We're up to 1965 on my Cy Young sub-set for the 1975 set, and once
again we are visited by Mr. Sandy Koufax, who would have won his third
such award in a row had there been voting for both leagues back then.
Koufax is joined by Minnesota Twins pitcher Jim "Mudcat" Grant, who
was selected by the people at SABR as the probable winner in the
American League.
Take a look at my card design first:
For Koufax it was business as usual, as he posted another monster
season on the hill, going 26-8 with a 2.04 earned run average and a then
Major League record 382 strikeouts.
He also threw eight shutouts among his league-leading 27 complete games, and threw in two saves for good measure.
He also finished second behind Willie Mays for the National league
Most Valuable Player award, receiving six first-place votes to Mays'
nine.
After 30 some-odd years of looking at his stats I'm still blown away by them!
What a freaking run of domination.
Over in the American League, Jim Grant came out of nowhere to post
what is easily his best year as a Major League pitcher, going 21-7 with a
3.30 E.R.A., a league-leading six shutouts and 142 strikeouts.
Up until the 1965 season, Grant's top win total his previous seven seasons in the bigs was 15 in 1961 for the Cleveland Indians.
For HIS efforts in 1965 he finished sixth in M.V.P. voting, behind
teammate Zoilo Versalles in Minnesota's improbable run to the World
Series, where they lost to, (who else?), Sandy Koufax and his Los
Angeles Dodgers.
Next up, 1966, where the Twins and Dodgers are represented once
again, this time with Koufax being joined by Twins' pitcher Jim Kaat.
