It's Wikipedia's definition. Can you find another on that doesn't mention the Cy Young being an award for the best pitcher in the league? What do you think the award is for? The most productive pitcher, maybe? The most valuable pitcher, maybe? The pitcher who has helped his team the most? Couldn't find a different definition, huh? Didn't look until just now. I haven't dug too deep, but I did find this little tidbit: Did you know... The record for the most major league baseball career innings is held by Cy Young, with 7,356 innings. Seems to me that in the spirit of the award, innings pitched would be extremely important. He pitched for 22 years and won 511 games which is still a record today. He holds the major league record for complete games with 751. He is fourth on the all time list for shutouts with 76. He led the league in shutouts seven times. He led the league in wins four times. Sounds alot like an award that's custom-made for a guy like Chris Carpenter. I didn't find anything about him that's related to ERA. oh man i have not laughed out loud at a post in a while, but geez, man. this post made my day. i needed a laugh. thanks.