Koufax and Mattingly (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports)
Well, as the season winds down with at least one more game to play, most of the historic info will filter toward awards. A quartet of award winners leads off our “Baseball History Today”.
1963 – Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers claims his only National League Most Valuable Player Award. The Left Arm of God went 25-5 with and ERA of 1.88 and WHIP of 0.875. He hurled 311 innings and struck out 306. And we can’t forget the 11 shutouts. Koufax received 14 of the 20 first place votes and outdistanced runner-up Dick Groat of the St. Louis Cardinals, 237 to 190.
Koufax also had won the NL Cy Young a few days earlier.
1974 – Oakland Athletics pitcher Catfish Hunter wins his only Cy Young Award, being named the winner in the American League. Hunter was 25-12, posting an ERA of 2.49 and WHIP of 0.986. Hunter would place sixth in the AL MVP voting.
1975 – John Montefusco of the San Francisco Giants is voted as the NL’s Rookie of the Year. “The Count” received twelve first place votes for the win over Montreal Expos catcher Gary Carter. Carter received nine first place votes.
1984 – Detroit Tigers reliever Willie Hernandez receives the AL Cy Young nod, becoming just the third reliever to win. He owned a 9-3 record with 32 saves, a 1.92 ERA, and a WHIP of 0.941. Hernandez received twelve first place votes and narrowly edged Kansas City Royals reliever Dan Quisenberry who tabulated nine first place votes.
In other events from October 30th…
2010 – The Texas Rangers become the first Texas-based team to win a World Series game in defeating the San Francisco Giants, 4-2. Neftali Feliz, age 22, surpasses Nolan Ryan to become the second-youngest player to save a game in the Series. Bob Welch had set the record at the age of 21 in 1978.
2001 – No words for this…
Notable Birthdays:
Bill Terry (1898, d. 1989)
Marco Scutaro (1975)
Desmond Jennings (1986)