Another Historical Perspective: 1978 (Rice vs Guidry)

By Paul Semendinger

December 7, 2025

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In a series of articles, I have used various measures to demonstrate that the awarding of the American League MVP to Jim Rice in 1978 was fair. He earned it. Jim Rice absolutely earned the 1978 MVP Award. He had a tremendous season.

For the record, Ron Guidry also had claim to the MVP Award. He also had a tremendous season.

Both players had amazing seasons, but at the time, many in baseball felt that Rice's season was more impressive. They saw Rice's statistics, including totaling more than 400 total bases as historic (and it was).

While it was clear that Ron Guidry had an amazing season, what Guidry did (gathering a ton of wins with very few losses) wasn't all that rare. Many pitchers had done that in recent years.

In this article I attempt to put this all into context with a few simple lists that demonstrate the recent history that would have been in the minds of the MVP voters in 1978.

Seasons With a Player Having More Than 400 Total Bases 1960-1978:

• Jim Rice - 1978

Seasons With a Pitcher Winning 20 or More Games and Losing In Single Digits (1960-1978):

• Vern Law (1960): 20-9

• Ernie Broglio (1960): 21-9

• Whitey Ford (1961): 25-4

• Frank Lary (1961): 23-9

• Ray Herbert (1962): 20-9

• Don Drysdale (1962): 25-9

• Jack Sanford (1962): 24-7

• Bob Purkey (1962): 23-5

• Camilo Pascual (1963): 21-9

• Whitey Ford (1963) 24-7

• Jim Bouton (1963): 21-7

• Juan Marichal (1963): 25-8

• Sandy Koufax (1963): 25-5 - MVP

• Jim Maloney (1963): 23-7

• Warren Spahn (1963): 23-7

• Dean Chance (1964): 20-9

• Gary Peters (1964): 20-8

• Juan Marichal (1964): 21-8

• Mudcat Grant (1965): 21-7

• Mel Stottlemyre (1965): 20-9

• Sandy Koufax (1965): 26-8

• Gaylord Perry (1966): 21-8

• Juan Marichal (1966): 25-6

• Sandy Koufax (1966): 27-9

• Jim Lonborg (1967): 22-9

• Denny McLain (1968): 31-6 - MVP

• Luis Tiant (1968): 21-9

• Bob Gibson (1968): 22-9 - MVP

• Juan Marichal (1968): 26-9

• Denny McLain (1969): 24-9

• Dave McNally (1969): 20-7

• Jim Perry (1969): 20-6

• Tom Seaver (1969): 25-7

• Dave McNally (1970): 24-9

• Mike Cuellar (1970): 24-8

• Bob Gibson (1970): 23-7

• Vida Blue (1971): 24-8 - MVP

• Mike Cuellar (1971): 20-9

• Jim Palmer (1971): 20-9

• Pat Dobson (1971): 20-8

• Steve Carlton (1971): 20-9

• Al Downing (1971): 20-9

• Catfish Hunter (1972): 21-7

• Catfish Hunter (1973): 21-5

• Joe Coleman (1973): 20-9

• Jim Palmer (1973) 22-9

• Vida Blue (1973): 20-9

• Andy Messersmith (1974): 20-6

• Mike Torrez (1975): 20-9

• Tom Seaver (1975): 22-9

• Wayne Garland (1976): 20-7

• Steve Carlton (1976): 20-7

• Tom Seaver (1977): 21-6

• John Candelaria (1977): 20-5

• Bob Forsch (1977): 20-7

• Tommy John (1977): 20-7

• Gaylord Perry (1978): 21-6

• Ron Guidry (1978): 25-3

• Mike Caldwell (1978): 22-9

• Dennis Eckersley (1978): 20-8

• Ed Figueroa (1978): 20-9

It is clear that while Ron Guidry had an amazing season, it wasn't seen as that far out of the norm for pitchers to dominate in the way Guidry did - even for a pennant winner. (There are a ton of pennant winning pitchers above who had great seasons and did not win the MVP.)

Pitchers having great years didn't often win the MVP. That was especially true in 1978. Absenting the Year of the Pitcher (1968), it happened twice. In 1963, Sandy Koufax won pitching's Triple Crown. In 1971, when Vida Blue won the award, there were no players with standout statistics to argue against the pitcher. In other words, except when a pitcher did the near impossible (Koufax), a pitcher never won an MVP Award over a position player having a great year in that time period.

Also of note, Guidry wasn't even the only Yankee in 1978 to place on this list. Ed Figueroa went 20-9 that year.

In addition, not on this chart, but absolutely in the memory of the voters was Steve Carlton's remarkable 1972 season where he went 27-10 for a Phillies team that won only 59 games. Carlton, alone won 46% of his team's games across an entire season. That year, Carlton finished fifth in the MVP voting.

Finally, when one looks at the names on the list, there are more than a few pitchers who are not considered great, many of whom aren't even remembered except by the most knowledgeable of fans. What Guidry did was great, but similar pitchers, many not even great ones, had had similar years in regards to wins and losses (which is what mattered, a lot, in 1978).

Now, think of the great names in baseball who were never able to do what Rice had done: Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Mickey Mantle, on and on and on... The only players that reached 400 total bases since 1940 were Stan Musial (1948) and Hank Aaron (1959). What Rice did was done only by the greatest of the great while most of the greatest never reached that number.

Bottom line, Jim Rice's season was seen as much more historically significant than Guidry's.