By Paul Casey Gotham
****Remember, try this without research. Make like Wally, and release your inner James Joyce. Show us your stream of consciousness as you try to decipher the answer.
Major League pitchers from Chapman University – that is a short list. Cy Young award winners from Chapman University – that’s an even shorter list, but I am on those lists. I won 42 games in two years, but went a little unnoticed. The year I won 20 another guy had a “terrific” season. I finished second in Cy Young voting. One year later, I won 22. I pitched 25 complete games. I won the Cy Young but “The Bird” captured everyone’s imagination that year. You could say I pitched to contact – I led the league in innings pitched (315.1), yet I struck out just 93 and walked 50. Twenty-two wins is solid, but consider my team only won 73. If it wasn’t for the Braves, we would have finished in the cellar. Outside of those two years, my career was nothing special. In fact, one year I led the league in losses with 22. After winning the Cy Young, I pitched six more seasons and never had a winning record and never won more than 13 games.
Who am I?
I didn’t have a clue, looked it up, and would never have known it. But I ain’t spilling the beans. Good one though, Casey.
This is a tough one … gotta go way back to the memory banks. Here are the major clues: 1) this guy won the Cy Young likely in the mid ’70’s which is when Mark “The Bird” Fidrych came onto the scene in the AL, and 2) He pitched for one of the poorer teams in the National League Western Division, which back then included the Reds, Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Astros and Braves if I’m not mistaken. Well, he didn’t pitch for the Braves … we know that … which probably leaves 2 teams that he could’ve pitched for: Astros and Padres. If i recall correctly, both teams were always near bottom dwellers back then.
So … who comes to mind as soft-tossing control type pitchers who had some success, but not stellar careers, and won a Cy Young award with either Houston or SD?? Joe Niekro and Larry Dierker pitched for the Astros back then, I think. Can’t remember either winning the award. It’s even harder to remember and Padres pitchers from back then … except maybe when Dave Winfield came in for the mop up relief appearance in a blowout. But actually there was one guy who seemed to come out of nowhere to win the Cy Young for San Diego … was actually memorable because absolutely nobody saw it coming. A soft tossing left-hander named Randy Jones surprised everyone with great success and the Cy Young in the mid-’70s. Not sure of the year exactly. That’s my final answer.
Wally, I am impressed with all the facts you sifted through, even if the answer is not right, though I suspect it is.
A lot of things that stick in my sports memory are from Sports Illustrated, which I read cover-to-cover as a kid, and I still get SI today but don’t have as much time to read it. Sure enough, here’s a link to a SI cover story on Jones from 1976.
https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/featured/8493/index.htm
WALLY!!!!!!!!!! You da man!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You just upped the ante. 🙂