Commissioner Ford Frick, troubled by pitchers' lack of representation in Most Valuable Player voting, spearheaded the 1956 effort to initiate a "most valuable pitcher" award. The Cy Young Award was born, named for baseball's winningest pitcher, who had died the previous November. At a special meeting on July 9, 1956, the Baseball Writers Association of America approved, by the slim margin of 14-12, the establishment of the Cy Young Memorial Award, designed to honor the major leagues' outstanding pitcher each year beginning in 1956. Ironically, the first winner, Brooklyn's Don Newcombe, also won his league's MVP Award.
One writer from each major league city participated in the balloting. In case of a tie vote, a second balloting was to occur between the deadlocked pitchers. Hurlers were not eligible to win the award more than once, a rule that was scrapped within two years.
Frick was adamantly opposed to the commonly voiced idea to recognize a Cy Young winner in each league, but, not long after his December 1965 retirement, the idea became a reality. On March 1, 1967, Frick's successor William Eckert approved the plan for dual awards, with two writers from each league city designated to make selections.
The system of having each writer select only one pitcher prevailed until 1969, when Detroit's Denny McLain and Baltimore's Mike Cuellar tied for the AL Cy Young Award. Thereafter, writers were instructed to name three pitchers in each league, with five points allotted for each first-place vote, three for second, and one for third.
The maximum number of points available for one pitcher was 16 from 1956 to 1960, 18 in 1961, 20 from 1962 to 1968, 24 in 1969, 120 from 1970 to 1976 (AL) and 1970 to 1992 (NL), and 140 from 1977 to the present (AL) and 1993 to the present (NL). As with every other major award, there have been a few instances in Cy Young voting in which at least one writer failed to return a ballot.
Unanimous winners of the Cy Young Award have been Sandy Koufax (NL, 1963, 1965, and 1966), Bob Gibson (NL, 1968), Denny McLain (AL, 1968), Steve Carlton (NL, 1972), Ron Guidry (AL, 1978), Rick Sutcliffe (NL, 1984), Dwight Gooden (NL, 1985), Roger Clemens (AL, 1986), Orel Hershiser (NL, 1988), and Greg Maddux (NL, 1994, 1995).
Relief pitchers, once overlooked in Cy Young balloting, have become strong candidates in recent years. Until 1970 only one reliever-Lindy McDaniel in 1960-had received even a single vote. The new voting system helped open opportunities for bullpen aces, and in 1974 the Dodgers' Mike Marshall became the first reliever to win the Cy Young Award. He has been followed in that distinction by Sparky Lyle (AL, 1977), Bruce Sutter (NL, 1979), Rollie Fingers (AL, 1981), Willie Hernandez (AL, 1984), Steve Bedrosian (NL, 1987), Mark Davis (NL, 1989), and Dennis Eckersley (AL, 1992).