The Satchel Paige Award

Yahoo! Sports writer Gordon Edes thinks it is time to introduce the Satchel Paige Award -- or, more specifically, rebrand the existing Cy Young Award. He proposes taking Young's name off the Baseball Writers Association of America-sponsored annual awards for the best pitcher in each league.

I disagree (and emailed Edes to tell him so; no response), but did think that a Paige Award is a good idea, and obviously it would have to be some sort of pitching honor. So I took a page (heh) from what the World Science Fiction Society occasionally has been doing over the past few years -- retroactive awards.

The WSFS is purely a fan-driven organization, with the primary activity of running the annual World Science Fiction Convention, or WorldCon. One major event that occurs during the WorldCon is the announcements of that year's Hugo Award winners, recognition bestowed for outstanding achievements in various Sci-Fi related media categories. The Hugos are widely considered to be the highest honors in the field of science fiction. However, the Hugos were first awarded in 1953, and did not becoming a continuing, annual event until 1955 -- meaning some of the early years were left out. About 15 years ago, the WSFS decided to allow the WorldCon organizing committees to decide if they wanted to have Retro Hugo Awards, additional ballots for recognizing eligible works from pre-determined, as-yet-unhonored years. So far, three sets of Retro Hugos have been voted on. The process has not been perfect, but it is an earnest and worthy idea, and a bit of fun as well.

As science fiction, why not baseball?

The BBWAA introduced its Cy Young Award in 1956, named in honor of Hall Of Famer Young, who still holds (by a huge, unapproachable margin) the major league record for pitcher's wins. (He had also died the previous year, meaning no royalties would need be paid for using his name.) The BBWAA distributed one Award for all of Major League Baseball from 1956-66, and one Award for each league beginning in 1967.

That leaves a lot of past seasons during which no pitcher or pitchers was recognized for having the outstanding season in his league.

Why not introduce a Retro Cy Young Award, and name that the Satchel Paige Award? And, think about it, if an award is to be introduced that honors overlooked olde-tymers, naming it after Paige fits like a batting glove.

Let's think about the scope, eligibility, process, and electorate.

Scope

Looking back in time, Satchel Paige Awards could be voted on for American League seasons 1901-55, National League seasons 1876-1955, and whichever league did not win the MLB-wide CYA in 1955-66 (which would amount to seven AL SPAs and four NL SPAs). That works out to 55 + 80 + 11 == 146 new awards, eventually. (There are other, short-lived major leagues buried in history, which could also serve as fertile ground for retroactive awards, but let's keep it simple with just the AL and NL for now.)

Think about 146 new, historical awards! Long overdue recognition for outstanding seasonal performances! Something new to discuss and debate!

Eligibility

Any player who pitched during the championship season and relevant league. Relief pitching being far from the specialized role it is today, I could see imposing a minimum innings pitched requirement, say 100.0 IP, but that probably isn't necessary, though it would help narrow the field.

Process

With 146 awards covering 91 major league seasons, simply starting at 1876 and moving forward at a one historical year per year rate would not be the best option. One, it would take forever to complete, and two, it would necessarily deny any living potential honorees from getting to enjoy their spoils should they be voted an Award. So the entire 146 awards needs to be broken up. I do think that retro awards should start at some point and move forward, not backward, in time, as it simply is an easier idea to grasp.

HOFer Bob Feller is the oldest living pitcher I can identify who had at least one season of 100+ IP. Now, it just happens to be Feller, and I was using 100 IP as a fast filter to pick out likely potential SPA candidates. But even a casual glance at Feller's stats shows that he would be an excellent candidate for one or more of our theoretical Satchel Paige Awards, and it would be nice if he were still drawing breath if and when his name was announced.

Feller first pitched in the majors in 1936, and while I don't want to set up a voting schedule for the SPAs that looks like one or more are going to be handed to Feller, 1936 certainly makes for a reasonable break point in the voting schedule in order to make the entire historical reach of the SPAs something that can be accomplished within the lifetimes of many of today's fans.

I suggest four concurrent voting schedules. When one reaches its endpoint, so be it, the remaining ones continue on.

