The top three teams in the American League East coming into this year were Toronto, New York, and Detroit. There was no reason to expect the Boston Red Sox to jump ahead of any of those teams, let alone all of them. But a funny thing happened: a 23-year-old pitcher who had been battling arm problems suddenly got healthy. In early April, Rocket Roger Clemens struck out 20 Seattle Mariners, setting a new record and announcing that he had arrived to stay.

         Clemens, of course, won both the Cy Young Award and the MVP. He also won the All Star Game MVP, for what it's worth. If you had asked anybody before the season who the next great pitcher was going to be, 99% would have answered Dwight Gooden, with occasional votes going to Bret Saberhagen or Ted Higuera. But those guys couldn't put together complete careers, while Clemens had begun a string of seven straight years of excellence, and won three Cy Young Awards with the Sox.
        In the mid-90's, Clemens was plagued by inconsistency, and left Boston on sour terms. He joined the Blue Jays in 1997, and pitched brilliantly for two seasons, winning two more Cy Young Awards for a record total of five. At this writing Clemens remains one of the best pitchers in baseball, and the best of his generation (or is he? While Clemens was winning 24 games this year, a kid in the NL was getting clobbered on a regular basis. That kid eventually grew to become Greg Maddux).
         Ted Higuera of the Brewers finished runner-up to Clemens in the vote. At this time, there was every reason to think that Higuera would be one of the greats. But he hurt his arm a couple of years later, and never recovered. Of all the pitchers whose careers have been prematurely ended by arm trouble, I'm not sure that there has ever been a better one than Higuera.
         Dave Righetti of the Yankees had previously won the Rookie Of The Year Award as a starter. In 1984, the Yankees decided to turn Rags into a reliever, and this year he set a new record for saves. His total of 46 is still one of the highest ever. Was he the AL's best reliever?
         Mark Eichhorn of Toronto was an OK young pitcher who had hurt his arm a few years earlier. He switched to throwing sidearm, and had great results; with his high strikeout rate and low hit total, you would think he threw as hard as Clemens! Eichhorn needed only 5 more innings to qualify for the ERA title; he also had an outstanding won-loss record, and chipped in with 10 saves.
         Who was more valuable? The voters chose Righetti; he finished fourth in the vote, behind Clemens, Higuera, and Mike Witt. Eichhorn got just two votes. But I think Eichhorn was more valuable; he did everything better than Righetti except record saves. The Blue Jays already had a fine closer in Tom Henke; how many games did Eichhorn win for Toronto, coming into pitch the sixth inning, and not leaving till the ninth? I'm willing to bet a whole bunch, and more than Righetti.