Who was the first pitcher to win a MVP award?

Answer 1

Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators in 1913.

The first ever MVP award in MLB was sponsored by the Chalmers Motor Car Company and was awarded between 1911-1914. A new Chalmers automobile was awarded to the winner.

Answer 2

9

AL

1977--Sparky Lyle

1981--Rollie Fingers

1984--Willie Hernandez

1992--Dennis Eckersley

NL

1974--Mike Marshall

1979--Bruce Sutter

1987--Steve Bedrosian

1989--Mark Davis

2003--Eric Gagne

Mike Marshall, 1974. The year of Marshall's 106 games and 200-plus relief innings. Also only two NL guys with 20 wins, Andy Messersmith and Phil Niekro. Kind of a wimpy year for starters.

- Sparky Lyle, 1977. Three AL pitchers with exactly 20 wins this year: Jim Palmer, Dennis Leonard and Dave Goltz. Palmer had already won three Cy Youngs in his career, and it was kind of a ho-hum year for him. Both Leonard and Goltz had ERAs in the threes, which wasn't so grand back then.

- Bruce Sutter, 1979. This is a really strange year. It's the only time that a reliever won the Cy Young but didn't lead all pitchers in MVP points. Joe Niekro was the phantom Cy Young on the strength of a 21-11 record, and he finished a close second to Sutter in the real Cy Young vote. Brother Phil also won 21 games, but then again he also lost 20. They were the only NL pitchers with over 18 wins.

- Rollie Fingers, 1981. The strike meant that not one pitcher had even 15 wins, and four AL pitchers tied with 14. A perfect year for a closer to sneak in and win the award. In fact, Fingers was also the AL MVP, beating Rickey Henderson in one of the closest races on record and no doubt helped by the strike-deflated offensive numbers. (As for Fingers' own stats, he threw 78 innings with a 1.04 ERA and a league-best 28 saves. In a strike year, the closer with the eye-popping stats has an edge.)

- Willie Hernandez, 1984. Hernandez also won the MVP award this year, the second of only three actual closers to ever do that. He was brilliant for the juggernaut Tigers, and just as importantly, Mike Boddicker was the league's lone 20-game winner. The Cy Young runner-up, Dan Quisenberry, was also a reliever. Incidentally, Quiz finished third in the MVP vote.

- Steve Bedrosian, 1987. Rick Sutcliffe led the NL with a mere 18 wins. In a wide-open year, Bedrosian picked off the Cy Young.

- Mark Davis, 1989. Another weak year for starters. Mike Scott was the only 20-game winner in the NL, and he didn't even finish in the top 10 in ERA.

- Dennis Eckersley, 1992. The last closer to win the MVP award. And while Eck was brilliant, we once again have an unimpressive field of starting pitchers. Yes, Jack Morris and Kevin Brown won 21 games apiece and Jack McDowell notched 20, but Morris had a 4.04 ERA and Brown and McDowell were in the threes and didn't look like aces.

- Eric Gagne, 2003. Boy, they sure quit giving Cy Youngs to relievers, didn't they? This year, only Russ Ortiz reached 20 wins, and with a 3.81 ERA and an ugly 149-102 strikeout-to-walk ratio, he was nobody's Cy Young. And of course, Gagne had captured the imagination of the Baseball world.

Answer 3

Roger Clemens won 7 Cy Young Awards, and is the only pitcher to have won at least 6 times.

Answer 4

Don Newcombe (1956)