Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
(Those are the colors of the Venezuelan flag.)
Well, the voters finally screwed up and got a major award completely right. Johan Santana was awarded the AL Cy Young by unanimous vote. I guess John Kruk didn’t get a vote.
Santana becomes the 18th man to win a Cy Young Award unanimously and the first Cy Young winner from Venezuela. Here are the records for all 18 unanimous winners:
| Name | Yr | Lg | W | L | ERA | K/BB | K/9IP | WHIP | Pitch WS |
| Sandy Koufax | 1963 | ML | 25 | 5 | 1.88 | 5.276 | 8.855 | 0.875 | 32.1 |
| Sandy Koufax | 1965 | ML | 26 | 8 | 2.04 | 5.380 | 10.242 | 0.855 | 33.2 |
| Sandy Koufax | 1966 | ML | 27 | 9 | 1.73 | 4.117 | 8.833 | 0.985 | 35.1 |
| Bob Gibson | 1968 | NL | 22 | 9 | 1.12 | 4.323 | 7.917 | 0.853 | 36.4 |
| Denny McLain | 1968 | AL | 31 | 6 | 1.96 | 4.444 | 7.500 | 0.905 | 33.1 |
| Steve Carlton | 1972 | NL | 27 | 10 | 1.97 | 3.563 | 8.056 | 0.993 | 40.4 |
| Ron Guidry | 1978 | AL | 25 | 3 | 1.74 | 3.444 | 8.156 | 0.946 | 31.2 |
| Rick Sutcliffe | 1984 | NL | 16 | 1 | 2.69 | 3.974 | 9.279 | 1.078 | 18.2 |
| Dwight Gooden | 1985 | NL | 24 | 4 | 1.53 | 3.884 | 8.718 | 0.965 | 32.7 |
| Roger Clemens | 1986 | AL | 24 | 4 | 2.48 | 3.552 | 8.433 | 0.969 | 28.8 |
| Orel Hershiser | 1988 | NL | 23 | 8 | 2.26 | 2.438 | 6.000 | 1.052 | 24.6 |
| Greg Maddux | 1994 | NL | 16 | 6 | 1.56 | 5.032 | 6.950 | 0.896 | 26 |
| Greg Maddux | 1995 | NL | 19 | 2 | 1.63 | 7.870 | 7.769 | 0.811 | 29.9 |
| Roger Clemens | 1998 | AL | 20 | 6 | 2.65 | 3.080 | 10.393 | 1.095 | 25 |
| Pedro Martinez | 1999 | AL | 23 | 4 | 2.07 | 8.459 | 13.205 | 0.923 | 26.9 |
| Pedro Martinez | 2000 | AL | 18 | 6 | 1.74 | 8.875 | 11.779 | 0.737 | 28.9 |
| Randy Johnson | 2002 | NL | 24 | 5 | 2.32 | 4.704 | 11.562 | 1.031 | 28.7 |
| Johan Santana | 2004 | AL | 20 | 6 | 2.61 | 4.907 | 10.461 | 0.921 | 26.8 |
Santana, at 25, is also the fourth youngest of the unanimous winners. The second youngest was Roger Clemens (23) but then again, the youngest was Dwight Gooden and the second youngest was Denny McClain (24). So it in no way augurs a successful career.
And as for being the first Venezuelan Cy Young-award winner, there have been 35 previous, major awards given to Venezuelans:
| Award | Name | Yr |
| AS MVP | Dave Concepcion | 1982 |
| Gold Glove | Andres Galarraga | 1989 |
| Gold Glove | Andres Galarraga | 1990 |
| Gold Glove | Dave Concepcion | 1974 |
| Gold Glove | Dave Concepcion | 1975 |
| Gold Glove | Dave Concepcion | 1976 |
| Gold Glove | Dave Concepcion | 1977 |
| Gold Glove | Dave Concepcion | 1979 |
| Gold Glove | Luis Aparicio | 1958 |
| Gold Glove | Luis Aparicio | 1959 |
| Gold Glove | Luis Aparicio | 1960 |
| Gold Glove | Luis Aparicio | 1961 |
| Gold Glove | Luis Aparicio | 1962 |
| Gold Glove | Luis Aparicio | 1964 |
| Gold Glove | Luis Aparicio | 1966 |
| Gold Glove | Luis Aparicio | 1968 |
| Gold Glove | Luis Aparicio | 1970 |
| Gold Glove | Manny Trillo | 1979 |
| Gold Glove | Manny Trillo | 1981 |
| Gold Glove | Manny Trillo | 1982 |
| Gold Glove | Omar Vizquel | 1993 |
| Gold Glove | Omar Vizquel | 1994 |
| Gold Glove | Omar Vizquel | 1995 |
| Gold Glove | Omar Vizquel | 1996 |
| Gold Glove | Omar Vizquel | 1997 |
| Gold Glove | Omar Vizquel | 1998 |
| Gold Glove | Omar Vizquel | 1999 |
| Gold Glove | Omar Vizquel | 2000 |
| Gold Glove | Omar Vizquel | 2001 |
| Gold Glove | Ozzie Guillen | 1990 |
| Gold Glove | Vic Davalillo | 1964 |
| NLCS MVP | Eddie Perez | 1999 |
| NLCS MVP | Manny Trillo | 1980 |
| Rookie of the Year | Luis Aparicio | 1956 |
| Rookie of the Year | Ozzie Guillen | 1985 |
