Mike Marshall Becomes the First Reliever to Win the Cy Young

On November 6, 1974, the Baseball Writers' Association of America named Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Mike Marshall the National League Cy Young Award winner. He was the first relief pitcher in baseball history to receive the honor.

Marshall's 1974 season defied every assumption about how a reliever should be used. He appeared in 106 games, a record that still stands more than 50 years later. He pitched 208 innings out of the bullpen. He finished 83 games. Over one stretch in June, he appeared in 13 consecutive games. Dodgers manager Walter Alston simply could not keep Marshall out of a game.

The numbers behind the workload were excellent. Marshall went 15-12 with a 2.42 ERA and 21 saves. His screwball, which he had developed through his academic study of kinesiology at Michigan State University, was nearly unhittable when he had command.

Marshall was an unusual figure in the sport. He held a Ph.D. and had strong opinions about pitching mechanics, arguing that conventional throwing motions caused unnecessary injuries. He trained differently from his peers, using exercises based on his own research. His teammates and opponents found him difficult to deal with at times, but nobody questioned his effectiveness.

The Dodgers won the National League pennant in 1974 and lost to the Oakland A's in five games in the World Series. Marshall appeared in all five games of that series, absorbing the Game 5 loss.

His workload that year was never replicated. Modern pitching management has moved in the opposite direction, toward shorter outings and rigid role definitions. Marshall's season stands as a monument to a different era of bullpen usage.