Suppose that, in 1956, when they started giving out Cy Young Awards, they had also started giving out Turk Farrell Awards. That would have been remarkable foresight because, at that time, Turk Farrell was in the minor leagues. If they had started giving out Turk Farrell Awards at that time, they would probably have called them Ned Garver Awards or Murry Dickson Awards.
This is ducking the question, which is: Who would have won them? Awards which exist only in theory are, in general, not quite as prestigious as those awards which are actually presented. Also, awards which are given out at the time are generally preferred over those which are "given out" only as electronic hyperspace bubbles 50 years later, and awards which are supported by an actual consensus of opinion are preferred awards compared to those which are determined by addition and subtraction of statistical totals.
This award, then, is the worst of the worst of the worst, the serial child molester or the baseball awards universe. Without further ado, the winner of the 1956 Turk Farrell Award is: Ron Kline. Kline was 14-18 with a 3.38 ERA. Hey, he lasted a lot longer than Don Newcombe did. Newcombe, who won the first Cy Young Award that year, pitched 268 innings with a 3.08 ERA. Kline pitched almost the same number of innings (264) with a not-dissimilar ERA (3.38), but whereas Newk finished 27-7, Kline was 14-18. Newcome was 37-42 in the rest of his career, 3.84 ERA. Kline was 94-106 for the rest of his career, 3.69 ERA, and also registered more than 100 saves. We win.
The full list of Turk Farrell Award winners is given below; we only give one per season. A few notes thereon:
1957: Through the first half of the 1950s, Robin Roberts was the best starting pitcher in baseball, and Warren Spahn was the second-best starting pitcher in the National League. In ’57 Spahn became the first future Hall of Famer to win the Cy Young Award—and Roberts, going 10-22, became the first Hall of Famer to win the Turk Farrell Award.
The frequency with which future Hall of Famers win the Turk Farrell Award is not as high as the frequency with which they win the Cy Young Award, but it is not negligible, either. Future Hall of Famers have won six Turk Farrells so far, and that number will go up when Roger Clemens, Bert Blyleven and Jose DeLeon are elected to the Hall of Fame.
1959: In 1957 Robin Roberts won the Farrell Award, with Bob Friend second; in ’59 it was Friend first and Roberts second. Friend was also fourth in the standings in ’61 and won the award again in ’64, while Roberts was also third in the standings in 1960.
1961: Pedro Ramos, who was a perennial contender for the Farrell award from 1958 on, finally broke through with an 11-20 mark in 1961. He had finished second in 1960 (the standings going Bunning, Ramos, Robin Roberts.) Ramos was a colorful Cuban who liked to claim that he was the fastest runner in baseball—he was pretty fast—and talked openly about how much he would like to pitch for the Yankees some day, said he would win 20 games a year if he was a Yankee, which is not entirely true but not entirely nonsense, either. He was always challenging Mickey Mantle to a footrace, trying to show everybody how fast he was. His Cuban running mate, Camilo Pascual, was also a Turk Farrell Award contender for several years.
1962: In ’62, when Farrell himself won the award, there were three National League pitchers on the two expansion teams who would have won the award in a more normal year—Farrell, Roger Craig, and Ken Johnson. Craig had a famous long losing streak in 1963, losing I think eighteen straight games to fall to 2 and 20 at one point—this after he had lost 24 games the year before. He wasn’t a good pitcher, but he wasn’t that bad; he got to 2 and 20 with an ERA under 4.00. Ken Johnson lost so many 1-0 games in Houston that they had a "runs for Johnson" night, at which any woman who came to the game with a run in her stocking was admitted for half price or something. Johnson pitched and lost the game, 1-0. At least as I remember.
1967: Gaylord Perry won the Award, with two other Hall of Famers, Don Drysdale and Catfish Hunter, finishing second and third. Drysdale was also the runner-up in ’66.
1969: I have commented in other places that there is a superficial similarity in the career records of Don Sutton and Steve Carlton. Sutton was second in the Turk Farrell standings in 1969 and again ten years later, 1979, and appeared on the lists as early as 1967 and as late as 1983. Carlton who finished third in 1970, won the award in ’73 and won it again ten years later, in 1983. Mickey Lolich was also a serious Turk Farrell contender numerous times between 1970 and 1976.
1971: Dave Roberts had a famous tough-luck season in 1971, finishing 14-17 with a 2.10 ERA. It was a remarkable season, and he could be seen as ranking much higher on this list than we have him. Although he did win the Turk Farrell Award in 1971, he could very well be seen as hard-luck pitcher of the decade for the 1970s, and even as the equal of Turk Farrell. The formula isn’t knocked out by him because his strikeout/walk ratio wasn’t that good, but he was a ground ball pitcher, supported by a league-leading 37 ground ball double plays that year.
