The Kansas City Royals made history by finally defeating the Yankees in the playoffs this year. Both teams had great regular seasons; the Yankees had to win 103 games to fend off the Orioles, who won 100. After three previous defeats at the hands of the Yankees in the league championships, the Royals swept the New Yorkers, only to lose in the World Series to Philadelphia.
         Meanwhile, something interesting was happening in Oakland. "Billy Ball" had arrived in the Bay Area, and in the span of a year the A's pitching staff improved from the worst in the league to one of the best.

        Steve Stone won the Cy Young Award in a close race with Mike Norris. Stone was, I think, a very unlikely winner; he had already been in the league for several years, and was a mediocre pitcher without great stuff. He had a very good year, though, and the potent Baltimore offense helped him win 25 games. Stone's success was brief; next year he got off to a rough 4-7 start, then had to be shut down with arm problems; he never pitched again in the big leagues.
        Before the season, Billy Martin was hired as the Oakland manager. He inherited a mess; the A's had been bad for several years now, and had lost 108 games in 1979. Mike Norris was 25 years old, and had proven himself to be a perfectly awful young pitcher. Matt Keough was also 25, and had compiled a nifty 2-17 record in 1979. Rick Langford was 28, and had never had a winning season.
        Martin's solution to the problem was "Billy Ball"; he told his starting pitchers that they should expect to finish everything they started. And they almost did, leading the league in complete games by a wide margin. Norris, Keough, and Langford were all outstanding; the A's won 83 games, an improvement of 29 games from the year before. They were something of a sensation.
        Their success continued in 1981; the A's had the AL's best record in the strike-shortened season, and won a playoff series before being beaten by the Yankees. They then collapsed in 1982; Norris, Langford, and Keough all needed reconstructive surgery on their arms, and their careers ended. Oakland fell back to the bottom of the league, and Billy Martin was fired.
        It appears that Martin overworked his pitchers and blew their arms out. But I'm hesitant to be critical; Norris, Langford, and Keough were all gawdawful pitchers before they met Martin, and there is little evidence that they were about to improve on their own. The whole point of overworking the young pitchers was to instill confidence in them, and it worked; for two years, they were great. Two great years is better than none.
        I think Norris was clearly the best pitcher in the league this year; he was runner-up in wins, innings, strikeouts and ERA, and was the toughest pitcher to hit. Lefty Larry Gura of the Royals had a better ERA than Stone, seven more complete games, three more shutouts and 30 more innings pitched; despite Stone's win total, I think Gura was the better pitcher. I'll take Stone in the third spot, just ahead of Langford.