# Warren Spahn Award

The Warren Spahn Award is presented each season by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame to the best left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). The award is named after Warren Spahn, who holds the MLB record in wins for a left-handed pitcher with 363. The Warren Spahn Award was created in 1999 by Richard Hendricks, the founder of the Territorial Capital Sports Museum, formerly Oklahoma Sports Museum, to honor Spahn, who resided in Oklahoma. The award was formerly presented at the Masonic Temple in Guthrie, Oklahoma until 2009, when the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame was granted ownership of the award, in partnership with the Bricktown Rotary Club. From 2009 to 2019, the award was presented at the annual Warren Spahn Award Gala, hosted by the Bricktown Rotary Club of Oklahoma City. Currently, the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame presents each annual award to the winner during season play at their respective team's ballpark.
The award has been won by 15 different pitchers. The winner is chosen based on rankings, which are based on wins, strikeouts, and earned run average. The most recent recipient is Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves. Randy Johnson received the first four awards from 1999 through 2002. He attended the awards ceremony due to his respect for Spahn, who called him personally to ask him to attend. CC Sabathia (2007–2009), Johan Santana (2004, 2006), Clayton Kershaw (2011, 2013, 2014, 2017), and Blake Snell (2018, 2023) are also multiple Warren Spahn Award winners. Johnson (1999–2002), Santana (2004, 2006), Sabathia (2007) and Kershaw (2011, 2013, 2014), and Snell (2018, 2023) also won the Cy Young Award, given annually to the best pitcher in each league, in years they won the Warren Spahn Award. Santana (2004, 2006), Sabathia (2007), Kershaw (2011, 2013, 2014), and Keuchel (2015) won the Pitcher of the Year Award, given annually to the most outstanding pitcher in each league, in years they won the Warren Spahn Award.
There has been one tie-break in the Warren Spahn Award's history, which occurred when Sabathia defeated the Houston Astros' Wandy Rodríguez to earn his third consecutive award in 2009. The tie-break was decided based on winning percentage.

## Winners

Key :
| Year | The MLB season the award was given |
| Player (X) | Denotes winning player and number of times they had won the award at that point (if more than one) |
| W | Wins |
| ERA | Earned run average |
| K | Strikeouts |
| ‡ | Indicates player won the Cy Young Award that season |
| Italics | Indicates player led MLB in that category |
| † | Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum |
Winners :
| Year | Pitcher | Team(s) | W | ERA | K |
| 1999 | Randy Johnson $^{†‡}$ | Arizona Diamondbacks | 17 | 2.48 | 364 |
| 2000 | Randy Johnson (2) $^{†‡}$ | Arizona Diamondbacks | 19 | 2.64 | 347 |
| 2001 | Randy Johnson (3) $^{†‡}$ | Arizona Diamondbacks | 21 | 2.49 | 372 |
| 2002 | Randy Johnson (4) $^{†‡}$ | Arizona Diamondbacks | 24 | 2.32 | 334 |
| 2003 | Andy Pettitte | New York Yankees | 21 | 4.02 | 180 |
| 2004 | Johan Santana $^‡$ | Minnesota Twins | 20 | 2.61 | 265 |
| 2005 | Dontrelle Willis | Florida Marlins | 22 | 2.63 | 180 |
| 2006 | Johan Santana (2) $^‡$ | Minnesota Twins | 19 | 2.77 | 245 |
| 2007 | CC Sabathia $^‡$ | Cleveland Indians | 19 | 3.21 | 209 |
| 2008 | CC Sabathia (2) | Cleveland Indians / Milwaukee Brewers | 17 | 2.70 | 251 |
| 2009 | CC Sabathia (3) | New York Yankees | 19 | 3.37 | 197 |
| 2010 | David Price | Tampa Bay Rays | 19 | 2.72 | 188 |
| 2011 | Clayton Kershaw $^‡$ | Los Angeles Dodgers | 21 | 2.28 | 248 |
| 2012 | Gio Gonzalez | Washington Nationals | 21 | 2.89 | 207 |
| 2013 | Clayton Kershaw (2) $^‡$ | Los Angeles Dodgers | 16 | 1.83 | 232 |
| 2014 | Clayton Kershaw (3) $^‡$ | Los Angeles Dodgers | 21 | 1.77 | 239 |
| 2015 | Dallas Keuchel $^‡$ | Houston Astros | 20 | 2.48 | 216 |
| 2016 | Jon Lester | Chicago Cubs | 19 | 2.44 | 197 |
| 2017 | Clayton Kershaw (4) | Los Angeles Dodgers | 18 | 2.31 | 202 |
| 2018 | Blake Snell $^‡$ | Tampa Bay Rays | 21 | 1.89 | 221 |
| 2019 | Patrick Corbin | Washington Nationals | 14 | 3.25 | 238 |
| 2020 | Hyun-jin Ryu | Toronto Blue Jays | 5 | 2.69 | 72 |
| 2021 | Julio Urías | Los Angeles Dodgers | 20 | 2.96 | 195 |
| 2022 | Julio Urías (2) | Los Angeles Dodgers | 17 | 2.16 | 166 |
| 2023 | Blake Snell (2) $^‡$ | San Diego Padres | 14 | 2.25 | 234 |
| 2024 | Chris Sale | Atlanta Braves | 18 | 2.38 | 225 |