To me, it always seemed that the MVP was more for batters and the Cy Young for pitchers. There have, of course, been some years where the MVP was won by a pitcher, which means that the same guy won both awards. What would it have looked like, though, if the MVP was just for batters and the Cy Young just for pitchers?
This post looks at those years when a pitcher won the MVP as well as the Cy Young. My main goal is to see who that MVP batter might have been. I’ll do that in a pretty straightforward way – just see what batter came in 2nd in MVP voting. I’ll also, though, take a good look at WAR & other stats as well.
Note that some of those batters were actually superior to some of those pitchers. In other cases, though, the pitcher really did deserve both awards. I’ll start with the years where the pitcher really was superior, then move to those where that was decidedly less so.
1968 AL – Bob Gibson (11.9 WAR)
- MVP #2 – Pete Rose (5.5)
- Batting WAR leader – Roberto Clemente (8.2)
It was the Year of the Pitcher, so this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Gibson did, indeed, win 22 games, finish with a 710 winning percentage, and lead the league in Ks (268), WHIP (0.853), and ERA (1.12). That last number is, in fact, a record for the modern era.
Now, Clemente didn’t lead the league in anything that year other than WAR. In fact, he batted under 300, had less than 20 HRs, and didn’t even make the All Star team. Players with gaudier numbers (but lower WARs) included:
- Pete Rose, who led the league in average & hits
- Willie McCovey, who led the league in HRs & RBIs, came in 3rd in MVP voting & also in WAR (7.0)
All 3 have 1 other MVP award.
2014 NL – Clayton Kershaw (8.2 WAR)
- MVP #2 – Giancarlo Stanton
- Batting WAR leader – Giancarlo Stanton & Anthony Rendon (6.5)
Kershaw’s season was actually somewhat comparable to Gibson’s. Kershaw led the league in winning percentage (875, on a 21-3 record), ERA (1.77) & WHIP (0.857).
Stanton led the league in homers, with 37, got over 100 RBIs, but did not crack 300 (288). Anthony Rendon led the league in runs (111), but actually did not receive any MVP votes.
Right on their tails, at 6.4, were Andrew McCutchen & Jonathan Lucroy. They came in, respectively, 3rd and 4th in MVP voting.
Stanton has 1 other MVP, as does McCutchen.
1971 AL – Vida Blue (9.0 WAR)
- MVP #2 – Sal Bando (6.4)
- Batting WAR leader – Graig Nettles (7.5)
- Pitching WAR leader – Wilbur Wood (11.8)
Blue had an incredible season. He lead the league in ERA (1.82), got over 300 Ks (301) & finished with a 24-8 record.
Hard to believe, though, that he was actually behind Wood in WAR. Wood also won 20 (22, to be exact) & had a sub-200 ERA (1.91). Interestingly, a 3rd guy, Mickey Lolich, led the league in wins (25) & Ks (308). Lolich & Wood came in 2nd & 3rd, respectively, in voting for the Cy Young.
It was a weird year offensively as well. First, Nettles wasn’t first in anything, and came in a very low 28th in MVP voting. Ditto with Sal Bando, at least on that 1st part. League leaders included Bill Melton (33 HRs, 5.7 WAR), Harmon Killebrew (119 RBIS, 2.8 WAR) & Tony Oliva (337 BA, 3.7 WAR).
Killebrew’s the only 1 of these guys to have an MVP.
1986 AL – Roger Clemens (8.8 WAR)
- MVP #2 – Don Mattingly (7.2)
- Batting WAR leader – Wade Boggs (8.1)
- Pitching WAR leader – Teddy Higuera (9.4)
Clemens had an excellent season as well. He led the league in wins (24), winning percentage (857), ERA (2.48) & WHIP (0.969). Interestingly, though, he came in 2nd in WAR, to Higuera, who actually didn’t lead the league in anything (not totally sure what that was all about).
Mattingly was the league leader in hits (238), OPS (967) & total bases (388). Boggs led the AL with an incredible BA of 357 and OBP of 453.
Mattingly’s the only guy other than Clemens with an MVP.
2011 AL – Justin Verlander (8.2 WAR)
- MVP #2 – Jacoby Ellsbury
- Batting WAR leader – Jacoby Ellsbury & Jose Bautista (8.3)
Surprisingly, Verlander’s our 1st triple crown winner. Indeed, he led the league in wins (24), ERA (2.40) & strikeouts (250), while also doing the same for winning percentage (838) & WHIP (0.920).
