This week in baseball history featured the beginning of the period of dual Cy Young Award winners in Major League Baseball.
March 1, 1967
On this date in baseball history, Commissioner William Eckert and the Baseball Writers Association of America agreed on a plan to select two Cy Young Award winners at the end of each season rather than the customary one. Under this new plan, one pitcher from the American League and one pitcher from National league would be given this great and distinguished honor.
The award is named after the all-time winningest pitcher in baseball history, Cy Young who dominated the major leagues in two separate centuries. Young’s career spanned 22 years, from 1890 to 1911. In his time in the league, Cy Young collected 511 wins and 316 losses, both records.
The history of the Cy Young Award is as colorful as the history of baseball itself. Upon the death of Young, it became apparent that his legacy in the game must continue. To make this happen, Commissioner Ford Frick, in coalition with the BBWA, decided to name the award for the best pitcher in the league after the league’s all-time winningest pitcher.
Upon its inception, a pitcher was only allowed to win the award a single time, but this rule was quickly abolished when it was realized that some players would be good enough to win multiple times.
In 1956, under the single-winner system, the inaugural Cy Young Award was presented to Los Angeles Dodgers hurler, Don Newcombe. The inaugural dual awards went to Mike McCormick of the San Francisco Dodgers and Jim Longorg of the Boston Red Sox. The first man to repeat as Cy Young award winner was Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Koufax won the award in 1963 and then again two years later in 1965. The same year Koufax won the Cy Young Award, he was also named the National League Most Valuable Player, just the second player to win both awards in the same season. The first, was coincidentally the first Cy Young Award winner, Don Newcombe.
Related Story: Read more about Don Newcombes inaugural Cy Young Award.
In the 59 years that the award has been presented to pitchers in Major League Baseball, just 17 men have won the award multiple times, and nine have won it more than twice. Among these multiple time winners are Hall of Famers such as Tom Seaver, Pedro Martinez, and Randy Johnson. The controversial figure, Roger Clemens holds the record for most Cy Young Awards won at seven, with Randy Johnson close behind him at five.
The Cy Young Award is one of the most prestigious awards in all of sports and we are in an era where the Cy Young race is just as, if not more exciting than the batting title race or the MVP race. We need not look far back in history for an example of multiple pitchers having Cy Young worthy seasons.
The 2015 season saw the top two candidates for the NL Cy Young have ERAs below 1.80 and the runner up having an incredible ERA of 1.66.
The last time pitching was this good in Major League Baseball was the 1960s. To combat the domination of pitchers back then, the rules committee lowered the mound from from 15 inches to ten.