November 21, 2025 • 7 mins
Discover the origins of the prestigious Cy Young Award on Daily Sports History. Explore the story behind its creation in 1956, its first recipient Don Newcombe, and the legacy of Cy Young himself. Learn how this award has become the ultimate recognition for excellence in pitching across Major
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Listen now! 👉 DailySportsHistory.com 📲 Follow for more daily sports history insights!
Email: dailysportshistory@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On November twenty first, nineteen fifty six. The very first
Cy Young winner in Major League Baseball history was Don
Newcomb of the LA Dodgers. Not only was he the first,
showing how much progression had come to the league, as
he was an African American pitcher, dominating the league and
winning award named after one of the most prolific pitchers
(00:22):
in baseball history. Today, we're going to dive into the
history of the Cy Young Award and Don Newcomb on
Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese,
your guide as you daily learn about more sports history
as we dive into the Cy Young Award in Don
(00:44):
nukeomb and today's stray question is how many pitchers have
won MVP and in the same year. Now, when you
hear the name say Young, you often think one of
the greatest pitchers in baseball, or you think about this
Cy Young Award that's given every year to the best
pitcher in each league of Major League Baseball. But it
(01:04):
wasn't always that way. See, the Cy Young didn't start
till nineteen fifty six, and before then, the only award
a player could win at the end of the season
was most Valuable Player, which was established in nineteen thirty
one and often favored position players, although there were five
pitchers from each league that ended up winning the Most
Valuable Player. Before there was a Cy Young. But what
(01:26):
really changed was after Cy Young passed away in nineteen
fifty five, the league wanted to honor him as he
led the league with an astounding five hundred and fifty
one career victories and was the first player to pitch
a perfect game in Major League history, which we actually
covered in a previous episode. And so when Cy Young,
past Commissioner Ford Frick realized that pitchers were undervalued in
(01:49):
the MVP voting, so he thought to create this award
after Cy Young, to be given out to the best
pitcher that year and give it the name Cy Young,
after the greatest pitcher in MLB history. And the first
player to win that award in nineteen fifty six was
Don Newkom of the LA Dodgers. Now, Don didn't actually
(02:13):
play high school baseball. His high school didn't have a
baseball team, so he played semi pro baseball while attending
high school, and then when he was done, he actually
joined the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League in
nineteen forty four in nineteen forty six before being signed
by the Los Angeles by the Dodgers, and followed a
similar path to Jackie Robinson, playing for the Montreal Royals
(02:36):
and the Triple A before being called up on May twentieth,
nineteen forty six to pitch for the Los Angeles for
the Brooklyn Dodgers for the Dodgers, making him the third
African American pitchers to be fittured to play in the Majors,
and he immediately helped at He won seventeen games and
led them to a pennant that year, and he was
among the first four black players to be named to
(02:57):
an All Star Game, with teammates Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella
and Indians Larry Doby, and he was named Rookie of
the Year. In the following seasons, he would win nineteen
and twenty games, as well as leading the league in strikeouts,
although his time was broken up when he had to
go fight in the Korean War for two years, but
he came back in nineteen fifty four with the Los
(03:19):
Angeles Dodgers. Although he struggled that first year back, he
slowly came into form and The next year, he led
the NL and wins an earned run with twenty wins
and three point two earned run an ERA of three
point two, and led the Dodgers to their first World
Series championship. But nineteen fifty six, he stepped up his
game even more as he won a career high twenty
(03:40):
seven games and had a career low of three point
zero six ERA, starting thirty six games with eighteen complete games,
and that year he beat out sal Maglee, Whitney Ford,
and Warren Sapan as he destroyed them as none as
he beat all of them by more than seven wins
that year, and he would also win the NL MVP,
(04:05):
beating out sal Magley and Hammeron Hank Aaron. Now, this
was the peak in the highlight of Don Newcomb's career,
and he was the only player to win MVP, SAY Young,
and Rookie of the Year until twenty eleven, when Justin
Erlander accomplished all three as well. Although he struggled that
year in the playoffs and lost Game seven of the
(04:26):
World Series to the rival of the New York Yankees.