Ellsbury led the league in total bases (364) & plate appearances (732), but also got over 30 homers & 100 RBIs, hitting over 300 as well. League leaders in more standard stats were all over the place – Jose Bautistia with HRs (43), Curtis Granderson with RBIs (119. 6.1 WAR) & Miguel Cabrera with BA (344, 7.6 WAR). Those 3 came in, respectively, 3rd, 4th & 5th in MVP voting.
Cabrera’s the only one of this group with another MVP, winning it twice.
1956 NL – Don Newcombe (5.3 WAR)
- MVP #2 – Sal Maglie (4.9)
- Batting WAR leader – Duke Snider & Willie Mays (7.6)
- Pitching WAR leader – Johnny Antonelli (6.4)
This one is so weird. First, Newcombe does deserve plenty of credit for leading the league in wins (an incredible 27), winning percentage (794) & WHIP (0.989). At the same time, though, 5 pitchers outranked him in WAR – Antonelli, Bob Friend (5.6), Warren Spahn (5.5), Sal Maglie & Ron Kline (4.9). None of the 5, however, were league leaders in anything (except for Kline, who tied for the lead in losses and wild pitches!).
On the offensive side, Hank Aaron came in 3rd in MVP voting. He also led the league in hits (200), BA (328) & TBs (340). Snider led the NL in homers (43) & OPS (997), but only came in 10th in MVP voting. Mays led the league in SBs (40), socked 36 homers, but came in 17th in MVP voting.
Both Mays & Aaron have other MVPs – Mays with 2 & Aaron with 1.
1981 AL – Rollie Fingers (4.2 WAR)
- MVP #2 – Rickey Henderson (6.7)
- Batting WAR leader – Rickey Henderson & Dwight Evans (6.7)
- Pitching WAR leader – Bert Blyleven (5.6)
Well, it was a shortened season. Maybe that explains some of the craziness.
Fingers did lead the league in saves (28), but that was about it. Now, they only played 2/3 of a season that year, so maybe the thinking was that Fingers would have set a new saves record if the season had been a full one. Indeed, he would have finished with 42, topping John Hiller’s record of 38.
That said, 3 guys had better WARs – Blyleven, Steve McCarty (4.5) & Dave Stieb (4.4). McCarty was the only league leader, though, in wins (14) & ERA (2.33).
Offensively, Henderson led the AL in runs (89), hits (135) & steals (56), all while batting 319. Evans led in homers (22) & OPS (937), and came in 3rd in MVP voting.
Henderson has 1 other MVP award.
1968 AL – Denny McLain (7.4 WAR)
- MVP #2 – Bill Freehan (6.9)
- Batting WAR leader – Carl Yastrzemski (10.5)
- Pitching WAR leader – Luis Tiant (8.5)
Well, it’s hard to argue with 30+ wins. McLain also led the league in winning percentage (838), IPs (336!) & complete games (28!!). Tiant, though, led in ERA (1.60) and also won 21. Though he finished 5th in MVP voting, he got no votes for Cy Young (McLain got ‘em all).
Freehan didn’t lead the league in anything other than HBP. He did come in 3rd in WAR though.
Yaz led the AL in BA (301 – the only guy over 300) & OPS (922). He came in 9th in MVP voting however. He has 1 other MVP.
1992 AL – Dennis Eckersley (2.9 WAR)
- MVP #2 & batting WAR leader – Kirby Puckett (7.1)
- Pitching WAR leader – Roger Clemens (8.7)
Huh? Is this an error? How in the world did this happen?
Well, Eckersley did have 51 saves. That, however, was no new record (Bobby Thigpen had 57 in 1990). Also, would you believe there were 25 pitchers ahead of Eck relative to WAR (including 3 other relievers)?
In addition to WAR, Clemens led AL pitchers in ERA (2.41) & WHIP (1.074). He came in 14th in MVP voting & 3rd in Cy Young.
Offensively, Puckett led the league only in hits (210), though he also batted a fine 329 & had over 100 RBIs (110, to be exact). Frank Thomas was pretty close behind him, at 7.0 WAR & leading the AL in OPS (975).
The rest of the league leaders were all over the place:
- HRs – Juan Gonzalez, 43 (2.9 WAR)
- RBIs – Cecil Fielder, 124 (2.8 WAR)
- Average – Edgar Martinez, 343 (6.5 WAR)
Clemens already had 1 MVP, with Thomas & Gonzalez both having 2.
