In the National League, Carlton was once again on top of the NL pitching world, winning his second Cy Young with a brilliant 1977 campaign, leading the league with 23 wins while posting a 2.64 earned run average and 198 strikeouts over his 36 starts and 283 innings pitched.
Of course, he would go on to win two more awards, becoming the first pitcher ever to do so since the award was established in 1956, on his way to becoming one of the greatest lefty-pitchers of all-time with 329 wins and 4136 strikeouts over 24 seasons of Big League ball.
Needless to say Cooperstown was a lock by the time he was eligible, getting picked on 436 of 456 ballots in 1994, ensuring his place in baseball immortality.
Over in the American League, it was a bit of a “first”, as Sparky Lyle of the New York Yankees became the first relief pitcher in that league’s history to win the award, edging out two-time reigning king Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles.
Lyle had an amazing season for the eventual World Champs, posting a record of 13-5 with a 2.17 earned run average and 26 saves over 72 games and 137 innings pitched, all out of the bullpen of course.
As a matter of fact all of his 899 Major League appearances over his 16-year career would be out of the ‘pen, as he’d finish his career with a record of 99-76, with a very nice 2.88 ERA and 238 saves between 1967 and 1982.
It was a bit of a bittersweet award win for Lyle however, as the Yankees would soon acquire another all-star reliever, Rich Gossage.
This would lead to one of the great baseball quotes of the decade when third baseman Graig Nettles said to Lyle: “You went from Cy Young to Cy-onara”.
Classic, and true, as Lyle was shipped off to the Texas Rangers after the 1978 season in a trade that would net them, among others, a young pitcher named Dave Righetti, ironically enough the arm that would take over for Rich Gossage out of the bullpen years later.
