Named after the winningest pitcher in MLB history, the award was originally given to the best pitcher in baseball.
Warren Spahn was the second pitcher to win the award in 1957, but was the first left-handed pitcher to accomplish the feat.
Four years later, Whitey Ford became the second lefty to win the award.
Sandy Koufax was the first pitcher to win multiple Cy Young Awards when he took home the award in 1963, 1965, and 1966.
Since then, only five other lefties have won multiple Cy Young Awards: Randy Johnson (5), Steve Carlton (4), Clayton Kershaw (3), Tom Glavine (2), and Johan Santana (2).
1995/1999/2000/2001/2002
1972/1977/1980/1982
2011/2013/2014
1991/1998
Unfortunately there are six left-handed Cy Young Award winners signatures that I'm currently missing and Johan Santana happens to be one of them. He has a few signatures out there, but I'm not ready to spend $20+ on an on-card signature. Maybe one day.
Some of these guys are a little easier to find than others, but I'm confident that I'll be able to eventually add them to the rest of these guys:
Mike Cuellar: 1969 AL Cy Young Award Winner
Vida Blue: 1971 AL Cy Young Award Winner
Randy Jones: 1976 NL Cy Young Award Winner
Sparky Lyle: 1977 AL Cy Young Award Winner
Ron Guidry: 1978 AL Cy Young Award Winner
Mike Flanagan: 1979 AL Cy Young Award Winner
Fernando Valenzuela: 1981 NL Cy Young Award Winner
Willie Hernandez: 1984 AL Cy Young Award Winner
Barry Zito: 2002 AL Cy Young Award Winner
Cliff Lee: 2008 AL Cy Young Award Winner
David Price: 2012 AL Cy Young Award Winner
Dallas Keuchel: 2015 AL Cy Young Award Winner
And the newest addition to my collection...
Blake Snell: 2018 AL Cy Young Award Winner
Okay, it's your turn to chime in...
Who will be the next southpaw to win the Cy Young Award?
Do you think it'll finally be Chris Sale? How about Kyle Freeland (who was gosh darn good at Coors Field)? Or maybe Kershaw and/or Snell will bring home another one?
I realize it's not very likely... but I'd love to see Madison Bumgarner (unless he's traded to the Yankees) bounce back and win the National League Cy Young Award at least once during his career.
By the way, if you're interested... I found a really cool website that's dedicated to left-handed baseball players. It has some pretty interesting stuff if that's your cup of tea.
Well... that's it for today. Only one more day and one step closer until the weekend.
Until then... happy Thursday and sayonara!
It won't be a popular opinion, but I too would like to see MadBum win a Cy Young.
ReplyDeleteA lot of PC guys there, love those Braves!
ReplyDeleteVery nice collection here! I just want to point out that Fernando Valenzuela has the longest name and the nicest signature (maybe second to Sparky). while Barry Zito can hardly be bothered to scribble more than a sideways heart. smh.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to predict that the next lefty to win a CY will come from the AL East: Sale, Price, Snell again..or maybe James Paxton.
Amazing, amazing collection here, Fuji!
ReplyDeleteSale has been robbed twice in my opinion. He's due.
ReplyDeleteNeat idea for a collection! I’ll go with Paxton!
ReplyDeleteAs a long time Oriole fan I love the Cuellar card.
ReplyDeleteI'm a lefty and I'll be thrilled if Bumgarner never gets near a Cy Young.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t know you were a lefty. My son is a hardcore lefty. Have you visited the left-hand shop in downtown SFO along the waterfront?
ReplyDelete-Great post as always.....very informative.
ReplyDeleteGreat collection. I have a bunch of those but still envious of the Koufax.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable collection. Speechless.
ReplyDeletejon - if he does... i wonder if it'll be out here or in philly. either way, i'd be happy to see it happen
ReplyDeletejohn miller - me too. they're one of those teams that i quietly root for (although i was bummed to see kurt suzuki leave.
chris - great observations. i won't hold it against zito. he's a pretty cool dude. as long as it's not a yankee... i'd be okay with the winner coming out of the al east.
dennis - thanks! it's a work in progress
jedijeff - i'd be okay with that. love that guy.
the lost collector - ugh. it would me i'd need to add another yankees autograph to my collection. ;)
sg488 - the cuellar is actually a recent pickup. he doesn't have a lot of certified autographs out there.
night owl - lol. what if he's pitching for the phillies?
sumomenkoman - is it the one at pier 39? if so, yeah... but it's been five or six years.
alan deakins - thanks for supporting the blog.
hackenbush - i'd love to add another koufax one day. there's one in particular, but it doesn't come up for sale very often.
peter k steinberg - lol. thanks. autographs are one of my favorite things to collect.
Like the collection, my choice of course would be MadBum (as a Giant).
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are only looking for on card autos but if interested I could probably stand to trade my 2007 Ultra Autographics of Johan Santana. There is one on COMC if you want to see what it looks like:
https://www.comc.com/Cards/Baseball/2007/Fleer_Ultra_-_Autographics/AU-JS/Johan_Santana/3634709
Good luck on finishing this off.
arpsmith - i really hope he stays in the bay area... although radio personalities are pretty confident he's not going to be here much longer. as for the 2007 ultra autographics card of santana... it's a nice looking card. but you called it... i'm pretty much looking for an on-card speciment. thanks though. truly appreciate the offer.
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