Sigh Young
Congratulations, Brandon Webb, on being the shittiest Cy Young winner ever. I say this not out of spite towards Webb, or because I'm on the Trevor Hoffman bandwagon (although, he would have been my choice). But it's true: Webb is probably the worst Cy Young winner ever. He's a 47-45 lifetime pitcher. Out of the 82 starters that have won the Cy Young, only 16 have won it with less than 20 wins, including Webb, who went a pedestrian 16-8. Out of those 16, only one has also had an ERA over 3. Webb.
I mean no personal affront to Webb. But this is a great example of how sports have ruined their own accolades. By forcing themselves to shower awards and hall of fame spots on an annual basis, they dillute the significance. It's more of a problem in hall of fame voting, where above average to very good players share the same level of prestige as legends. It's okay to set a high standard, and to simply not let people in if they don't meet the requirements. I know it's not that easy to make a set of requirements, especially when they involve subjective things like "Did they change the landscape of their game while they were playing?" But there's got to be a higher regard for the awards we're supposed to believe mean something, because fans are beginning to lose interest in them, which is unfair to the players who deserve the hyperbole.
