The Sportswriters Loved Him At The Time

As much as the sportswriters have forgotten Ron Guidry when it comes to their Hall of Fame ballots, they seemed to love him when he was active. They couldn't stop lavishing awards and praise on Ron, to an extent reserved almost exclusively for Hall of Famers.

The following is a table of career Cy Young vote shares, which are simply the sum of the percentages of the Cy Young votes received by a player each year. For instance, if a pitcher receives 20% of the Cy Young votes one year and 12% the next, his Cy Young vote share for the two years is 0.32. If he wins the Cy Young Award unanimously the third year, his career Cy Young vote shares jumps to 1.32.

Cy Young Award Voting

Selections to The Sporting News All-Star Team

Seven: Steve Carlton

Five: Roger Clemens, Warren Spahn, Greg Maddux and Jim Palmer

Four: Tom Seaver, Juan Marichal, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, Robin Roberts, Ron Guidry

Three: Ferguson Jenkins, Jimmy Key, Bob Lemon

Bob Gibson had two TSN selections, as did Gaylord Perry, Jim Kaat, Curt Schilling and Jim Bunning. Drysdale, Sutton, John and Morris each had one. Blyleven, Lolich and Niekro had none.

And yet, when Guidry received 8.8% of the HOF vote in 2000 - his highest vote total - there were five starting pitchers who received more votes: John, Kaat, Morris, Blyleven and Tiant. Their aggregate haul of TSN All-Star selections was four - the same number as Guidry racked up on his own.