Mike Flanagan won the Cy Young Award, placing ahead of two other left-handers,
Tommy John and Ron Guidry. Flanagan had his best year, and was a worthy winner;
he was in his third year as a regular, and had been worked very hard by the
Orioles, starting 78 games in two years. Next year he lost something off his
fastball, and spent the rest of his career trying to survive without the
good stuff. He did pretty well for himself, lasting 18 years, pitching well
at times, and earning a reputation as one of baseball's greater clowns.
This was Tommy John's first year with the
Yankees, and maybe the best year of his career. He was four years removed
from his historic elbow surgery, for which he is now probably most famous.
Like Flanagan, John spent most of his career trying to survive without good
stuff; he was good at it, lasting 26 years in the bigs, and winning 288
games. He was a good pitcher, pretty much a left-handed Don Sutton; there
doesn't seem to be any hurry to elect John to the Hall Of Fame, but over
time his 288 wins will look better and better, and he will be helped by
the recent election of Sutton. My guess is he gets in eventually.
Ron Guidry was a year removed from his
phenomenal 1978, and an argument could be made that he was the best
pitcher in the league. Guidry was another guy who would lose his hard
fastball, and have to learn to pitch without the good stuff. The Gator also
has a Hall Of Fame argument of his own, though different from John's. Guidry
had a much shorter career, winning only 170 games. But he had some great
years, and there isn't too much difference between his career record and
Sandy Koufax's. Guidry wasn't as good as Koufax, but the fact that he is
comparable makes him an interesting candidate; to be honest, I don't think
he would be a bad selection.
I don't have any argument with this year's
Cy Young vote. After the three lefties, Jim Kern finished fourth in the voting.
That's fine by me; I think Kern's numbers speak for themselves. Kern was a decent
pitcher who had by far the best year of his career; next year he stopped
throwing strikes, and rung up an ugly 3-11 record. His career never recovered.
This was Jack Morris' first year as a regular
starter, and Mike Marshall's last good year in relief. It was the third
time Marshall had pitched in 90 games in a season; as of 1999, the feat has been done
only seven times, three times by Marshall, three times by Kent Tekulve, and
once by Wayne Granger.
