The Futility Infielder

Oh Brother, More Trivia

On the subject of brothers, my own bro Bryan, who lives here in NYC, offered up a trivia category awhile back which we've both been pondering: former Cy Young award winners who are convicted felons. Bryan seems to recall the original question (passed on via his boss) stating that there were five. So far I've come up with three.

The list obviously starts with Denny McClain (1968 & 1969 AL), who did time for racketeering and cocaine smuggling. Vida Blue (1971 AL) went to the big house for attempting to purchase cocaine. LaMarr Hoyt (1983 AL) had two stints in the joint for drugs, including one for being nabbed at the U.S.-Mexico border with them stuffed in his pants.

This is where I get bogged down. Dwight Gooden (1985 NL) had cocaine-related problems (suspension and rehab, but no arrest) and more recently was arrested on drunken-driving charges (dropped in exchange for Doc pleading guilty to reckless driving). I don't think anything on his rap sheet counts as a felony, but you're reading a guy who got his law degree out of a box of Cracker Jacks, so caveat emptor.

Ferguson Jenkins (1971 NL) was arrested in Canada for possession of small amounts of cocaine, hashish, and marijuana during a customs inspection in 1980. He was convicted, but the verdict "was vacated by the judge." That is, Jenkins was completely let off the hook because the Canadian citizen was essentially a national hero. Not that my fake law degree is worth anything under the maple leaf flag, but I'm guessing Jenkins' short-lived conviction amounted to a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

After that, I'm stretching for candidates. Young David Cone (1994 AL) had a few sexcapades which made the scandal sheets when he was a high-flying Met, but no charges ever stuck. Jack McDowell (1993 AL) got into bar-room brawls and gave Yankee fans the finger. Roger Clemens (5-time AL winner) threw a bat at Mike Piazza and was virtually declared Public Enemy #1 in Queens.

Gaylord Perry (2-time winner) greased a lot of baseballs, while Mike Scott (1986 NL) scuffed them, and choirboy-faced Orel Hershiser (1988 NL) dabbled in the black arts as well. Lefty Carlton (4-time NL winner) was a right-wing wacko. Pete Vuckovich had suspect hygiene. Sparky Lyle (1977 AL) sat on many a birthday cake in his birthday suit. Doug Drabek (1990 NL) pilfered $1.6 million of Peter Angelos' money in 1998 while posting a robust 7.29 ERA. Rick Sutcliffe (NL 1984) commits criminal negligence on a nightly basis as an "analyst" for ESPN's Baseball Tonight, and 3-time winner Tom Seaver is unlistenably godawful as a Mets announcer, much to the public's endangerment.

But I can't pin any felonies on them, nor on any of the usual suspects on the winners' list: Koufax, Gibson, Hunter, Palmer, Glavine, Maddux, Johnson. Or the obscurities: Mark Davis, Steve Bedrosian, John Denny, Dean Chance, et. al. So unless the question's been incorrectly defined, I'm pretty close to stumped. Or in need of a private detective to dig up some dirt on these guys. Let's interrogate Pat Hentgen until he cracks, shall we?

Postscript: According to our sources, the number of felons in the original question was four, not five, and Fergie Jenkins was included in that count. So we'll put away the thumbscrews.