Pittsburgh Pirates: 30 greatest players in franchise history

Only two Pirates have won the Cy Young award. Doug Drabek was the most recent to do so in 1990. Thirty years earlier, Vern Law took home the honor. At the time, Major League Baseball shared the award between the leagues. On a team bound for championship glory, Law was credited as the best pitcher in 1960 in all of baseball.

Law gets bonus points for his military service, which removed him from baseball in 1952 and 1953. Fortunately for him, this was the beginning of his career. He was able to bounce back from a poor freshman and sophomore season in 1950 and 1951, as well as another rough year in 1954.

In the late 1950s, Law found his groove. His ERA started to go down and his win totals began to climb. In 1959, he won 18 games with a 2.98 ERA. The next year he went 20-9 with a 3.08 ERA. As you already know, it was the Cy Young season for him.

The year was masterful for the time and included a sixth-place finish in the MVP vote, leading to the only All-Star selection of his career. Law was good, but never as outstanding as he was in this particular year. He pitched to contact for much of his career. The 120 strikeouts he had in 1960 were a career high and came with an average of only four per nine innings.

Law made three starts for the Pirates in the 1960 World Series and left with a 2-0 record and 3.44 ERA. It was a memorable year for him and one the City of Pittsburgh needed. His 18 complete games in the regular season led the league one year after tossing 20 games from start to finish in 1959.

All 16 of his MLB seasons took place with the Pirates. Law would win 162 games for them while posting a 3.77 ERA.