Frank Viola won 16 of his first 17 decisions and won the American League Cy Young Award in 1988 when he played a big role in Minnesota winning the AL West Division Title. The 6-ft, 4-inch, 209-pounder posted a sterling 24-7 record, a 2.63 ERA, struck out 193, walked just 54 in 255 1/3 innings, while completing 7-of-35 starts. One of the major leagues workhorses, hard throwing Frank Viola pitched at least 200 innings from 1983 thru 1988. From 1984-1988 he rang up W/L records of 18-12, 18-14, 16-13, 17-10 and 24-7. After slipping to 8-12 in mid 1989, he was traded to the New York Mets and went 5-5 for the remainder of the season. However, the intense, hard worker rebounded in 1990, going 20-12, with a .267 earned run average (ERA). Frank Viola is the only major league pitcher in the last century, 1900's, to start at least 34 games for 10 consecutive seasons. |