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| As far as sure things go, Pedro Martinez' 1999 Cy Young Award ranks right up there with the pile of letters that Sports Illustrated will receive from angry librarians this winter a few days after the swimsuit issue arrives in the mailbox.
Martinez topped the American League with 23 victories, a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts. Add those up, and you get not only a Cy Young Award, but also the so-called "pitcher's Triple Crown," only the fifth we've seen since 1970. (Is it a coincidence that of those five pitcher's Triple Crowns, three have come in the last three years? Probably not.)
Let us expand the discussion a bit. Wins, ERA and strikeouts are certainly the flashiest pitcher statistics, but are they the best barometers of a pitcher's effectiveness? Who's better, the pitcher who goes 20-10, or the pitcher who goes 19-4? Most would say the latter. Who's better, the pitcher who goes 20-10 while pitching 220 innings, or the pitcher who goes 19-11 while pitching 270 innings? Most would say the latter.
So for the sake of argument, let's add winning percentage and innings pitched to the mix, thus giving us a pitcher's "Quintuple Crown." How many pitchers since expansion began in 1961 have managed the Quintuple Crown?
Just one. In 1965, Sandy Koufax topped the National League with 26 victories, a .765 winning percentage, 336 innings pitched, 382 strikeouts (still the National League record) and a 2.04 ERA.
Martinez did not lead the AL in all five categories last season. While his .852 winning percentage did top the league, he spent two weeks on the disabled list, and thus finished just eighth in the AL with 213 innings pitched.
Still, looking at what Martinez did in 1999, we find a season that has to rank among the best ever. For proof, one need look no further than his 2.07 ERA, compiled in a year that saw the hitters continue to run wild. Given that the American League ERA in 1999 was 4.87, even before adjusting for ballparks Martinez was 57.5 percent better than the league, a fairly amazing figure.
In fact, going back to 1961, we were only able to find 24 pitchers who won at least 20 games and posted an ERA that was at least 40 percent lower than the league average. Select company, indeed, and we'll see all 24 of those pitchers -- actually, it's 19 pitchers, and 24 pitcher seasons -- at the close of this article. But where does Martinez' season rank in comparison? Considering all five legs of the Quintuple Crown, here are my picks for the five greatest individual pitcher seasons since 1961:
1. Dwight Gooden, Mets, 1985 At 24-4, Gooden posted an .857 winning percentage that was just a hair behind that of Orel Hershiser, who went 19-3 (.864). However, Gooden did top the league in the other four legs of the Quintuple Crown, including a 1.53 ERA. He also topped the NL with those aforementioned 24 victories, along with 277 innings and 268 strikeouts. Gooden rates the slight edge over Martinez due to one more victory and 64 more innings pitched. 2. Pedro Martinez, Red Sox, 1999 An incredible season, given the combination of victories and ERA relative to his league. If you want, you can also throw in a number of fantastic performances down the stretch, with the Red Sox fighting for a postseason berth. The only down side was, as mentioned earlier, Martinez' relative dearth of innings. On the other hand, Martinez didn't exactly shirk his duties. While it's true that his 213 innings merely tied him for eighth in the American League, he was only seven innings -- that is, roughly one start -- behind Dave Burba, who ranked fourth in the league with 220 innings pitched. 3. Ron Guidry, Yankees, 1978 Ranks just behind Martinez, in large part because Guidry did half his pitching in Yankee Stadium, a good pitcher's park, while Martinez did half his pitching in Fenway Park, a great hitter's park. Still, Guidry's 25-3 record gave him an .893 winning percentage, the fifth-best of all time, and the highest ever for a pitcher with more than 30 starts. 4. Bob Gibson, Cardinals, 1968 One of baseball's most oft-asked questions is, "How did Bob Gibson post a 1.12 ERA in 1968 ... and lose nine games?" As you might expect, the answer involves poor luck, as eight of those nine losses were by one or two runs. And in seven of them, Gibson allowed three or fewer runs. 5. Roger Clemens, Blue Jays, 1997 At 21-7, Clemens posted a .750 winning percentage, which wasn't quite good enough to lead the AL. But those 21 victories did lead the AL, as did his 2.05 ERA, 297 strikeouts and 264 innings. Clemens took the pitcher's Triple Crown in 1997 ... and he did it again in 1998. Honorable Mention: Just missing the top five was Sandy Koufax, who went 27-9 with a 1.73 ERA in 1966, his last season. It was a great year for pitchers, and his home ballpark was a great stadium for pitchers. Another of our favorite seasons is Steve Carlton's 1972 campaign, wherein he won 27 games for a terrible Phillies team that went 32-87 when Carlton didn't get a decision. Also, Greg Maddux posted terrific seasons in 1994 and 1995, but failed to win 20 games either time because of the strike-shortened seasons. In 1995, he went 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA. He led the NL in four of the five Quintuple Crown categories, finishing third in strikeouts. Here are all 24 pitchers we found with at least 20 victories and an ERA at least 40 percent below league average (LgERA = League ERA; Ratio = pitcher's ERA/league ERA):
| ALSO SEE Ivan the Terrific edges Martinez for AL MVP
Pedro unanimous pick for AL Cy Young
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