A couple of days ago, I saw a tweet discussing Yankees’ legend Jorge Posada’s candidacy for the National Baseball Hall of Fame (trust me, this is going somewhere). Naturally, I went over to one of my favorite websites on the whole World Wide Web, Baseball Reference, to look at Posada’s statistics over his impressive 17-year MLB career. While Posada’s case for the Hall of Fame is admittedly an intriguing topic of discussion, I found (in my opinion) a much more interesting topic of conversation when I traversed over to Posada’s battery counterpart, Andy Pettitte’s, Baseball Reference page. Specifically, I was intrigued by Pettitte’s 1997 season.
Andy Pettitte’s age-25 season in 1997 is his best overall season; however, he received no accolades for this season. He did not win Cy Young, MVP, or Golden Glove, nor did he make the AL All-Star team. This got me thinking: “What is the best season in modern MLB history to not win any accolades?” For this article in particular, I decided to focus exclusively on pitchers, as Andy Pettitte was the inspiration for this exercise.
My criteria for this list are quite simple:
Timeframe: 1960-Present (Modern Baseball)
bWar >= 8.4 (Top 250 season for a pitcher in MLB History)
NOTE: 8+ bWAR is “MVP Quality” according to Baseball Reference
The player did not make an All-Star team or win any single-season award (MVP, Cy Young, GG, SS) for their performance in the selected season.
Andy Pettitte, 1997, New York Yankees, 8.4 bWAR
240.1 IP, 18-7, 2.88 ERA, 166 SO, 2.96 FIP, 1.240 WHIP, 156 ERA+
The above stat line did not result in a single accolade in 1997 for Andy Pettitte, and, even with revisionist history, I’m not sure he should have won any. The only egregious error award-wise for Pettitte’s 97’ season was the All-Star game. While Pettitte’s stats were not out of this world, by the time of the All-Star game (9-5, 3.10 ERA, 91 SO), he was clearly one of the best pitchers in the American League and deserving of a slot on the team.
Looking at the season-long awards, Cy Young and MVP, Pettitte unfortunately ran into a juggernaut in Roger Clemens. The Rocket’s 97’ season is possibly the best single-season pitching performance of the past 4 decades. While Pettitte’s 8.4 bWAR has him tied for the 250th best single season for pitchers since 1876, Clemens’ 11.4 bWAR (tied for the 10th highest since 1901) dwarfs this accomplishment. In other years, Pettitte may have taken home some hardware, but unfortunately, he had no shot against the Rocket.
Fortunately for Pettitte, his trophy case is pretty full. By the time of his retirement in 2012, Pettitte had 3 All-Star appearances, 5 World Series rings, and an ALCS MVP award to his name; none of those awards were for the 250th-best pitching season of all time, however.
Kevin Appier, 1993, Kansas City Royals, 9.3 bWAR
238.2 IP, 18-8, 2.56 ERA, 186 SO, 2.90 FIP, 1.106 WHIP, 179 ERA+
Kevin Appier, in 1992 and 1993, had a combined WAR of 17.3, ERA of 2.52, strikeout total of 336, and zero accolades. Appier failed to make the AL All-Star team in neither 92’ nor 93’ despite being clearly deserving of a spot in both seasons.
Unlike Pettitte in 97’, Appier is well within his rights to have a grievance with the AL Cy Young voters. Appier lost the 1993 AL Cy Young award to Jack McDowell of the Chicago White Sox. This one is pretty obvious in my opinion. The only claims McDowell has over Appier are his 22 wins to Appier’s 18 and McDowell’s 4 shutouts to Appier’s 0; however, Appier has the advantage in every other category. In fact, Appier led the entire American League in 5 separate categories (WAR, ERA, ERA+, FIP, HR/9). McDowell didn’t even have the second-best season in 93’ as Randy Johnson (6.6 WAR, 3.24 ERA, 308 SOs) was clearly the only competitor to Appier.
Two seasons later, Kevin Appier was finally awarded a spot on the AL All-Star team; his first and last appearance on an All-Star team. Kevin Appier had the 163rd-best season for a pitcher in MLB history in 1993, but he won zero accolades for it.
Dick Ellsworth, 1963, Chicago Cubs, 10.2 bWAR
290.2 IP, 22-10, 2.11 ERA, 185 SO, 2.63 FIP, 1.025, 167 ERA+
Dick Ellsworth’s 1963 season might be the single best example of a “one-season wonder” in the history of modern baseball. Ellsworth was an average at best pitcher during his 13-year MLB career from 1958 to 1971. However, for one season in 1963, Dick Ellsworth was one of the best pitchers of all time. In fact, Dick Ellsworth’s 10.2 bWAR in 1963 (the 45th highest of any pitcher since the 19th century ended and tied for the 100th highest of any pitcher in MLB history) was greater than his combined WAR in his other 12 MLB seasons.
Despite his incredible performance throughout the 1963 season, Ellsworth did not receive a single accolade. He was not selected as one of 7 pitchers to make the NL All-Star team, despite having a sub-2 ERA by the time of the game. He did not win the NL MVP. He did not win the MLB CY Young award. He won no awards for one of the best pitching seasons in MLB history. Who exactly stood in his way? A 6’2” Jewish man from Brooklyn, New York: Sandy Koufax.
Koufax had an incredible 1963 season, posting a 10.7 bWAR (29th-highest for a pitcher since 1901) and taking home the NL MVP award, as well as the MLB Cy Young award unanimously. Ellsworth was great, but Koufax (25-5, 1.88 ERA, 306 SO, 0.875 WHIP) was just simply better.
Ellsworth made the All-Star team the very next season in 1964; however, for his 1963 season, Dick Ellsworth received no accolades.
I find this phenomenon (which I am coining a “Pettitte Season”) of a player receiving no accolades for an all-time great season absolutely fascinating. If you feel the same way, let me know of some more examples in the comments. I will be working on a version for hitters as well, so make sure to look out for that coming soon.