Dave Stewart Marquee

He won 20, 21, 21 and 22 games from 1987 to 1990 for Oakland and finished third, fourth, second and third in the Cy Young voting, which is as close as a pitcher can come four times running without getting one. He was released by Philadelphia in May 1986 and signed by the Athletics for nothing, at twenty-nine, having been a relief pitcher and a disappointment until then.

Sixteen seasons gave him 168 wins against 129, a 3.95 earned run average and 2,629 innings. He no-hit Toronto in June 1990, hours before Fernando Valenzuela no-hit St. Louis the same night.

In October he was different: he was the most valuable player of the 1989 World Series and of two Championship Series, and he won ten postseason games. He stared at hitters from under the cap brim and nobody in that decade wanted to face him in a big game. Two writers' ballots gave him 38 votes and then 23.