Eckersley Has a New Set of Bookends : Baseball: A’s relief ace adds MVP award to Cy Young, the ninth player to win both in one season.

Relief ace Dennis Eckersley of the Oakland Athletics, named the American League’s Cy Young Award winner last week, was also selected the league’s most valuable player on Thursday.

Eckersley, who led the major leagues with 51 saves in 54 chances, is only the ninth player to win both the Cy Young Award and MVP honors in the same season.

He joins Don Newcombe (1956), Sandy Koufax (1963), Denny McLain (1968), Bob Gibson (1968), Vida Blue (1971), Rollie Fingers (1981), Willie Hernandez (1984) and Roger Clemens (1986).

The 38-year-old right-hander is only the fourth reliever to win the MVP. The first was Jim Konstanty in 1950, followed by Fingers and Hernandez.

“Part of me was waiting by the phone because I thought I deserved it,” Eckersley said. “It’s hard to say because I’m not that cool to think I deserved an MVP. But if there was any time in my whole life I thought I deserved it, this is the moment.”

Eckersley, 7-1 with a 1.91 earned-run average, received 15 of a possible 28 first-place votes and 306 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Assn. of America. He was followed by outfielder Kirby Puckett of the Minnesota Twins with 209 points, including three first-place votes, and outfielder Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays with 201 points and four first first-place votes.

Mark McGwire of the A’s and Dave Winfield and Roberto Alomar of the Blue Jays also received first-place votes.

“There’s a lot of deserving guys out there that have the everyday numbers,” Eckersley said. “Everything fell into place. These things come around once in a lifetime.”

For winning the MVP, Eckersley receives a $100,000 bonus, bringing his 1992 income to $3.35 million. Puckett also got a $100,000 bonus for finishing second.

Eckersley helped the A’s win their fourth AL West title in five years, but he struggled in the playoffs against Toronto, giving up Alomar’s tying, two-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 4 at Oakland.

Puckett hit .329 for the Twins with 19 home runs and 110 runs batted in. Carter helped Toronto win the AL East by hitting .264 with 34 homers and 119 RBIs.

Eckersley began his major league career in 1975 with Cleveland, going 13-7 with a 2.60 ERA, and threw a no-hitter in 1977 against the Angels. After being traded to Boston in 1978, he won 20 games for the only time.

Things began to go downhill for Eckersley, and in 1983 his record was 9-13. A trade to the Chicago Cubs in 1984 turned things around, but his growing struggles with alcoholism hurt his pitching. In 1986, he had a 6-11 mark.

Eckersley was traded to the A’s in 1987, and pitching coach Dave Duncan moved him to the bullpen, where he saved 16 games. Earlier that year, Eckersley joined Alcoholics Anonymous.

In the last five years, Eckersley has been successful in 220 of 246 save opportunities.