McCormick had debuted for the Giants in 1956, when he was 17
years old. In 1960, at age 21, he won the ERA title. After that,
his career went into a downward spiral, bottoming out in 1964, when
he pitched only four games for Baltimore. This year, at age 29, he
rejoined the Giants, and had a glorious comeback. It was brief,
however; McCormick struggled the next two seasons, then quickly
disappeared.
McCormick is a bit of an odd choice to win the award, but he
had the right year at the right time. For starters, Sandy Koufax
had retired during the off-season, due to circulation problems in
his arm. Koufax had the best season in his career in 1966, but
decided to call it quits, fearing permanent damage to his arm.
McCormick had two teammates who are in the Hall Of Fame.
Gaylord Perry may have pitched better than McCormick — but
he also had a losing record. Did McCormick just have better luck than Perry? As well, Juan Marichal missed
some time with injury, and didn't have a big year.
The Cardinals won the pennant; they had an interesting staff,
but not a Cy Young candidate. Their best pitcher was Dick Hughes,
who was in his rookie year, and won only two more games the rest of
his career. Of course, the Cardinals also had Bob Gibson, one of
the greatest pitchers of the era; but like Marichal, Gibson missed
significant time with injury, and didn't have a big year. The
Cardinals also had a young pitcher named Steve Carlton, who won 14
games in a solid season.
I think it is clear that the best pitcher in the league was Jim Bunning. But like Perry, Bunning didn't have a great won-loss
record. Bunning led the league in innings pitched, strikeouts and shutouts, and only Phil Niekro had a better ERA. Bunning was 36 years old, and this was his
last big season.
Ferguson Jenkins was just 24 years old, and had his first
big season with the Cubs; this was the first of six consecutive 20+ win seasons
for Fergie. Like Bunning, Jenkins had more innings pitched and a better ERA than McCormick; Jenkins also had to pitch in cozy Wrigley Field.
Another interesting candidate is Ted Abernathy, a reliever for
Cincinnati. Abernathy was one of the first pitchers to spend almost
his entire career in the bullpen, and enjoy a lot of success. This
was his best year; Abernathy is best known for being a true
submarine pitcher. On some pitches, he reportedly scraped his
knuckles on the ground.
Bunning never won a Cy Young Award. This year, he missed a golden chance, what with Koufax retired and Gibson and Marichal hurt and Seaver and Carlton just getting started. Likewise, I think he was the American League's best pitcher in 1960, even though his won-loss record was only 11-14 that season. Somehow, Bunning never quite won as many games as you'd think he should have, nor broke through with a big season; bad luck, or bad teammates? Or a bit of both? Nevertheless, I will give him the nod over Jenkins and McCormick this season.
I might be short-changing
Abernathy, whose performance was exceptional for the Reds. But he didn't have a lot of wins, nor a lot of saves, and his control wasn't great, and he was up against three pretty good workhorses this season.