But after this he struggled to find that magic he
had in nineteen fifty six, as he would go oh
to six to start the next year and eventually be
traded to the Cincinnati Reds, and the most wins he
would have for the rest of his career would be thirteen,
and following the nineteen sixty season, he would go on
(04:46):
to retire, winning one hundred and fifty three games in
his career with an ERA of three point five seven
with over one thousand strikeouts. He had been named to
four All Stars. But following his Major League career, he
act she signed with the CHU the Churchy Dragons of
the MPB, which is the Japanese League, where he only
(05:07):
actually pitched one game, who was there more as an
outfielder or first baseman, and he hit twelve home runs
and had forty one RBIs. After his retirement in the
nineteen seventies, he would join back up with the Dodgers,
becoming the director of Community Affairs and in two thousand
and nine he would be named special Advisor to the
Chairman of the team and would be enshried in twenty
nineteen in the initial class of the legend of Dodger Baseball. Unfortunately,
(05:32):
this was shortly after he passed away in February that year,
but he was a great baseball player that can always
be remembered for what he did on the field. After
the first ten years of the Cy Young being for
the whole league, they decided to separate it in to
be the American and the National Cy Young and ever
since it has become known as a staple for measurement
(05:53):
as the best pitcher in baseball and Roger Clemens has
the most cy Young Awards with seven, Brandy Johnson following
with five, and the Brooklyn Dodgers had the most as
a team, having twelve pitchers win the award, and there
have been a total of ten players to win MVP
and cy Young Awards, including Sandy Kofax, Bob Gibson, Dinny McLean,
(06:18):
Vita Blue, Rolly Fingers, Willie Hernandez, Roger Clemens, Dennis Eckersley,
Justin Verlander, and most recently Clayton Kershaw. And if you
want more Dodgers content, check out the Dodgers Territory podcast.
We're host Rizzo and Clint take you through all you
(06:39):
need to know about Dodgers baseball, looking into the team,
giving you an unfiltered inside access to Dodgers and related
Dodgers content. So you get to know all you need
to know about the Dodgers and will put a link
in the description below for you to check them out.
And if you like today's episode of Daily Sports History,
please leave us a like review wherever your listen. It
(07:00):
helps others know that this is a great show for
them to learn more about sports history. And did you
catch the answer to today's trivia question how many pitchers
have won MVP ANSI Young in the same year and
the answer is ten, starting with don nukeomb
On November twenty first, nineteen fifty six. The very first
Cy Young winner in Major League Baseball history was Don
Newcomb of the LA Dodgers. Not only was he the first,
showing how much progression had come to the league, as
he was an African American pitcher, dominating the league and
winning award named after one of the most prolific pitchers
(00:22):
in baseball history. Today, we're going to dive into the
history of the Cy Young Award and Don Newcomb on
Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese,
your guide as you daily learn about more sports history
as we dive into the Cy Young Award in Don
(00:44):
nukeomb and today's stray question is how many pitchers have
won MVP and in the same year. Now, when you
hear the name say Young, you often think one of
the greatest pitchers in baseball, or you think about this
Cy Young Award that's given every year to the best
pitcher in each league of Major League Baseball. But it
(01:04):
wasn't always that way. See, the Cy Young didn't start
till nineteen fifty six, and before then, the only award
a player could win at the end of the season
was most Valuable Player, which was established in nineteen thirty
one and often favored position players, although there were five
pitchers from each league that ended up winning the Most
Valuable Player. Before there was a Cy Young. But what
(01:26):
really changed was after Cy Young passed away in nineteen
fifty five, the league wanted to honor him as he
led the league with an astounding five hundred and fifty
one career victories and was the first player to pitch
a perfect game in Major League history, which we actually
covered in a previous episode. And so when Cy Young,
past Commissioner Ford Frick realized that pitchers were undervalued in
(01:49):
the MVP voting, so he thought to create this award
after Cy Young, to be given out to the best
pitcher that year and give it the name Cy Young,
after the greatest pitcher in MLB history. And the first
player to win that award in nineteen fifty six was
Don Newkom of the LA Dodgers. Now, Don didn't actually
(02:13):
play high school baseball. His high school didn't have a
baseball team, so he played semi pro baseball while attending
