OPINION:
You have to admit, the Washington Nationals have put together an impressive individual trophy case under general manager Mike Rizzo’s tenure.
From 2012 to now, the franchise has had a National League Rookie of the Year (Bryce Harper 2012), an NL Most Valuable Player (Harper again, 2015), NL Manager of the Year (two of them, Davey Johnson in 2012 and Matt Williams in 2014), and now an NL Cy Young Award winner. And they had a third manager, Dusty Baker, who finished in the top three in voting, and a rookie, Trea Turner finish second for Rookie of the Year honors.
“This is a truly incredible achievement for Max,” Rizzo said in a statement. “When you look at the players who’ve preceded him in winning a Cy Young award in both leagues, you realize just what a tremendous accomplishment this is, and we are so proud to call him one of our own. On behalf of the entire Washington Nationals organization, we are thrilled for Max.”
No Washington sports team in history has accumulated such a haul of individual awards over a short period of time.
Scherzer won the NL Cy Young award for the best pitcher in the league in the same way dominating way he pitched for the Nationals this year, getting 25 of 30 first-place votes, leaving little debate about the winner and the two runner ups in the top three, Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks. He became the second Nationals pitcher to post a 20-win season in five years, going 20-7 in 228 innings pitched, with 284 strikeouts and a 2.96 ERA.
It’s Scherzer’s second Cy Young, after first capturing the American League honor with the Detroit Tigers in 2013. He’s one of the few pitchers who has won the award in both leagues, certainly a measure of sustained greatness. The others who have been the best in both leagues are Roy Halladay, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Gaylord Perry.
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He’s the first Washington pitcher to win the award. What, no Walter Johnson Cy Youngs? The best right-handed pitcher in the history of the game, and no Cy Young honors?
Well, there was no such award when Johnson pitched. The Cy Young award didn’t begin until 1956.
Johnson, though, did win the Most Valuable Player award — twice, in 1913 and 1924, the year the Washington Senators won the World Series. In 1913, he went 36-7, pitched 346 innings, completed 29 games, and struck out 243 batters with a 1.14 ERA. In 1924, Johnson went 23-7, pitched 278 innings, competed 20 games, struck out 158 with a 2.72 ERA.
The Senators had the MVP the following year as well, when Washington shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh won the award as the Senators notched a second straight AL pennant, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games in the 1925 World Series. In 126 games, Peckinpaugh batted .294 with 67 runs scored, 124 hits, 16 doubles, four triples, four home runs, 64 RBI and 13 stolen bases.
Those are hardly MVP numbers, but from 1922 to 1928, you could not win the MVP award twice, so none of the stars like a Ruth or a George Sisler at the time, who had already won, were candidates. Still, you could make the case that Peckinbaugh wasn’t even the Senators’ MVP. Goose Goslin batted .334 and led the team with 18 home runs and 113 RB. Sam Rice hit .350. A strange MVP award, indeed.
There weren’t many trophies after that for the Washington Senators — just Albie Pearson and his AL Rookie of the Year award in 1958.
The Redskins had some multiple winners during the best years of George Allen and the early years of Joe Gibbs. Allen was named Associated Press Coach of the Year in 1971, and running back Larry Brown won the AP Most Valuable Player honor (started in 1957) in 1972, the year the Redskins won the NFC and went to Super Bowl VII. And when the Redskins won the 1982 Super Bowl and went back after repeating as NFC champions in 1983, kicker Mark Moseley won the AP MVP in 1982 (the only placekicker to win the honor) and quarterback Joe Theismann captured the 1983 MVP award. Gibbs won the AP NFL Coach of the Year award both in 1982 and 1983 — the only times he would win the award. Other than that, Jack Pardee won NFL Coach of the Year honors in 1979, and running back Mike Thomas won the offensive Rookie of the Year award in 1975.
Though there was no official MVP award when the great Sammy Baugh played, he was named Player of the Year by the Washington Touchdown Club in 1947 and 1948.
The Washington Capitals have rivaled the Nationals individual awards haul. Alex Ovechkin has won the Hart Trophy — the National Hockey League’s MVP award — three times, in 2008, 2009 and 2013. And while Ovechkin was capturing top honor in 2008, his then-coach Bruce Boudreau was winning the Jack Adams award for NHL Coach of the Year. The only other Capitals coaches who have captured that award are Bryan Murray in 1984 and current head coach Barry Trotz this past season. And this past year when Trotz won Coach of the Year, Braden Holtby won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender — the third Capitals goalie to win. Jim Carey won the Vezina in 1996 and Olie Kolzig in 2000.
Finally, we have your alleged NBA franchise the Washington Wizards/Bullets. I am not counting hardware accumulated when franchise was in Baltimore — when Wes Unseld captured both the NBA Rookie of the Year award and MVP honors in the same season in 1969, Gene Shue’s Coach of the Year award that same season and Earl Monroe named NBA Rookie of the Year the previous year in 1968.
So this is your list of individual award winners of note for the Washington Wizard/Bullets — no honors during their three trips to the NBA finals in 1975, 1978 and 1979, or their championship season of 1978.
This is it — Shue, Coach of the Year 1982.
That is a very tiny trophy case.
• Thom Loverro hosts his weekly podcast “Cigars & Curveballs” Wednesdays available on iTunes and Google Play.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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