1976: Blyleven in ’76 had nine starts in which he pitched 76 innings with a 2.12 ERA, but finished 0 and 9.
1977-78: Jerry Koosman became the first pitcher to win the award in back-to-back seasons, the two tough-luck seasons bookended by 20-win seasons. Koosman would win a third Turk Farrell Award in ’81—the only three-time winner. Friend, Carlton, Jose DeLeon and Javier Vazquez have won it twice.
1986: Bob Welch won the Award, winning only 7 games despite a 3.28 ERA in 33 starts. But he more than got even in 1990.
1993: Doug Drabek with Barry Bonds on his team: 22-6, Cy Young. Doug Drabek without Barry Bonds: 9-18, Turk Farrell. Seven pitchers have won the Turk Farrell Award and also, in other seasons, the Cy Young Award—Gaylord Perry, Steve Carlton, Fernando Valenzuela, Frank Viola, Bob Welch, Doug Drabek and Roger Clemens. Robin Roberts, Jim Bunning, Bert Blyleven, Nolan Ryan, Jerry Koosman, Frank Tanana, Mike Mussina and Curt Schilling won the Turk Farrell Award—but never the Cy Young.
2002: Ben Sheets, who had the remarkable year in 2004, also was second in 2002.
2003: In the early days of the Turk Farrell Award, many of the award winners were 20-game losers. After 1980 the switch to five-man rotations and the hypersensitivity of managers who didn’t want to "embarrass" their pitchers led to the disappearance of 20-game losers, until Mike Maroth managed to lose 21 in 2003.
This set up a Turk Farrell battle between Curt Schilling, who was a very good pitcher but lost only 9 games, and Mike Maroth, who lost 21 games but wasn’t really a very good pitcher. Schilling, who was openly disappointed not to get the Cy Young Award in 2002, was no doubt pleased to receive the Farrell award in 2003—or would have been, if he’d heard about it.
First |
Last |
Year |
G |
IP |
|
Won |
|
Lost |
|
SO |
BB |
ERA |
Turk Farrell Score |
Ron |
Kline |
1956 |
44 |
264.0 |
|
14 |
- |
18 |
|
125 |
81 |
3.38 |
166 |
Robin |
Roberts |
1957 |
39 |
250.0 |
|
10 |
- |
22 |
|
128 |
43 |
4.07 |
244 |
Jack |
Harshman |
1958 |
34 |
236.0 |
|
12 |
- |
15 |
|
161 |
75 |
2.90 |
189 |
Bob |
Friend |
1959 |
35 |
235.0 |
|
8 |
- |
19 |
|
104 |
52 |
4.02 |
193 |
Jim |
Bunning |
1960 |
36 |
252.0 |
|
11 |
- |
14 |
|
201 |
64 |
2.79 |
217 |
Pedro |
Ramos |
1961 |
42 |
264.0 |
|
11 |
- |
20 |
|
174 |
79 |
3.95 |
219 |
Turk |
Farrell |
1962 |
43 |
242.0 |
|
10 |
- |
20 |
|
203 |
55 |
3.01 |
296 |
Roger |
Craig |
1963 |
46 |
236.0 |
|
5 |
- |
22 |
|
108 |
58 |
3.78 |
247 |
Bob |
Friend |
1964 |
35 |
240.0 |
|
13 |
- |
18 |
|
128 |
50 |
3.34 |
195 |
Jack |
Fisher |
1965 |
43 |
254.0 |
|
8 |
- |
24 |
|
116 |
68 |
3.93 |
242 |
Dick |
Ellsworth |
1966 |
38 |
269.0 |
|
8 |
- |
22 |
|
144 |
51 |
3.98 |
255 |
Gaylord |
Perry |
1967 |
39 |
293.0 |
|
15 |
- |
17 |
|
230 |
84 |
2.61 |
245 |
Ray |
Sadecki |
1968 |
38 |
254.0 |
|
12 |
- |
18 |
|
206 |
70 |
2.91 |
246 |
Denny |
Lemaster |
1969 |
38 |
245.0 |
|
13 |
- |
17 |
|
173 |
72 |
3.16 |
201 |
