The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955. The award was originally given to the single best pitcher in the major leagues, but in 1967, after the retirement of Frick, the award was given to one pitcher in each league.^[1][2]

Each league's award is voted on by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, with one representative from each team. As of the 2010 season, each voter places a vote for first, second, third, fourth, and fifth place among the pitchers of each league. The formula used to calculate the final scores is a weighted sum of the votes.^[A] The pitcher with the highest score in each league wins the award.^[1] If two pitchers receive the same number of votes, the award is shared.^[3] From 1970 to 2009, writers voted for three pitchers, with the formula of five points for a first-place vote, three for a second-place vote and one for a third-place vote. Before 1970, writers only voted for the best pitcher and used a formula of one point per vote.^[1]

The Cy Young Award was introduced in 1956 by Commissioner of Baseball Ford C. Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955.^[1] Originally given to the single best pitcher in the major leagues, the award changed its format over time. From 1956 to 1966, the award was given to one pitcher in Major League Baseball. After Frick retired in 1967, William Eckert became the new Commissioner of Baseball. Due to fan requests, Eckert announced that the Cy Young Award would be given out both in the American League and the National League.^[1] From 1956 to 1958, a pitcher was not allowed to win the award on more than one occasion; this rule was eliminated in 1959. After a tie in the 1969 voting for the Cy Young Award, the process was changed, in which each writer was to vote for three pitchers: the first-place vote received five points, the second-place vote received three points, and the third-place vote received one point.^[1]

The first recipient of the Cy Young Award was Don Newcombe of the Dodgers. The Dodgers are the franchise with the most Cy Young Awards. In 1957, Warren Spahn became the first left-handed pitcher to win the award. In 1963, Sandy Koufax became the first pitcher to win the award in a unanimous vote; two years later he became the first multiple winner. In 1978, Gaylord Perry (age 40) became the oldest pitcher to receive the award, a record that stood until broken in 2004 by Roger Clemens (age 42).^[1] The youngest recipient was Dwight Gooden (age 20 in 1985). In 2012, R. A. Dickey became the first knuckleball pitcher to win the award.^[4]

In 1974, Mike Marshall became the first relief pitcher to win the award.^[1] In 1992, Dennis Eckersley was the first modern closer (first player to be used almost exclusively in ninth-inning situations)^[5][6][7] to win the award, and since then only one other relief pitcher has won the award, Éric Gagné in 2003 (also a closer). A total of nine relief pitchers have won the Cy Young Award across both leagues.^[8]

Steve Carlton in 1982 became the first pitcher to win more than three Cy Young Awards, while Greg Maddux in 1994 became the first to win at least three in a row (and received a fourth straight the following year), a feat later repeated by Randy Johnson.^[9]

• ^A The formula is: Score = 7F + 4S + 3T + 2FO + FI, where F is the number of first-place votes, S is second-place votes, T is third-place votes, FO is fourth-place votes and FI is fifth-place votes.^[1]
• ^{a b c} See: Decision (baseball)
• ^{a b c} In baseball, a save is credited to a pitcher who finishes a game for the winning team under certain prescribed circumstances. It became an official statistic in Major League Baseball in 1969.