Schedule A: National League, 1876-1900, 25 seasons, 25 SPAs.
Schedule B: American & National Leagues, 1901-35, 35 seasons, 70 SPAs.
Schedule C: American & National Leagues, 1936-55, 20 seasons, 40 SPAs.
Schedule D: American & National Leagues, unawarded, 1956-66, 11 seasons, 11 SPAs.

Schedule D allows for living potential recipients who had a CYA-class season but didn't get the single Award their chance to be honored, while still alive, without having to wait an extra 20 years for Schedule C to catch up.

This is just one suggestion. It could be broken up by decades, or pairs of decades, or whatever. The master schedule should serve three purposes, I think:
1. Have a reasonable endpoint within the expected lifetimes of current fans (91 years being unreasonable for this purpose).
2. Not overdo it; three or four, maybe five, retro awards per year keeps it interesting without hitting saturation. Keep the separate schedules wide enough that different eras, and different pitchers who were excellent in those times and specific seasons, get some well-deserved attention, albeit long after the fact. History is important in baseball.
3. Give living potential SPA winners the opportunity to still be alive to enjoy the honor. Feller's career pretty much demands being allowed to define this one break point in the individual schedules.

Hold to these purposes, acknowledge some of the natural break points that baseball's history provides (the founding of the AL in 1901; that quirky 1956-66, one CYA era), and an agreeable master schedule can be established without too much fuss. (And hurry up, because Bob ain't getting younger.)

Electorate

The primary reason I hand the sponsoring of the Satchel Paige Award over to the BBWAA is that the awards they currently vote upon and bestow are, far and away, the most respected annual awards in baseball. Sure, there are plenty of other ones out there -- Silver Sluggers, Gold Gloves, other MLB-recognized prizes -- but only the BBWAA Awards command top attention. (That much of that attention comes from the print media is no coincidence, no. But it's not merely back-patting. Just the annual debates over the Most Valuable Player Awards and "what MVP means" never settle down. Fans care about the BBWAA awards.) So to get the Satchel Paige Awards the spotlight they deserve would require getting the BBWAA involved.

The current voting method for the CYAs -- two votes per league city -- works well enough for current awards in real time, but past seasons are in the book, the ink long since dried. Anyone can review them at leisure, and there's little urgency in casting a ballot before the postseason begins. So, SPA voting should be more open -- much more open -- and expanded well beyond the 28 or 32 ballots that decide each year's Cy Young Awards.

My first thought is, open up the voting to the entire BBWAA membership. Such a thing could be coordinated with the annual Hall Of Fame voting, or be moved to a different point on the calendar, perhaps in time to allow the SPAs to be announced at the All-Star Game festivities.

My second thought is, No, that's still not good enough. No one owns history; there should be a fan component to the voting. I don't know how this would work exactly, but with the power of the Web, there has to be a workable solution. One fan, one vote, should be feasible. Make the total fan input equivalent to a limited percentage of the final voting, analogous to the presidential electoral college, if needs be -- but give fans a voice. If for no other reason, to prevent Satchel Paige Awards from simply devolving into a popularity poll about which pitcher had the most wins in a given season. Statistical analysis is more advanced today than ever before, and we can dissect the stats better and not just look at one or two numbers.

And think about it, wouldn't you like to see, say, Walter Johnson, be voted the 1913 American League Satchel Paige Award, and know that you cast your vote for him? I'd enjoy that.

The exact ballot format -- three places, 5-3-1 points -- is fine, though perhaps expanding it to five places and modifying the point values would make it a bit more fun.

So, that's my ideas for a Satchel Paige Award. It doesn't have to be sponsored by the BBWAA, but that name lends some weighty imprimatur that would only help. It doesn't take the pitching award away from Young, whose memory doesn't deserve that (and the BBWAA chose him, so they should be stuck with him, and willingly. We also automatically avoid the sticky situation of possibly awarding Young a Cy Young Award.) Paige is worthily honored, as are many past pitchers. (And as with Young, Paige isn't likely to win his own award, based on his statistics.)

The Satchel Paige Award. An idea whose time is in the past, and has come at last.

How about it, BBWAA?