Are Cy Young Award Winners Jinxed? : Injuries to Cubs’ Rick Sutcliffe Seem to Credence to the Belief

There are all sorts of alleged “jinxes” in baseball.

There is the so-called “sophomore” jinx for second-year players after outstanding rookie campaigns. There are also jinxes attributed to national sports magazines such as Sports Illustrated.

There may be room for one more jinx in baseball--the Cy Young Award jinx.

Consider Rick Sutcliffe of the Chicago Cubs. The bearded righthander came over from Clevealnd last season and led the Cubs to the National League Eastern Division flag.

He went 16-1, was the toast of the Windy City and a runaway winner of the Cy Young Award in the National League.

This season has been a nightmare for the Cubs’ hurler. He is currently on his third stint on the disabled list after partially tearing a hamstring in a game against Atlanta in late May.

“I don’t know if he’s jinxed; our entire staff has had problems like that, but it was tough,” Manager Jim Frey said.

Sutcliffe isn’t the only pitcher in recent history to have a sparkling season and win the Cy Young award, only to fall on hard times.

Mike Flanagan of the Baltimore Orioles won the award in 1979. He went 23-9 and hasn’t approached those statistics since.

In 1983, he spent more than three months on the disabled list with an arm injury. He hasn’t been the same pitcher since.

The following year, Steve Stone won 25 games for the Orioles and won the Cy Young award. Two years after that, Stone was out of baseball due to an arm injury.

The following season, Rollie Fingers of Milwaukee won the Cy Young award. The relief pitcher had a strong campaign in 1982 until August when he, too, went down with an elbow injury. Fingers hasn’t been the same since.

Pete Vuckovich of the Brewers captured the award in 1982. By the end of 1983, he had rotator cuff problems and his career is still in jeopardy as he attempts to rebound from the injury.

LaMarr Hoyt didn’t get injured, but he slumped to 13 wins after winning 25 for the Chicago White Sox in winning the 1983 AL Cy Young award. Hoyt was traded last season and is enjoying a strong campaign with the San Diego Padres.

The National League also had seen some problems with its Cy Young award winners of late.

Steve Carlton picked up his fourth Cy Young Award in 1982. He won only one game this season and has been on the disabled list most of the year.

However, it can be cited accurately that at Carlton’s advanced age of 40, injury problems were an expected risk.

But not so with teammate John Denny, who won the 1983 Cy Young award for the division-winning Phils.

Denny was 19-6 in 1983. Bothered with an assortment of injuries last year, Denny slipped to 7-7. This year, he has had difficulty regaining the form that saw him rated as the premier pitcher in the National League two years ago.

There are some theories as to why Cy Young award winners may have troubles after they win the honor. Some argue that by going full tilt in one season, the pitcher will either ignore a minor injury or bring one on by pitching so many innings.

Frey isn’t so sure there is one reason.

“You hear so much about pitching a guy too many innings or having too many pitches,” Frey said. “But back 25 years ago, we didn’t chart pitches. Innings pitched were not even a big consideration. It was wins. You measured a guy by how many wins he had.”

Frey pointed out that farther back than the 1950s, pitchers used to go every fourth day and pitch complete games.

“I was in San Francisco a while back and they introduced two guys who pitched in a game and went 25 innings and then came back four days later and each went nine innings,” Frey said. “So, I don’t know whether a guy who has a great year is really risking himself and can get hurt in a big year.”

There are also exceptions to the Cy Young jinx. Willie Hernandez, last year’s AL winner with Detroit, again is having a good season.

Bruce Sutter of the Atlanta Braves won a Cy Young award and still is pitching effecitvely, if not as well as the year he won in 1979 with the Cubs.

Sutcliffe may still come back, even this year. He was 8-7 when he went on the DL for the third time. But chances are Sutcliffe will have to wait until 1986 before he has a chance to get over any Cy Young Award jinx.