The voting for the 1961 Cy Young Award proved to be a tight race.
Whitey Ford of the New York Yankees won by a 9-6 margin over Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves. Frank Lary of the Detroit Tigers received the final two votes.
Although Spahn was the top vote getter from the National League, his former teammate Joey Jay might have been able to win the Cy Young.
Traded to the Cincinnati Reds prior to the season, Jay was selected as an all-star by The Sporting News and he was fifth the balloting for the NL Most Valuable Player. Spahn and Reds pitcher Jim O’Toole finished tied for 10th in the MVP vote.
Jay (21-10) and Spahn (21-13) tied for the most wins in the NL, but it was the Reds that reached the World Series in 1961 as they fell to the Yankees.
The most memorable outing of the year for Jay came in the second game of the World Series. Jay tossed a complete game was the Reds won their only contest in the series 4-2 in New York.
Jay gave up four hits with the only real blemish coming as he surrendered a two-run homer to Yogi Berra. On the downside, Jay lost the fifth and final contest as the Yankees won the title.
During the regular season, Jay’s top performance was a 4-0 one-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies in Cincinnati. He also had a three-hitter as the Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 at Crosley Field. He was named to the all-star team for both games that summer, but didn’t appear in either contest.
In his 13-year career, Jay posted a 99-91 record with 999 strikeouts. He pitched for Milwaukee (1953-1955, 1957-1960) and Cincinnati (1961-1966) before being traded to Atlanta midway through the 1966 season.
Jay was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2008.
1961 VOTING FOR CY YOUNG AWARD
Whitey Ford (New York Yankees) 9
Warren Spahn (Milwaukee Braves) 6
Frank Lary (Detroit Tigers) 2
PRESS ROOM PASS CY YOUNG AWARD WINNERS (1956-1966)
1956 – Billy Pierce Chicago White Sox (20-9)
1957 – Jim Bunning Detroit Tigers (20–8)
1958 – Warren Spahn Milwaukee Braves (22–11)
1959 – Sam Jones San Francisco Giants (21–15)
1960 – Chuck Estrada Baltimore Orioles (18-11)
1961 – Joey Jay Cincinnati Reds (21–10)
CY YOUNG AWARD WINNERS (1956-1966)
1956 – Don Newcombe Brooklyn Dodgers (27–7)
1957 – Warren Spahn Milwaukee Braves (21–11)
1958 – Bob Turley New York Yankees (21–7)
1959 – Early Wynn Chicago White Sox (22–10)
1960 – Vern Law Pittsburgh Pirates (20–9)
1961 – Whitey Ford New York Yankees (25–4)
1962 – Don Drysdale Los Angeles Dodgers (25–9)
1963 – Sandy Koufax Los Angeles Dodgers (25–5)
1964 – Dean Chance Los Angeles Angels (20–9)
1965 – Sandy Koufax Los Angeles Dodgers (26–8)
1966 – Sandy Koufax Los Angeles Dodgers (27–9)
Since 1967, the Cy Young Award has been handed out to the best pitcher in the American and National leagues. However, during the first 11 years of the award there was only one winner.
This series will take a look at who might have won the award, if there had been winners in both leagues in the early years.