The closest of votes
The Phillies’ Steve Bedrosian (Stephen Dunn photo)
A mere two points decides the National League Cy Young Award 37 years ago today with Philadelphia Phillies closer Steve Bedrosian getting 57 points compared to the 55 that Chicago Cubs starter Rick Sutcliffe receives for the 1987 award.
Rick Reuschel, the erstwhile Pittsburgh starter, is third with 54 points.
The trio combines for 21 first-place votes on the 24 ballots cast by two beat writers in each of the National League’s 12 cities.
The vote is the closest since the first Cy Young Award is handed out in 1956.
Bedrosian joins the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Mike Marshall (1974) and the Cubs’ Bruce Sutter (1979) as the only National League relievers up to that point to win the award. San Diego’s Mark Davis (1989) and the Dodgers’ Eric Gagne (2003) since join the list of closers to win the National League Cy Young Award.
Rick Sutcliffe
Only four relievers win the award in the American League – the New York Yankees’ Sparky Lyle (1977), Milwaukee’s Rollie Fingers (1981), Detroit’s Willie Hernandez (1984) and Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley (1992).
Bedrosian earns the 1987 award after saving a Major League-high 40 games with a 2.83 earned-run average for a mediocre Philadelphia team that finishes 80-82 and 15 games behind National League East-winning St. Louis.
As for Sutcliffe, he wins a National League-high 18 games with a 3.68 ERA for the 76-85 – and last-place – Cubs.
Reuschel, the third-place finisher, splits the season between Pittsburgh and San Francisco, going 13-9 with a 3.09 ERA.
Roger Clemens easily wins the American League award in 1987 after going 20-9 for the Boston Red Sox with a Major League-leading 18 complete games and seven shutouts. He nearly doubles up the vote total of runner-up Jimmy Key of Toronto.
Bedrosian – on top of his $1 million salary – earns $225,000 in bonuses from the Phillies for earning a spot on the National League All-Star team, and then winning both the Cy Young and Rolaids Relief Man of the Year awards.
Bedrosian, Sutcliffe and Reuschel are the best in what otherwise is a down season for pitchers in the National League, but that hardly is a concern for Bedrosian.
“I’m not going to say that I backed into it,” Bedrosian tells The Sporting News at the time. “I’m not looking at what starting pitchers did or didn’t do this year. I’m looking at what I was able to accomplish.”