Maybe in 20 years or so, they will be able to better evaluate the current era, and notice that there was a difference between Andy Petite and Warren Spahn.

“Josh Wilker wonders what it was about those pitchers of the 1990s that allowed them to post those crazy-low ERA’s relative to their leagues. Were they really that good? And so many of them at the same time? Josh thinks maybe they weren’t, and I’m inclined to agree with him. I don’t think he’s quite figured out the mechanism of those bizarrely brilliant ERA+’s; I don’t think I have, either (though I think I’ve come a little closer than he has). What I really think, though, is that it’s almost certainly not possible that all the best pitchers of the last 50 years just happened to pitch at almost exactly the same time. ”

I don’t know who Young did vote for, but had he voted for Seaver 2nd, that would have tied Seaver with Valenzuela, only if he had voted for Valenzuela number 1. (Seaver and Fernando both had 8 first-place votes, Carlton 5, Ryan 3.) Had Young voted for Seaver 1st, that would have given Seaver five more points, and maybe fewer for Valenzuela (who might have gone from five points to three points), meaning Seaver would have won the Cy Young.

But forget about the numbers; the main thing is that Dick Young kept Seaver off the ballot for purely personal reasons — and should have had his voting rights taken away immediately.