Cy Young Award - History

History

The Cy Young Award was first introduced in 1956 by Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955. The award would be given to pitchers only. Originally given to the single best pitcher in the major leagues, the award changed its format over time. From 1956 to 1966, the award was given to one pitcher in Major League Baseball. After Frick retired in 1967, William Eckert became the new Commissioner of Baseball. Due to fan requests, Eckert announced that the Cy Young Award would be given out both in the American League and the National League. From 1956 to 1958, a pitcher was not allowed to win the award on more than one occasion; this rule was eliminated in 1959. After a tie in the 1969 voting, the process was changed, in which each writer was to vote for three different pitchers: the first-place vote received five points, the second-place vote received three points, and the third-place vote received one point.

The first recipient of the Cy Young Award was Don Newcombe of the Dodgers, and the most recent winners are R.A. Dickey, from the National League, and David Price, from the American League. In 1957, Warren Spahn became the first left-handed pitcher to win the award. In 1963, Sandy Koufax became the first pitcher to win the award in a unanimous vote; two years later he became the first multiple winner. In 1974, Mike Marshall won the award, becoming the first relief pitcher to win the award. In 1978, Gaylord Perry (age 40) became the oldest pitcher to receive the award, only to have the record broken in 2004 by Roger Clemens (age 42). The youngest recipient was Dwight Gooden (age 20 in 1985). In 2012, R.A. Dickey became the first knuckleball pitcher to win. Steve Carlton in 1982 became the first pitcher to win more than three Cy Young Awards, while Greg Maddux in 1994 became the first to win at least three in a row (and received a fourth straight the following year), a feat later repeated by Randy Johnson.