MLB Trivia - 6/9/06

[Willie Bee]

Four pitchers have won 25 games in a season yet failed to win the Cy Young award for those seasons. Who are they?

HINT: Half of the four are in the Hall of Fame.

[Mudcat]

Coming up blank so far. Any number of guesses but they are all of the "wild" variety.

I'll throw 4 names out there just for the halibut (I'm not sure of their HOF status off the top of my head):

Don Drysdale
Ron Guidry
Mike Flanagan
John Smoltz

[tacomax]

WB - are any of these active pitchers?

Smoltz is a no-no. The year he won his CY Award he had his best ever total of 24 wins.

[Willie Bee]

None of the pitchers are active.

Guidry and Drysdale each picked up the CY hardware in their 25+ win seasons. Flanagan and Smoltz never won 25 games in a single season.

The four names I'm after are equally divided: half in the HOF, half not; and half of 'em southpaws with the other half righty's.

[moses millsap]

Is Bob Welch one of them with his 27-4 record? I believe his teammate, Dave Stewart, won that year.

[Willie Bee]

Welch's 27-6 season with the A's in 1990 was rewarded with the AL Cy Young. Clemens was second that year with Stewart third.

[Mudcat]

Bob Gibson? Warren Spahn?

(Just throwing darts at the board now.)

[Willie Bee]

Nope and Nope.

However, one of Gibson's phenomenal seasons is what kept one of these big winners from a Cy Young.

All four pitchers I'm seeking won 25+ games in the 1960-80 span and didn't win the CY.

[onlooker]

Cy Young has to be one right? He couldnt of won the award named after him.

[tacomax]

Cy Young has to be one right? He couldnt of won the award named after him.

I was going to name a load of pitchers from the early 1900's which would have been correct with the literal wording of the question.

Having said that, since I'm having no luck in getting the answers then that might be my next port of call.

[Willie Bee]

True 'dat, lòóker. Should have said something like, "Since the Cy Young award was handed out in 1956..."

Final hints: One the pitchers was a real dandy born in the Dominican; one of them had cat-like quickness as a fielder and won 16-straight Gold Gloves; one was ironically from the Great White North; and the fourth was a portly portsider who cracked his only MLB homer in a World Series game.

[moses millsap]

Jim Kaat

[tacomax]

one of them had cat-like quickness as a fielder and won 16-straight Gold Gloves

Jim Kaat.

EDIT - damn that time I spend quoting his post.

[Mudcat]

Fergie Jenkins? Jim Kaat?

[moses millsap]

Is Jose Rijo one?

[Willie Bee]

Kaat and Jenkins are correct.

Jim 'Kitty' Kaat went 25-13 in 1966 for the Twins and didn't even get a single vote for the Cy Young award that season. In '66, there was only one CY for both leagues to share, and Sandy Koufax was the unaninmous selection.

Fergie Jenkins was 25-12 for the Rangers in 1974 and finished second to Catfish Hunter for AL Cy Young honors.

No on Rijo. But his father-in-law is one of the missing pitchers on this list.

[Mudcat]

I thought of Marichal but thought he was from Venezuela for some reason.

[Willie Bee]

Juan Marichal had this happen to him thre times - 1963, 1966 and 1968. The Dominican Dandy went 25-8 in '63 and 25-6 in '66, losing to unanimous decisions by Koufax each of those two seasons. In 1968, Marichal was 26-9 and lost to Bob Gibson who was the unanimous pick for NL honors.

One more to go, the 'portly portsider.'

[Mudcat]

Mickey Lolich?

[Willie Bee]

Bingo! The Donut Man, who gave fat guys everywhere hope that they could be major leaguers, too, was 25-14 for the Tigers in 1971, making an amazing 45 starts with a 2.92 ERA, and finished second to Oakland rookie lefty-hander Vida Blue for the AL Cy Young. The top four finishers in the AL CY voting that year were lefties, with Wilbur Wood and Dave McNally joining Blue and Lolich.

[Mudcat]

Juan Marichal had this happen to him three times

Sucks to be him.