ESPN.com: Baseball

[Print without images]

Tuesday, November 13, 2001
Updated: November 15, 2:30 PM ET
Big Unit near unanimous Cy Young winner

---

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Randy Johnson won his third straight National League Cy Young Award on Tuesday, easily beating Arizona Diamondbacks teammate Curt Schilling.

The Big Unit received 30 of 32 first-place votes and two seconds for 156 points from a panel of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Schilling, the co-MVP of the World Series along with Johnson, got two firsts, 29 seconds and one third for 98 points.

"I definitely thought he had a chance," Johnson said. "Just a pleasant surprise. I know Curt's happy for me. I talked to him earlier today. He was calling me today to thank me for getting him to this next level where's he at. I thought that was the most flattering comment I've received to this point in my career."

	Most Cy Youngs
	Since the Cy Young Award was instituted in 1956 (and for both leagues beginning in 1967), here are the pitchers who have won the most, along with 2nd-, 3rd- and 4th-place finishes in the balloting.
	Pitcher	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
	R. Clemens	5	1	1	0
	R. Johnson	4	2	1	0
	G. Maddux	4	1	2	1
	S. Carlton	4	0	1	1
	T. Seaver	3	2	1	1
	J. Palmer	3	2	1	0
	P. Martinez	3	1	0	0
	S. Koufax	3	0	1	0
	T. Glavine	2	2	2	0
	Others with two: Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, Gaylord Perry, Bret Saberhagen.

It was the fourth Cy Young Award for Johnson, who won the AL honor while pitching for Seattle in 1995. The only other pitchers with four or more Cy Youngs are Roger Clemens, a favorite to win his sixth on Thursday when the AL voting is announced, and Steve Carlton and Greg Maddux, who won four each.

"This has been a dream season," Johnson said, "not because of the Cy Young Award but because another dream was fulfilled."

Since Arizona beat the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series on Nov. 4, Johnson has had little time to reflect.

"It's all been pretty surreal," he said. "Me and my wife had a vacation planned. We put it off a few days so we could take part in the ticket-tape parade."

The only two voters who didn't pick Johnson first were Toni Ginnetti of the Chicago Sun-Times and Joe Christensen of The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif.

This was just the third time teammates finished first and second in the voting, following Don Newcombe and Sal Maglie of the 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers, and Mike Marshall and Andy Messersmith of the 1974 Los Angeles Dodgers.

	Voting results
	Complete Cy Young voting results, on a 5-3-1 basis:
	Pitcher	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
	R. Johnson	30	2	--	156
	C. Schilling	2	29	1	98
	M. Morris	--	1	28	31
	J. Lieber	--	--	2	2
	R. Oswalt	--	--	1	1

Johnson was 21-6 and led the major leagues with a 2.49 ERA and 372 strikeouts, the third most in a season behind Nolan Ryan's 383 in 1973 and Sandy Koufax's 382 in 1965.

Johnson, who led the majors in strikeouts for the eighth time, struck out 10 or more 23 times for the third straight season, matching the record Ryan set with the California Angels in 1973.

Votes were cast before the start of the postseason, when Johnson became the first pitcher to win three games in a World Series since Detroit's Mickey Lolich in 1968.

Schilling was 22-6 with a 2.98 ERA and 293 strikeouts.

"This should be about Randy winning it, not me losing it," Schilling told ESPN Radio. "I feel from my first start to my last, I was the most consistent pitcher in baseball. ... Was that good enough to win the Cy Young? Not this year."

Matt Morris of the St. Louis Cardinals was third with 31 points, followed by Jon Lieber of the Chicago Cubs with two, and Houston Astros rookie Roy Oswalt with one.

Johnson gets a $250,000 bonus won winning, Schilling $150,000 for finishing second and Morris $25,000 for finishing third.

---