For the first time in the last three seasons, a Cardinal pitcher didn’t figure in the Cy Young balloting (even though Adam Wainwright finished seventh among the league’s pitchers in Win Shares). Jake Peavy finally got the recognition he deserved after leading his peers in both Win Shares and VORP. Peavy will have some competition soon from Cardinal pitchers, however, as Wainwright looks to build on the success of his first two seasons and the team’s perennial Cy Young candidate, Chris Carpenter returns, hopefully to form, in 2008. In the meantime, we’re left to ponder the Cardinals’ long lineage of outstanding moundsmen as we review the top pitcher seasons in team history (by Win Shares, Cy Young winners highlighted):

And since the Cy Young voting began in 1956, all Cardinals who have received votes for the award (and place finish):

Lots of contenders but few winners. As we did earlier in the week with the Rookie of the Year award, we’ll review the close calls in Cy Young vote involving Cardinals.

Cards’ McDaniel and Broglio tie for third (1960): Lindy McDaniel (25), who tied for the league lead in Win Shares, and Ernie Broglio (24) tied for third in the voting as Vern Law won the major-league Cy Young. The only problem was that Law, with 20, wasn’t even in the top four in the league. And Warren Spahn, who finished second, had only 16 Win Shares. The only player besides the Cardinal pitchers who could’ve made a legitimate claim to the CY was Don Drysdale, who tied McDaniel in Win Shares but had a much better VORP, 62.1 to 36.1. We should note that Law did have a 58.6 VORP, better than both McDaniel and Broglio (55.0), and that Bob Friend had the best overall at 63.2.

Gibson wins unanimously with 36 Win Shares (1968): The next-best in the NL was Fergie Jenkins with 25, making it the greatest disparity between the top two pitchers in the league (tied with Carlton’s 40 and Gibson’s 29 in 1972). It gives you an idea of Gibson’s dominance compared to his peers. Peavy might’ve won unanimously this year, but Gibson was the quintessential unanimous selection in 1968.

Gibson overlooked as Seaver wins (1969): If there’s a case to be made for a slighting, this is it. Gibson (33 Win Shares) wasn’t even named on a ballot as Seaver (32) and Niekro (28) finished 1-2. Juan Marichal (29) was similarly overlooked. And it wasn’t even close in VORP: Gibson had an stellar 88.3 while Seaver had "just" a 75.8. Gibby got his revenge the following season, though, as Seaver led baseball in VORP (75.8 to Hoot’s 72.5). Gibson still led the league in Win Shares.

Marshall wins, McGlothen ninth (1974): What the heck happened with voters in 1974? Lynn McGlothen matched Cy Young winner (and SABR37 speaker) Mike Marshall in Win Shares, and had a better VORP (51.9-43.2). But like Marshall, McGlothen could hardly lay claim to the award, since several pitchers, like Niekro, Andy Messersmith, Jon Matlack and Jenkins, were better in both metrics.

Mad Hungarian third as Seaver wins again (1975): Reliever Al Hrabosky earned 19 Win Shares but didn’t even lead the team: That was Bob Forsch with 21, good for fourth (tied) in the league, but Forsch wasn’t even named on a ballot. Neither Cardinal should’ve won, of course, since Randy Jones, Messersmith and Seaver each had 26+ Win Shares.

Sutter leads league in Win Shares but is third in Cy vote (1984): The Cinderella story of the season, the Cubs, gave Rick Sutcliffe candidacy the emotional appeal he needed to win with only 18 Win Shares. Yet Sutter, the pre-eminent fireman (back when good relievers were known as firemen), provided 23 for the hapless Cardinals to lead the league. The next-best in the NL was the Pirates’ Rick Rhoden, with 20, who had a better VORP than Sutter, 49.5-37.2. It was one of only four seasons in which a reliever led the NL in Win Shares, the other being Eric Gagne (2003), Sutter (1977) and McDaniel (1960, tied).

Tudor and Gooden duke it out (1985): One of the greatest Cy Young duels of all-time, the Cardinals’ John Tudor and the Mets’ Dwight Gooden were microcosms of their teams’ success during that hot summer of 1985. Producing 180.1 worth of VORP and 60 Win Shares between them — the most combined WS since Carlton and Gibson had 69 in 1972 — the two pitchers, utter contrasts in style, went down to the wire, like their teams, in their battle for the mantle (among other things, each had a HR/9 under .50 while pitching 275+ innings). As exceptional as Tudor was, though, Gooden stood taller in both Win Shares (33) and VORP (99.3).

Lee Smith finishes second to Maddux (1991): One of the links in the chain of stellar relievers the Cardinals featured in the post-Sutter era (Todd Worrell, Tom Henke, Dan Quisenberry, Dennis Eckersley), Smith took a back seat to the rising star Tom Glavine. But Smith perhaps wasn’t even the best reliever that year, as Mitch Williams racked up 18 Win Shares to Smith’s 15. Glavine led all Senior-Circuit hurlers with 23.

Carp wins despite WS defict (2005): Chris Carpenter’s 18 Win Shares were good enough for only a sixth-place tie in the league, yet he impressed voters enough to win the Cy. Dontrelle Willis (26) and Roger Clemens (25) both had more WS, and Clemens was tops in baseball with an 80.2 VORP. Perhaps it was punishment for Clemens, who had won the year before despite Randy Johnson being easily the best pitcher in the league.

This entry was posted by Pip on Saturday, November 17th, 2007 at 10:15 pm and is filed under analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.