Boston Red Sox Cy Young Award winners before it existed
By Rick McNair
1916 The Babe
Babe Ruth was considered in his short pitching span as possibly the best left-hander in the league and maybe all of baseball. In 1916 the young Ruth was a key pitcher for another Red Sox championship and certainly could be considered worthy of a pitching award.
The two best in the league if you use rWAR were Johnson at 9.7 and Ruth at 8.7, but Ruth held his own or surpassed Johnson in several categories. Start with Ruth’s record of 23-12 and a .657 winning percentage – still considered an important indicator. Johnson finished 25-20 (.556).
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Ruth topped the charts with a 1.75 earned run average and Johnson was close behind at 1.90. Neither allowed a home run for the entire season – dead ball era or not that is an achievement especially considering innings pitched. Johnson led the league in frames tossed with 369.2 and Ruth totaled 323.2.
Ruth also led the league in shutouts with nine and games started with 40. Johnson posted a WHIP of 1.006 to Ruth’s 1.075. The Senators were also a sub .500 team so the argument that Johnson was being punished for the failure of teammates could be applied and is certainly reflected in rWAR.
When you think Ruth the first thought is towering home runs and Ruth hit three that season and had 16 RBI to go along with a .272 average. Johnson could also hit and slammed 24 home runs in his long major league career. For 1916 it was one home run, seven RBI, and a .225 average.
Ruth had the advantage of a better team, but if I had a vote I’d go Ruth and then Johnson.