The Baseball Almanac is proud to showcase the pitchers who have achieved 20 wins in the National League from 1976 to 2018. "He (Gaylord Perry) gave me a Vaseline jar. I thanked him and handed him some sandpaper." -Donald Sutton (one-time National League twenty-game winner) on why he invited Perry to join him at his motel room after the Giants' loss in San Francisco on Oct. 7, 1976.
Perry's debut with the Giants was not exactly what you would call memorable. He allowed seven runs (six earned) on 26 hits and nine walks while recording only one strikeout over eight innings. However, he did not receive any decision credits for this game because there were only six pitchers used by each team. The next year, Gayle Perry joined the staff as an assistant and they became known as "the Vaseline Brothers" because they both used the ointment to help control their wildness.
In 1979, Gayle Perry had one of the best seasons ever by a pitcher with 30 wins against only three losses with a 2.86 ERA. He finished second in MVP voting that year being beaten out by Steve Garvey of the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1988, Perry won the NL Cy Young Award after having 34 wins against only five losses with a 1.80 ERA. He was the first pitcher to win the award since Robin Roberts in 1947.
Wood and Young are the franchise's only 30-game winners. Several pitchers have won 20 or more games in a season more than once. Young accomplished this feat six times on his route to a record 511 victories and having an award named after him on his journey to the Hall of Fame.
The last time that someone won 20 games in a season was in 2007 when Roy Halladay did so with the Philadelphia Phillies. He finished with 21 wins against just 7 losses that year.
Wood won 20 games three times, in 1904, 1905, and 1906. He also led the league in wins three years in a row from 1902-04. His 305 career wins are still fourth all-time behind Greg Maddux (386), Roger Clemens (357), and Tom Seaver (344).
Young won 20 games five times, in 1884, 1886, 1888, 1889, and 1890. He is the only pitcher in MLB history to win 20 games in each of his first four seasons. His 509 career wins are second only to Grover Cleveland Alexander (542).
Joe DiMaggio and Carl Yastrzemski were both 20-game winners for the Boston Red Sox. Only two other players have been 20-game winners for their teams: Billy Pierce and Gaylord Perry. Both of them did it twice.
Young, Cyril With 511 wins, Cy Young owns the MLB record; Walter Johnson is second with 417. Young and Johnson are the only players with 400 or more victories. Warren Spahn has the most victories (363) among pitchers who spent their whole careers in the post-1920 live-ball era. Spahn was a five-time All-Star and two-time winner of the Golden Spikes Award.
Spahn's tenure coincided with those of three other great left-handers: Bob Feller, Jim Palmer, and Steve Carlton. All four won at least three World Series rings during their careers. In addition, Spahn pitched in two World War II games for the American army.
During his 20-year career, Young played in 2,632 games and had 25 years until he retired. He led the league in victories six times and earned five votes in the MVP balloting. After his retirement, Young became one of baseball's first statistical analysts by compiling statistics on batting averages, hits, errors, and many other sabermetric stats. He also designed the first baseball computer game, which was released in 1972 by IBM for its mainframe computers.
Johnson was an eight-time all-star and won the award in 1955 when it was known as the Most Valuable Player Award. He also won the award twice more after it was rebranded as the Cy Young Award in 1959.
Teams are concerned about safeguarding their multimillion-dollar assets. In today's game, a 20-win season is considered a highly good season. Batters are much more schooled than pitchers were in the early days of the major leagues, therefore pitchers do not have as much of an edge as they formerly had.
McLain led the Detroit Tigers to the World Series with a 31-6 record. Many feel that there will never be another 30-game winner in Major League Baseball. One explanation is that pitchers are now so well compensated that teams are less likely to put a pitcher out frequently enough to have a realistic chance of winning 30 games in a season.
Nichols and Radbourn's streaks go back to the beginning of their careers; they are the only pitchers to begin their careers with seven straight seasons of 20 wins. In most cases, a winning percentage is calculated to the thousandth place.
One explanation is that pitchers are now so well compensated that teams are less likely to put a pitcher out frequently enough to have a realistic chance of winning 30 games in a season. Teams are concerned about safeguarding their multimillion-dollar assets. In today's game, a 20-win season is considered a highly good season.
Teams are concerned about safeguarding their multimillion-dollar assets. In today's game, a 20-win season is considered a highly good season. Batters are much more schooled than pitchers were in the early days of the major leagues, therefore pitchers do not have as much of an edge as they formerly had.
The entire list of all 30-game winners in organized baseball history.
Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, and Pat Dobson were the last Major League Baseball team to have four 20-game winners in a season in 1971. How many MLB clubs have had four 20-game winning streaks in a single season? Only four other teams have had three: the New York Yankees (1936), Boston Red Sox (1937-38), Chicago White Sox (1969).
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland. They play in the American League (AL) as a member of the AL East division with the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, and Washington Nationals. The Orioles won the first two games of the 1970 World Series against the New York Mets, but they lost the next two games to finish at one win and two losses.
In April 2011, manager Buck Showalter announced that Steve Pearce would be getting most of the starts at third base while Manny Machado recovered from an ankle injury. Pearce started all 92 games at third base and hit.275 with 26 RBI's and 9 homeruns. Machado played in only 70 games and finished with a.282 average, 32 RBI's, and 10 homeruns.
Pearce was named the AL MVP after hitting.330 with 39 HR's and 102 RBI's. First baseman Chris Davis was second in voting with 89 points.
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