high school, and then when he was done, he actually
joined the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League in
nineteen forty four in nineteen forty six before being signed
by the Los Angeles by the Dodgers, and followed a
similar path to Jackie Robinson, playing for the Montreal Royals
(02:36):
and the Triple A before being called up on May twentieth,
nineteen forty six to pitch for the Los Angeles for
the Brooklyn Dodgers for the Dodgers, making him the third
African American pitchers to be fittured to play in the Majors,
and he immediately helped at He won seventeen games and
led them to a pennant that year, and he was
among the first four black players to be named to
(02:57):
an All Star Game, with teammates Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella
and Indians Larry Doby, and he was named Rookie of
the Year. In the following seasons, he would win nineteen
and twenty games, as well as leading the league in strikeouts,
although his time was broken up when he had to
go fight in the Korean War for two years, but
he came back in nineteen fifty four with the Los
(03:19):
Angeles Dodgers. Although he struggled that first year back, he
slowly came into form and The next year, he led
the NL and wins an earned run with twenty wins
and three point two earned run an ERA of three
point two, and led the Dodgers to their first World
Series championship. But nineteen fifty six, he stepped up his
game even more as he won a career high twenty
(03:40):
seven games and had a career low of three point
zero six ERA, starting thirty six games with eighteen complete games,
and that year he beat out sal Maglee, Whitney Ford,
and Warren Sapan as he destroyed them as none as
he beat all of them by more than seven wins
that year, and he would also win the NL MVP,
(04:05):
beating out sal Magley and Hammeron Hank Aaron. Now, this
was the peak in the highlight of Don Newcomb's career,
and he was the only player to win MVP, SAY Young,
and Rookie of the Year until twenty eleven, when Justin
Erlander accomplished all three as well. Although he struggled that
year in the playoffs and lost Game seven of the
(04:26):
World Series to the rival of the New York Yankees.
But after this he struggled to find that magic he
had in nineteen fifty six, as he would go oh
to six to start the next year and eventually be
traded to the Cincinnati Reds, and the most wins he
would have for the rest of his career would be thirteen,
and following the nineteen sixty season, he would go on
(04:46):
to retire, winning one hundred and fifty three games in
his career with an ERA of three point five seven
with over one thousand strikeouts. He had been named to
four All Stars. But following his Major League career, he
act she signed with the CHU the Churchy Dragons of
the MPB, which is the Japanese League, where he only
(05:07):
actually pitched one game, who was there more as an
outfielder or first baseman, and he hit twelve home runs
and had forty one RBIs. After his retirement in the
nineteen seventies, he would join back up with the Dodgers,
becoming the director of Community Affairs and in two thousand
and nine he would be named special Advisor to the
Chairman of the team and would be enshried in twenty
nineteen in the initial class of the legend of Dodger Baseball. Unfortunately,
(05:32):
this was shortly after he passed away in February that year,
but he was a great baseball player that can always
be remembered for what he did on the field. After
the first ten years of the Cy Young being for
the whole league, they decided to separate it in to
be the American and the National Cy Young and ever
since it has become known as a staple for measurement
(05:53):
as the best pitcher in baseball and Roger Clemens has
the most cy Young Awards with seven, Brandy Johnson following
with five, and the Brooklyn Dodgers had the most as
a team, having twelve pitchers win the award, and there
have been a total of ten players to win MVP
and cy Young Awards, including Sandy Kofax, Bob Gibson, Dinny McLean,
(06:18):
Vita Blue, Rolly Fingers, Willie Hernandez, Roger Clemens, Dennis Eckersley,
Justin Verlander, and most recently Clayton Kershaw. And if you
want more Dodgers content, check out the Dodgers Territory podcast.
We're host Rizzo and Clint take you through all you
(06:39):
need to know about Dodgers baseball, looking into the team,
giving you an unfiltered inside access to Dodgers and related
Dodgers content. So you get to know all you need
to know about the Dodgers and will put a link
in the description below for you to check them out.
And if you like today's episode of Daily Sports History,
please leave us a like review wherever your listen. It
(07:00):
helps others know that this is a great show for
them to learn more about sports history. And did you
catch the answer to today's trivia question how many pitchers
have won MVP ANSI Young in the same year and
the answer is ten, starting with don nukeomb
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