As all Giants fans know, way back in 1967 some fellow named Mike McCormick won the Cy Young award, the only SF Giant to do so until last year, when Lincecum earned that honor.
McCormick was a pretty good pitcher. He was one of those over-hyped teen phenoms, making his ML debut in September of '56 at the age of 17. His career lasted through '71 and he compiled 134 wins and 128 losses.
Things just fell his way in '67. It was the first year the Cy Young was split two ways, one for each league. Sandy Koufax had just retired, having won 3 out of the last 4 awards. Bob Gibson had an off year at 13-7, the only time he had fewer than 20 wins between '65 and '70. Teammates Marichal and Perry were both sub-par also, at 14-10 and 15-17 respectively.
In 1967 McCormick was 22-10 with an ERA of 2.85.
The Giants went 91-71 and , of course, finished second.
Jim Lonborg of the Red Sox won the AL Cy Young with a record of 22-9 and an ERA of 3.16.
Lincecum just won the pitcher of the month award and may be on his way to a second consecutive Cy Young. That would establish him as probably the best pitcher on the planet, something which could never have been said about Mike McCormick.
2 comments:
When I saw the card I thought it was Righetti. They sorta look alike.
Thanks for the info on a famous Giants name that we all probably knew nothing about.
The basis of most of my historical posts is I'll ask myself a question like, "Just who the heck was that Mike McCormick guy?" or "What was it like to go to the Polo Grounds?" or "Just how good was Christy Mathewson?"
In other words, I'm not showing off what I already know, I'm filling in the blanks of stuff I don't know. But now I DO know it, and I LIKE it.
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