Perry's numbers were not overwhelming; he led the NL in wins and
winning percentage, but wasn't among the leaders in anything else.
Still, his overall numbers match up well with the rest of the league; only Phil Niekro threw more innings, and no one had a significantly better ERA. This was not a season in which many NL pitchers really distinguished themselves.
Burt Hooton had his best season, and an argument can be made that he was better than
Perry. He had a better ERA, though not as many innings pitched. Hooton had a fine career,
winning 151 games, most of them in a Dodger uniform. In 1981 he had his best season interrupted by the strike, but helped the Dodgers win the World Series with a 4-1 record and 0.82 ERA. He was also a lousy hitter (career .123 average), but did manage to hit a
grand slam off of Tom Seaver.
Two inconsistent lefthanders both had good years. Vida Blue's first season in the NL was the last big one of his career. He stuck around another
seven seasons, but was basically a .500 pitcher for the remainder of his career. This was also Bob Knepper's first good year. Knepper was
a maddeningly inconsistent pitcher; despite flashes of brilliance,
Knepper would invariable follow a good season with a bad one, and
finished his career with more losses than wins.
Perry had a good year, but was not the best pitcher in the league. That distinction belongs to the other 39-year-old pitcher. Phil Niekro had a string of remarkable seasons in the late 1970's, throwing a huge number of innings with very good ERAs. Unfortunately, he often lost as many games as he won.
This year, Phil had a hell of a year. Remember that Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium was a great hitters park, and
was more of a "Launching Pad" this year than ever. Phil had a 2.57 ERA on the road, 3.20 at home. Perry toiled in a pitcher's park; his road ERA was 3.85... but at home, he had an ERA of only 1.75.
And it's an understatement to say that the Braves had a bad
team, and a very bad offense. Niekro began the year 0-4, then started to win. On September 17, Niekro was 19-15, and was poised to win 20 games. Instead, the Braves were shut out in his final three starts. In his 18 losses, the Braves scored only 27 runs, and were shut out seven times.
The only team that scored fewer runs than the Braves was... Perry's team, the Padres. Again, it comes down to ballparks; the Braves scored a few more runs than the Padres, but their offense was much worse. Still, it's interesting that two pitchers, each supported by a weak offense, could have such dissimilar records. Here's how their starts break down:
Wins
GS QS IP ER ERA RS
Perry 21 18 156.1 32 1.84 5.14
Niekro 19 15 164.1 34 1.86 5.42
Non-Wins
Perry 16 7 104.1 47 4.05 3.50
Niekro 23 12 164.2 72 3.94 2.13
Total
Perry 37 25 260.2 79 2.72 4.43
Niekro 42 27 329.0 106 2.90 3.62
(GS = Games Started; QS = Quality Starts; RS = Run Support)
For the Quality Starts, I used the 6/2 & 7/3 standards. Perry had a slightly lower ERA in the games in which he was the winning pitcher, and got less run support in those starts. But Niekro's run support was brutal in his losses and non-decisions, more than a run lower than Perry's (it was a pathetic 1.50 runs in his losses). On the whole, Niekro's run support was significantly lower, especially when taking park effects into account.
Niekro also made two relief appearances, allowing one run in 5.1 innings and picking up a save. Niekro's 19-18 won-loss record is certainly not typical of a Cy Young winner — but he had the kind of season where, if he had had any support from his team, he could have won 25, maybe even 30 games. This was the best year of Phil's career, and he deserved the award.
