And Randy Johnson with Ks in 1998.

And of course, to bring it back to an earlier topic of conversation, Rick Sutcliffe did it with wins in 1984, the year he stole the Cy Young award from Dwight Gooden.

Denny McLain didn't get any Cy Young votes outside of the two years he won it. He did get MVP votes in another year, but that was before there were two Cy Youngs.

Sabathia did it with IP, complete games and shutouts in 2008.

This is true for IP and CG, but, with regard to shutouts, Sabathia accomplished the even rarer feat of leading both the NL and the AL.

This is true for IP and CG, but, with regard to shutouts, Sabathia accomplished the even rarer feat of leading both the NL and the AL.

Wow, you're right. He also led the NL in complete games.

Harper is a great story, but I missed some of the details of his career. Obviously the Nats did well to bring him to the big club in 2012, but after he moved from A ball to AA in 2011 his stats plummeted, and his AAA start to the 2012 season was very poor, with an OPS of .690. His MLE's must have suggested a worse than replacement level hitter at that point.

What was it about his game that made the Nats so certain that he was ready for the bigs so early in 2012?

#55

The ability to hit 500 foot homers at the age of 16 had something to do with it.

Tell that to Jeff malm.

I can't believe 1984 was almost 30 years ago now. Seems like yesterday...

Denny McLain didn't get any Cy Young votes outside of the two years he won it. He did get MVP votes in another year, but that was before there were two Cy Youngs.

Roger Maris got 2 firsts and a T-25 in the only 3 years he got MVP votes.

I can't believe 1984 was almost 30 years ago now. Seems like yesterday...

Someone posted on my facebook today, "I still think 1990 was 10 years ago". I know how that feels.

It blows my mind that Spike Owen had more career WAR than Shawon Dunston

Harper's upcoming season...?

"That's a clown question, bro."

Someone posted on my facebook today, "I still think 1990 was 10 years ago". I know how that feels.

Sh!t, I still think 1970 was 10 years ago.

Same with Jake Peavy and the Cy Young IIRC

The following pitchers have done this (won a Cy Young, and received no Cy Young votes in any other season):
* = still active

Jake Peavy *
R.A. Dickey *
Mark Davis
John Denny
Mike McCormick
Jim Lonborg
Bob Turley
Don Newcombe
Early Wynn
Vern Law
Don Drysdale
Dean Chance
Steve Stone
Willie Hernandez
Barry Zito *
Zack Greinke *

The 80s feel like they were 30 years ago. The 90s feel like they were 20 years ago. Things from that time period look and sound like they are dated (which isn't to say they are bad).

But stuff from 5-10 years ago, which is about the time I began to lose touch with pop culture, often surprises me. I think of Daniel Craig as the "new" Bond even though he's played the role for 7 years now. Stuff like that.

It's not the time so much as the perception of stuff that boggles my brain. The idea that a kid today looks at Seinfeld the way I looked at Bewitched or that Nirvana is older than the "oldies" my mother used to listen to on Saturday nights kills me.

Also, a general question: Gooden struck out 11.4 batters per nine innings as a rookie, but then dropped to 8.7 K/9 the next year and then 7.2 K/9 the next year, averaging about 7.5-8 K/9 after his rookie year and before getting hurt. Is there precedent for a pitcher losing over 2.5 K/9 immediately following his rookie year, and never again getting back to the level he was at as a rookie?

Tom Griffin comes to mind, although I don't know if his drop in K-rate was the result of an injury. He K'd 9.6/9 as a rookie in 1969 (the K rate was second only to Koufax and McDowell at that point), striking out 200 in 188 IP. The next year he dropped to 5.8, and never again got higher than 7.9.

Nirvana is older than the "oldies" my mother used to listen to on Saturday nights

I'm not sure if I can put this into words properly, so this may ramble on a bit. When I was a teenager in the mid-80's, there were pop stations (B96), rock stations (The Loop, WCKG), and Oldies stations (um... I can't remember which). The oldies station played 30 year old songs and my parents listened to them. I never really liked oldies that much, and no other teenagers did. Some teenagers listened to pop and some listened to rock, but of course, the rock was Zeppelin and stuff, so only 10-15 years old. I don't really recall The Loop playing too much then-current rock (Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams) except from established artists like Tom Petty, Styx, and the like. Maybe they did a little, but not much. And WCKG had a policy, I think, that they wouldn't play anything less than 5 years old.

So even though my parents played the oldies on the radio, nobody I knew was really into it. That's not to say that it was bad or intolerable to teenage ears, but it clearly wasn't a favorite.

