It was a strange, memorable season in the NL this year. The Cubs won the East Division, the first time they had made the playoffs in 39 years. The Padres won the West Division; it was the first time they had ever made the playoffs. The Padres won the pennant, then were destroyed by the Tigers in the World Series.
        Among pitchers, there were two great stories this year. Two pitchers who had almost nothing in common, Rick Sutcliffe and Dwight Gooden, had remarkable seasons, with Sutcliffe winning the Cy Young Award.

         Sutcliffe began the season pitching badly for Cleveland; after 15 starts, he was 4-5 with a 5.15 ERA, with 46 walks in 94 innings. The Tribe dealt him to the Cubs, where he was almost unbeatable. His control was outstanding, his strikeout rate soared, and he was very difficult to hit. On the whole, he had a 20-6 record between the two leagues.
        Dwight "Dr. K" Gooden was 19 years old. He had perhaps the most sensational debut any young pitcher has ever had. Not only did he win 17 games, but Gooden set a new record with 11.39 strikeouts per nine innings, breaking Sam McDowell's 1965 record. At a young age, Gooden already had everything you could want in a pitcher; he held batters to a .202 average, and had good control. Gooden followed his great debut with a string of outstanding seasons, but injuries and substance abuse problems hindered his rise to greatness.
        In 1983, Bruce Sutter had the first off-year of his career. He rebounded this year, and set a career high in saves. Sutter had now been the NL's dominant closer for eight years, and his success popularized a new pitch, the split-fingered fastball. But though he was only 31, Sutter was near the end. After the season he signed a huge contract with the Braves, and almost immediately hurt his arm. He made a couple of attempts to come back, but never could, and retired with 300 career saves.
        In the Cy Young vote, Sutcliffe was followed by Gooden and Sutter, and then Joquain Andujar. Andujar spent his first few seasons with the Astros, splitting time between the startng rotation and bullpen, and twice made the All-Star team despite not pitching all that well. He developed a reputation for being a head-case, and I remember long ago someone saying that his name sounds like "walkin' underwear".
        He was dealt to St. Louis, and thrived in Whitey Herzog's starting rotation. After back-to-back 20 win seasons in 1984-85, Andujar's career was ended by arm troubles. In his career he won 127 games, but is probably best known for his explosion on the mound in the 1985 World Series, when the Cardinals were on the verge of being eliminated, and Andujar bumped an umpire.