by talonk on Apr 25, 2009 1:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Tribe Cy Young Winners?!?!
Hi Sudden Sam, It is an honor to address you! I am and always will be a huge fan! I worked in Commissary #7 at THE STADIUM. We were the ones making the popcorn, back in the day. I once; even was fortunate enough; to get your autograph: “Sudden Sam”; after you out
pitched the Twins one July in ‘68, I think. My baby brother stole the popcorn box that you autographed for me. I’m still crushed and damned near 60! Now as for the pitchers: I know that Mr. “grease – ball” Gaylord Perry won a Cy Young! Duidn’t you get one in ‘68! If not man you SHOULD have!!! What about Sonny Siebert didn’t he come close once too? Didn’t Early Wynn play with the Tribe? He won it in ’59. Then; of course; there was Ek! That STILL hurts too! Dennis Eckersley who won the Cy Young with Oakland in ’92.
by the: Nite Owl 16 on Apr 27, 2009 11:19 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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