Cy Young Profile: Steve Stone, 1980

Pitcher, Baltimore Orioles

 

Age:  33 (July 14)

2^nd season with Orioles

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 5’10” Weight: 175

Prior to 1980:

An Ohio native, born to an Orthodox Jewish family, Stone started out as a Little League catcher in suburban Cleveland who took up pitching at age 9. At Charles F. Brush High School, he excelled at tennis and golf as well as baseball. Moving on to Kent State University, he was captain of the baseball team where his catcher was future Yankee Thurman Munson. Graduating college in 1970, Stone was chosen by the San Francisco Giants in the fourth round of the 1969 amateur draft. Initially assigned to Fresno of the Class A California League, he won seven consecutive decisions on his way to a 12-13 record with a 3.61 ERA and 184 strikeouts in 167 innings pitched. Starting the 1970 season with Amarillo of the Class AA Texas League, he was 9-5 with a 3.95 ERA when he was promoted to Phoenix of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, where he went 5-3 with a 1.71 ERA in eight starts. Starting the 1971 season with the Giants Stone went 5-9 in 24 appearances (19 of them starts) before being sent down to Phoenix where he had a 6-3 tally with a 3.98 ERA. Back with the Giants in 1972, he started in 16 of his 27 appearances and produced a 6-8 mark and a 2.98 ERA with 85 strikeouts. Traded to the Chicago White Sox in the offseason, Stone was primarily a reliever in 1973 and produced a 6-11 tally with 4.24 ERA and 138 strikeouts. Dealt again in the offseason, this time across town to the Cubs as part of the trade for veteran third baseman Ron Santo, Stone appeared in 38 games for the last-place Cubs in 1974, 23 of them starts, and turned in an 8-6 record with a 4.14 ERA. Despite missing a month with a back injury in 1975, Stone improved to 12-8 with a 3.95 ERA and 139 strikeouts. Refusing to accept a pay cut for 1976, he suffered a torn rotator cuff and ended up finishing at 3-6 with a 4.08 ERA. The injury was resolved without surgery and, as a free agent in the offseason, he returned to the White Sox for $60,000. Thus far, with his decent fastball and curve, he appeared to be a journeyman pitcher. In 1977 “Stoney” produced a 15-12 mark and a 4.51 ERA along with 124 strikeouts while pitching 207 innings. He followed up with a 12-12 record in 1978 with a 4.37 ERA and 118 strikeouts. A free agent once again, he signed with the Orioles for four years and $760,000. Prospering with a pennant-winning club in 1979, Stone went 11-7 as the fifth starter with a 3.77 ERA. In the only postseason action of his career, he relieved in one World Series game and was a non-factor as Baltimore lost to Pittsburgh in seven games. There was no reason to expect Stone to do anything spectacular entering the 1980 season. 

1980 Season Summary

Appeared in 37 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 37

Games Started – 37 [2, tied with Mike Flanagan]

Complete Games – 9 [19, tied with four others]

Wins – 25 [1]

Losses – 7

PCT - .781 [1]

Saves – 0

Shutouts – 1

Innings Pitched – 250.2 [9, tied with Jim Clancy]

Hits – 224

Runs – 103

Earned Runs – 90

Home Runs – 22 [16, tied with Rick Honeycutt & Ferguson Jenkins]

Bases on Balls – 101 [2]

Strikeouts – 149 [7, tied with Jerry Koosman]

ERA – 3.23 [7]

Hit Batters – 6 [7, tied with seven others]

Balks – 0

Wild Pitches – 7 [16, tied with six others]

League-leading wins were +3 ahead of runners-up Mike Norris & Tommy John

League-leading win percentage was +.031 ahead of runner-up Rudy May

Midseason Snapshot: 12-3, ERA - 3.10, SO - 70 in 119 IP

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Most strikeouts, game – 11 (in 9 IP) vs. California 6/17

10+ strikeout games – 1

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 2 (in 9 IP) vs. NY Yankees 8/14, (in 7.1 IP) at California 8/19

Fielding

Chances – 42

Put Outs – 14

Assists – 26

Errors – 2

DP – 1

Pct. - .952

Awards & Honors:

AL Cy Young Award: BBWAA

AL Pitcher of the Year: Sporting News

All-Star (Starting P for AL)

9^th in AL MVP voting (53 points, 14% share) 

AL Cy Young voting (Top 5):

Steve Stone, Balt.: 100 pts. – 13 of 28 first place votes, 71% share

Mike Norris, Oak.: 91 pts. – 13 first place votes, 65% share

Rich Gossage, NYY: 37 pts. – 2 first place votes, 26% share

Tommy John, NYY: 14 pts. – 10% share

Dan Quisenberry, KCR: 7 pts. – 5% share

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Orioles went 100-62 to finish second in the AL Eastern Division, 3 games behind the division-winning New York Yankees. The slow-starting Orioles went 58-26 after the All-Star break and benefited from Stone’s pitching that included 14 straight wins at one point. Despite winning 14 of their last 18 games, they fell short of the Yankees in the end.

Aftermath of ‘80:

Stone was unable to duplicate his 1980 success in 1981. His over-reliance on throwing curves caused major injury to his arm. In the strike-interrupted season, he appeared in only 15 games and produced a 4-7 record and a 4.60 ERA, after which he retired at age 34. For his major league career, in which the 1980 season was the chief highlight, he compiled a 107-93 tally with a 3.97 ERA, 43 complete games, 7 shutouts, and 1065 strikeouts in 1788.1 innings pitched. With the Orioles he was 40-21 with a 3.60 ERA, 12 complete games, one shutout, and 275 strikeouts while pitching 499.1 innings. Following his retirement as a player, the articulate and intelligent Stone went into broadcasting.

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Cy Young Profiles feature pitchers who were recipients of the Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1956 to present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from its inception through 1966 and from 1967 on to one recipient from each major league.