John Denny
Denny's 1983 Cy Young season stands as one of the most dominant individual performances in Phillies history, anchoring a championship-caliber rotation with a 2.37 ERA that was 63 percent better than league average. His 19-6 record masked an even more impressive story — he was virtually unhittable when it mattered most, going 13-0 in his final 18 starts.
The right-hander's career tells the story of a pitcher who found his peak relatively late, posting a solid 110 ERA+ over 13 seasons but saving his best for age 30. Before 1983, he was a reliable mid-rotation starter; that magical season transformed him into the National League's best pitcher.
His 1,146 career strikeouts came with excellent control, averaging just 2.8 walks per nine innings. Denny proved that precision could trump pure stuff, using location and changing speeds to outmaneuver hitters throughout a career that bridged the end of the pitcher-friendly 1970s into the offensive surge of the mid-1980s.
Career · Hitting
13 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | STL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 1975 | STL | 26 | 44 | 0 | 3 | .227 | .455 | 65 |
| 1976 | STL | 30 | 67 | 0 | 4 | .224 | .489 | 72 |
| 1977 | STL | 26 | 51 | 0 | 2 | .098 | .230 | 31 |
| 1978 | STL | 33 | 73 | 0 | 3 | .178 | .465 | 66 |
| 1979 | STL | 31 | 70 | 0 | 3 | .129 | .325 | 45 |
| 1980 | CLE | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 1981 | CLE | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 1982 | PHI | 25 | 6 | 0 | 0 | .167 | .542 | 76 |
| 1983 | PHI | 36 | 77 | 0 | 2 | .169 | .372 | 52 |
| 1984 | PHI | 22 | 47 | 0 | 4 | .191 | .396 | 56 |
| 1985 | PHI | 33 | 81 | 0 | 4 | .123 | .301 | 42 |
| 1986 | CIN | 27 | 54 | 0 | 4 | .222 | .485 | 67 |
| Career | 326 | 570 | 0 | 29 | .170 | — | — | |
Career · Pitching
13 seasons| Year | Team | G | IP | W | L | ERA | ERA+ | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | STL | 2 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — | 1 | 1.500 |
| 1975 | STL | 25 | 136.0 | 10 | 7 | 3.97 | 93 | 72 | 1.471 |
| 1976 | STL | 30 | 207.0 | 11 | 9 | 2.52 | 139 | 74 | 1.271 |
| 1977 | STL | 26 | 149.7 | 8 | 8 | 4.51 | 88 | 60 | 1.517 |
| 1978 | STL | 33 | 234.0 | 14 | 11 | 2.96 | 124 | 103 | 1.171 |
| 1979 | STL | 31 | 206.0 | 8 | 11 | 4.85 | 82 | 99 | 1.485 |
| 1980 | CLE | 16 | 108.7 | 8 | 6 | 4.39 | 87 | 59 | 1.500 |
| 1981 | CLE | 19 | 145.7 | 10 | 6 | 3.15 | 114 | 94 | 1.407 |
| 1982 | CLE | 25 | 160.7 | 6 | 13 | 4.87 | 79 | 113 | 1.413 |
| 1983 | PHI | 36 | 242.7 | 19 | 6 | 2.37 | 163 | 139 | 1.162 |
| 1984 | PHI | 22 | 154.3 | 7 | 7 | 2.45 | 156 | 94 | 0.978 |
| 1985 | PHI | 33 | 230.7 | 11 | 14 | 3.82 | 102 | 123 | 1.452 |
| 1986 | CIN | 27 | 171.3 | 11 | 10 | 4.20 | 94 | 115 | 1.372 |
| Career | 325 | 2148.8 | 123 | 108 | — | — | 1146 | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.