Fast forward to now. I have kids ranging from 8-14. They listed to current pop, of course. But they also love Bon Jovi. They can all sing Come Sail Away. My 12-year old daughter asks me to stop switching channels when Free Fallin comes on. Don't Stop Believin is in the top 5 most played on my iTunes account because my 14-year old listens to it all the time.

Now, clearly some of this is my influence because I'm not really into the early classic rock of the 70's. My wheelhouse is in the 80's when I was 12-16 years old (go figure, right?). I gravitated toward the rock music of the time. I fully admit that I like my rock tinged with pop (Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, Journey, Styx). But there's plenty of stuff I listen to that they make me turn off. So I don't think it's purely exposure.

I guess I'm saying that I always assumed that in the grand tradition of hating everything your parents like, that my kids wouldn't like my music. But they do. Anyway, not sure what my point is...

The following pitchers have done this (won a Cy Young, and received no Cy Young votes in any other season):

This is a little unfair to the older pitchers, since voters only listed one name on their ballot until 1970. Don Drysdale, for example, was fifth in the MVP voting in 1965, but got no Cy Young votes because Koufax was a unanimous selection.

When I was a teenager in the mid-80's, there were pop stations (B96), rock stations (The Loop, WCKG), and Oldies stations (um... I can't remember which).

Magic 104. I spent an entire summer in college listening to Magic 104. Where else were you going to hear "Don't Sleep in the Subway"?

This is a little unfair to the older pitchers, since voters only listed one name on their ballot until 1970. Don Drysdale, for example, was fifth in the MVP voting in 1965, but got no Cy Young votes because Koufax was a unanimous selection.

And only 1 pitcher per league until 1967. In 1966, Jim Kaat led the AL in wins (by 5), and innings (by 40), and didn't get a single vote because the guy in the NL got them all.

Fast forward to now. I have kids ranging from 8-14. They listed to current pop, of course. But they also love Bon Jovi. They can all sing Come Sail Away. My 12-year old daughter asks me to stop switching channels when Free Fallin comes on. Don't Stop Believin is in the top 5 most played on my iTunes account because my 14-year old listens to it all the time.

I think that the radio stations have done a better job(outside of strictly pop stations) of playing older music within the genre of their station, than they used to in the past. In St Louis we have only one alternative station and they play a wide age range of alternative music. We have only one real rock radio and yes they play too much old ####(Boston is one of their most played bands...I don't even think the city of Boston plays Boston as much we get in St Louis) but they have no problems playing the new stuff either.

Although my teenage niece has stated she knows 70's music more than she knows 80s-90's music(me and her mom were arguing about the lifespan and quality of the different decades, I consider the 70's to be the weakest decade for rock music, she thinks it's the strongest, with 1976(?) being the single best year in music history) I also have a job that involves travelling(and no satellite radio, and I hate listening to cd's in the car unless I have to) and many cities have stations that do a fairly good job of mixing music regardless of age. Yes you still get overplay of the new popular of their genre, but they mix it up a lot more(one of my favorite stations was in Kansas, that in a 5 song mix, played 5 songs from 5 different decades...they didn't say they were doing something like that, it's just something we noticed, they rarely played two songs from the same decade back to back)

[55] What was it about his game that made the Nats so certain that he was ready for the bigs so early in 2012?

They didn't plan to. They were hoping to get him half a season or so in the minors -- some arb-related, some development-related. But Mike Morse was out, and the left fielders they had (Xavier Nady, primarily) were utterly terrible. When Ryan Zimmerman went down, they felt they needed another bat, so they gave him a shot, figuring that he'd be an upgrade over what they had in left. I think the plan was to give him a few weeks while Zimmerman recovered, then send him down. But he hit so well, and played so audaciously, that they kept him up.

This is true for IP and CG, but, with regard to shutouts, Sabathia accomplished the even rarer feat of leading both the NL and the AL.

Has anyone else ever led the same category in both leagues in the same season (hell, has anyone ever led two different categories in different leagues in the same season)? I would have to guess CC's got himself a feat that may genuinely never be duplicated.

I think that the radio stations have done a better job(outside of strictly pop stations) of playing older music within the genre of their station, than they used to in the past.

I'd argue that they do a worse job of playing new music, myself. Radio ain't for the kids like it used to be...

I'd argue that they do a worse job of playing new music, myself. Radio ain't for the kids like it used to be...

I can see that.

This is true for IP and CG, but, with regard to shutouts, Sabathia accomplished the even rarer feat of leading both the NL and the AL.

This is one of the coolest statistical tidbits I've ever heard.