Bob |
Johnson |
1970 |
40 |
214.0 |
|
8 |
- |
13 |
|
206 |
82 |
3.07 |
203 |
Dave |
Roberts |
1971 |
37 |
269.2 |
|
14 |
- |
17 |
|
135 |
61 |
2.10 |
216 |
Pat |
Dobson |
1972 |
38 |
268.0 |
|
16 |
- |
18 |
|
161 |
69 |
2.65 |
208 |
Steve |
Carlton |
1973 |
40 |
293.1 |
|
13 |
- |
20 |
|
223 |
113 |
3.90 |
207 |
Frank |
Tanana |
1974 |
39 |
268.2 |
|
14 |
- |
19 |
|
180 |
77 |
3.12 |
219 |
Rick |
Reuschel |
1975 |
38 |
234.0 |
|
11 |
- |
17 |
|
155 |
67 |
3.73 |
187 |
Bert |
Blyleven |
1976 |
36 |
297.2 |
|
13 |
- |
16 |
|
219 |
81 |
2.87 |
230 |
Jerry |
Koosman |
1977 |
32 |
226.2 |
|
8 |
- |
20 |
|
192 |
81 |
3.49 |
245 |
Jerry |
Koosman |
1978 |
38 |
235.1 |
|
3 |
- |
15 |
|
160 |
84 |
3.75 |
196 |
Bob |
Shirley |
1979 |
49 |
205.0 |
|
8 |
- |
16 |
|
117 |
59 |
3.38 |
176 |
Brian |
Kingman |
1980 |
32 |
211.1 |
|
8 |
- |
20 |
|
116 |
82 |
3.83 |
183 |
Jerry |
Koosman |
1981 |
27 |
121.1 |
|
4 |
- |
13 |
|
76 |
41 |
4.01 |
148 |
Bruce |
Berenyi |
1982 |
34 |
222.1 |
|
9 |
- |
18 |
|
157 |
96 |
3.36 |
184 |
Steve |
Carlton |
1983 |
37 |
283.2 |
|
15 |
- |
16 |
|
275 |
84 |
3.11 |
244 |
Fernando |
Valenzuela |
1984 |
34 |
261.0 |
|
12 |
- |
17 |
|
240 |
106 |
3.03 |
221 |
Jose |
DeLeon |
1985 |
31 |
162.2 |
|
2 |
- |
19 |
|
149 |
89 |
4.70 |
205 |
Bob |
Welch |
1986 |
33 |
235.2 |
|
7 |
- |
13 |
|
183 |
55 |
3.28 |
207 |
Nolan |
Ryan |
1987 |
34 |
211.2 |
|
8 |
- |
16 |
|
270 |
87 |
2.76 |
266 |
Mike |
Moore |
1988 |
37 |
228.2 |
|
9 |
- |
15 |
|
182 |
63 |
3.78 |
197 |
Frank |
Viola |
1989 |
36 |
261.0 |
|
13 |
- |
17 |
|
211 |
74 |
3.66 |
211 |
Jose |
DeLeon |
1990 |
32 |
182.2 |
|
7 |
- |
19 |
|
164 |
86 |
4.43 |
190 |
Greg |
Swindell |
1991 |
33 |
238.0 |
|
9 |
- |
16 |
|
169 |
31 |
3.48 |
237 |
Melido |
Perez |
1992 |
33 |
247.2 |
|
13 |
- |
16 |
|
218 |
93 |
2.87 |
206 |
Doug |
Drabek |
1993 |
34 |
237.2 |
|
9 |
- |
18 |
|
157 |
60 |
3.79 |
212 |
Andy |
Benes |
1994 |
25 |
172.1 |
|
6 |
- |
14 |
|
189 |
51 |
3.86 |
207 |
Tom |
Candiotti |
1995 |
30 |
190.1 |
|
7 |
- |
14 |
|
141 |
58 |
3.50 |
173 |
Roger |
Clemens |
1996 |
34 |
242.2 |
|
10 |
- |
13 |
|
257 |
106 |
3.63 |
182 |
Kevin |
Appier |
1997 |
34 |
235.2 |
|
9 |
- |
13 |
|
196 |
74 |
3.40 |
184 |
Jon |
Lieber |
1998 |
29 |
171.0 |
|
8 |
- |
14 |
|
138 |
40 |
4.11 |
172 |
Steve |
Trachsel |
1999 |
34 |
205.1 |
|
8 |
- |
18 |
|
149 |
64 |
5.57 |
162 |
Mike |
Mussina |
2000 |
34 |
237.2 |
|
11 |
- |
15 |
|
210 |
46 |
3.79 |
221 |
Bobby |
Jones |
2001 |
33 |
195.0 |
|
8 |
- |
19 |
|
113 |
38 |
5.12 |
185 |
Javier |
Vazquez |
2002 |
34 |
230.1 |
|
10 |
- |
13 |
|
179 |
49 |
3.91 |
178 |
Curt |
Schilling |
2003 |
24 |
168.0 |
|
8 |
- |
9 |
|
194 |
32 |
2.95 |
186 |
Ben |
Sheets |
2004 |
34 |
237.0 |
|
12 |
- |
14 |
|
264 |
32 |
2.70 |
285 |
Javier |
Vazquez |
2005 |
33 |
215.2 |
|
11 |
- |
15 |
|
192 |
46 |
4.42 |
191 |
Jake |
Peavy |
2006 |
32 |
202.1 |
|
11 |
- |
14 |
|
215 |
62 |
4.09 |
187 |
Bill James
Ft. Myers, Florida
March 28, 2007 |