MOST PITCHERS RECEIVING FIRST-PLACE VOTES IN A SEASON
Jim Perry had the lowest number of first-place votes (6 in 1970) for a Cy winner since the ranked-choice voting started in 1970. That first season that the baseball writers had the option to vote for several places also resulted in the most different pitchers receiving a first-place vote, which contributed to limiting Perry to six.
Seven A.L. pitchers received first-place votes in 1970. They were (in order of total vote points): Perry (6), Dave McNally (5), Sam McDowell (4), Mike Cuellar (6), Jim Palmer (1), Clyde Wright (1), Ron Perranoski (Perry’s Minnesota teammate, 1).
In two seasons, six pitchers have received first-place votes. This happened in the A.L. in 1972 and 1977.
PITCHERS TO RECEIVE CY VOTES FOR AT LEAST THREE DIFFERENT TEAMS
4
Roger Clemens (Boston, Toronto, Houston, New York Yankees – won with all four)
Kevin Brown (Florida, L.A. Dodgers, San Diego, Texas)
David Cone (Kansas City, New York Mets, New York Yankees/Toronto – if you count both during his split 1995 season)
3
Zack Grienke, Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Curt Schilling, Goose Gossage, Gaylord Perry, Jack Morris, Bert Blyleven, Mike Marshall
HELPED BY SOLID DEFENSE
From 1956 through 2019, 690 starting pitchers (several multiple times) received votes for the Cy Young Award. Only five of them completed the season without allowing one unearned run. Oddly, of those five instances, two belong to Francisco Liriano.
In 2010, the left-handed Liriano pitched 191.2 innings for the Twins, and received one point in Cy voting after going 14-10. In 2013, Liriano pitched 161 innings for Pittsburgh, went 16-8 and earned three Cy voting points.
MOST CAREER INNINGS NOT TO PLACE IN THE TOP 5 OF CY VOTING (SINCE 1970)
Some pitchers had the combination of enough of a rubber arm to survive for a long time in the majors, but not enough success to merit Cy Young Award attention.
Charlie Hough, 3801 innings, and Livan Hernandez, 3189 innings, lead this dubious distinction.