Santana was 5.1 Pitching Win Shares ahead of Curt Schilling this year. How well have the other unanimous selections faired against the number two man in WS in their league? Let's see:
| Name | Yr | Lg | Pitch WS | WS #2 | Pitch WS | Diff |
| Steve Carlton | 1972 | NL | 40.4 | Bob Gibson | 28.9 | 11.5 |
| Bob Gibson | 1968 | NL | 36.4 | Fergie Jenkins | 25.0 | 11.4 |
| Pedro Martinez | 2000 | AL | 28.9 | Derek Lowe | 18.6 | 10.3 |
| Greg Maddux | 1994 | NL | 26.0 | Bret Saberhagen | 16.0 | 10.0 |
| Greg Maddux | 1995 | NL | 29.9 | Tom Glavine | 19.9 | 10.0 |
| Pedro Martinez | 1999 | AL | 26.9 | Derek Lowe | 18.7 | 8.2 |
| Dwight Gooden | 1985 | NL | 32.7 | John Tudor | 27.1 | 5.6 |
| Johan Santana | 2004 | AL | 26.8 | Curt Schilling | 21.7 | 5.1 |
| Randy Johnson | 2002 | NL | 28.7 | Curt Schilling | 23.7 | 5.0 |
| Denny McLain | 1968 | AL | 33.1 | Luis Tiant | 28.1 | 5.0 |
| Roger Clemens | 1998 | AL | 25.0 | Pedro Martinez | 20.9 | 4.1 |
| Roger Clemens | 1986 | AL | 28.8 | Teddy Higuera | 24.9 | 3.9 |
| Sandy Koufax | 1965 | ML | 33.2 | Juan Marichal | 29.8 | 3.4 |
| Ron Guidry | 1978 | AL | 31.2 | Mike Caldwell | 28.1 | 3.1 |
| Sandy Koufax | 1966 | ML | 35.1 | Juan Marichal | 32.3 | 2.8 |
| Orel Hershiser | 1988 | NL | 24.6 | Danny Jackson | 21.8 | 2.8 |
| Sandy Koufax | 1963 | ML | 32.1 | Dick Ellsworth | 32.2 | -0.1 |
| Rick Sutcliffe | 1984 | NL | 18.2 | Bruce Sutter | 23.0 | -4.8 |
Steve Carlton in '72 just edges Bob Gibson's 1.12 for most dominant season. Santana is not that far behind.
The most amazing thing about Santana is that the Twins wasted the better part of two seasons shuttling the guy between the rotation and the bullpen. This was Santana's first season with at least 20 starts and his first with more than 12 wins.
Here are the other Cy Young winners who had not started 20 in a season before winning the award (a number were relievers):
| Name | Yr | Lg | GS High |
| Bruce Sutter | 1979 | NL | 0 |
| Fernando Valenzuela | 1981 | NL | 0 |
| Sparky Lyle | 1977 | AL | 0 |
| Vida Blue | 1971 | AL | 6 |
| Willie Hernandez | 1984 | AL | 7 |
| Mike Marshall | 1974 | NL | 14 |
| Bret Saberhagen | 1985 | AL | 18 |
| Rollie Fingers | 1981 | AL | 19 |
| Roger Clemens | 1986 | AL | 20 |
| Eric Gagne | 2003 | NL | 24 |
| Ron Guidry | 1978 | AL | 25 |
| Mark Davis | 1989 | NL | 27 |
Now, here are the Cy winners who had never won 15 games prior to their big year:
| Name | Yr | Lg | W High |
| Vida Blue | 1971 | AL | 2 |
| Fernando Valenzuela | 1981 | NL | 2 |
| Eric Gagne | 2003 | NL | 6 |
| Mark Davis | 1989 | NL | 6 |
| Bruce Sutter | 1979 | NL | 8 |
| Willie Hernandez | 1984 | AL | 8 |
| Roger Clemens | 1986 | AL | 9 |
| Sparky Lyle | 1977 | AL | 9 |
| Steve Bedrosian | 1987 | NL | 9 |
| Bret Saberhagen | 1985 | AL | 10 |
| Jim Lonborg | 1967 | AL | 10 |
| Rollie Fingers | 1981 | AL | 13 |
| Tom Glavine | 1991 | NL | 14 |
| Pedro Martinez | 1997 | NL | 14 |
| John Denny | 1983 | NL | 14 |
| Mike Marshall | 1974 | NL | 14 |
| Dean Chance | 1964 | ML | 14 |
Finally, for our last fun fact, here are the previous award winners who were age 25 or less during the Cy Young season:
| Name | Yr | Lg | Age |
| Fernando Valenzuela | 1981 | NL | 20 |
| Dwight Gooden | 1985 | NL | 20 |
| Bret Saberhagen | 1985 | AL | 21 |
| Vida Blue | 1971 | AL | 21 |
| Roger Clemens | 1986 | AL | 23 |
| Dean Chance | 1964 | ML | 23 |
| Barry Zito | 2002 | AL | 24 |
| Denny McLain | 1968 | AL | 24 |
| Tom Seaver | 1969 | NL | 24 |
| Roger Clemens | 1987 | AL | 24 |
| Denny McLain | 1969 | AL | 25 |
| Don Drysdale | 1962 | ML | 25 |
| Bret Saberhagen | 1989 | AL | 25 |
| Pedro Martinez | 1997 | NL | 25 |
| Jim Lonborg | 1967 | AL | 25 |
| Tom Glavine | 1991 | NL | 25 |
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