Editing Cy Young Award (section)

==History==
[[Image:Cy Young by Conlon, 1911-crop.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Cy Young, for whom the award is named]]

The Cy Young Award was introduced in 1956 by [[Commissioner of Baseball]] [[Ford C. Frick]] in honor of [[Baseball Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame]] pitcher [[Cy Young]], who died in 1955.<ref name="BASEALM" /> Originally given to the single best pitcher in the major leagues, the award changed its format over time. From 1956 to 1966, the award was given to one pitcher in Major League Baseball. After Frick retired in 1967, [[William Eckert]] became the new Commissioner of Baseball. Due to fan requests, Eckert announced that the Cy Young Award would be given out both in the [[American League]] and the [[National League (baseball)|National League]].<ref name="BASEALM"/> From 1956 to 1958, a pitcher was not allowed to win the award on more than one occasion; this rule was eliminated in 1959. After a tie in the 1969 voting for the Cy Young Award, the process was changed, in which each writer was to vote for three pitchers: the first-place vote received five points, the second-place vote received three points, and the third-place vote received one point.<ref name="BASEALM" />

The first recipient of the Cy Young Award was [[Don Newcombe]] of the Dodgers. The Dodgers are the franchise with the most Cy Young Awards. In 1957, [[Warren Spahn]] became the first left-handed pitcher to win the award. In 1963, [[Sandy Koufax]] became the first pitcher to win the award in a unanimous vote; two years later he became the first multiple winner. In 1978, [[Gaylord Perry]] (age 40) became the oldest pitcher to receive the award, a record that stood until broken in 2004 by [[Roger Clemens]] (age 42).<ref name="BASEALM" /> The youngest recipient was [[Dwight Gooden]] (age 20 in 1985). In 2012, [[R. A. Dickey]] became the first knuckleball pitcher to win the award.<ref>{{cite web |title=R. A. Dickey wins NL Cy Young |date=November 14, 2012 |first=Adam |last=Rubin |url=https://www.espn.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/8633034/ra-dickey-new-york-mets-wins-national-league-cy-young-becoming-first-knuckleballer-win-award |website=[[ESPN]] |access-date=November 4, 2023 |archive-date=November 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116064819/http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/8633034/ra-dickey-new-york-mets-wins-national-league-cy-young-becoming-first-knuckleballer-win-award |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1974, [[Mike Marshall (pitcher)|Mike Marshall]] became the first [[relief pitcher]] to win the award.<ref name="BASEALM"/> In 1992, [[Dennis Eckersley]] was the first modern [[Closer (baseball)|closer]] (first player to be used almost exclusively in ninth-inning situations)<ref name=zimniuch_p169>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvhqDwAAQBAJ&q=eckersley| title=Baseball's New Frontier: A History of Expansion, 1961-1998| first=Fran| last=Zimniuch| publisher=U of Nebraska Press| date=August 1, 2018| page=169| isbn=978-1-4962-1004-3| access-date=January 28, 2024| archive-date=February 19, 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219111835/https://books.google.com/books?id=dvhqDwAAQBAJ&q=eckersley| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-relievers042610 |title=MLB on Yahoo! Sports – News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games |website=Yahoo! Sports |access-date=March 25, 2018 |archive-date=January 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119211627/https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-relievers042610 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=jenkins>{{cite news |last=Jenkins |first=Chris |title=Where's the fire? |date=September 25, 2006 |newspaper=[[The San Diego Union-Tribune]] |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060925/news_1s25saves.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628203118/http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060925/news_1s25saves.html |archive-date=June 28, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy}}</ref> to win the award. Since then only one other relief pitcher has won the award, [[Éric Gagné]] in 2003 (also a closer). Nine relief pitchers have won the Cy Young Award across both leagues.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/sports/baseball/cy-young-mvp-awards-mike-trout-kris-bryant.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/sports/baseball/cy-young-mvp-awards-mike-trout-kris-bryant.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |title=Zach Britton Is Perfectly Unorthodox Choice for Cy Young Award |first=Tyler |last=Kepner |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 1, 2016 |access-date=March 25, 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[Steve Carlton]] in 1982 became the first pitcher to win more than three Cy Young Awards, while [[Greg Maddux]] in 1994 became the first to win at least three in a row (and received a fourth straight the following year), a feat later repeated by [[Randy Johnson]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Francis |first=Corey |date=September 3, 2016 |title=Chicago Cubs: This is not the Arrieta we were looking for |url=http://cubbiescrib.com/2016/09/03/chicago-cubs-not-arrieta-looking/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325232349/https://cubbiescrib.com/2016/09/03/chicago-cubs-not-arrieta-looking/ |archive-date=March 25, 2018 |access-date=March 25, 2018 |website=cubbiescrib.com}}</ref>