Denton True 'Cy' Young
Pitcher Right-handed, Cleveland Spiders (NL) 1890-98;
St. Louis (NL) 1899-1900;
Boston Red Sox 1901-1908; Cleveland (AL) 1909-1911; Born-
Gilmore, Ohio.
Many historians and statisticians rank Cy Young as the greatest
pitcher of all-time. Here's his bio and stats: He's the only
pitcher to throw a no-hitter in two different centuries, and
'Cy' pitched three career no-hitters, including a perfect
game. He won over 30 games or more 5 times. He is the only
pitcher in history to win 25 games or more 12 times and only
one to win 20 or more 15 times. He picked up his nickname
'Cy' as a young phenom because of the speed of his pitches
( like a 'Cyclone').
Cy Young won 511 games in his career, the most ever, and
he lost only 316, an outstanding percentage of .618. His career
ERA was 2.63. He pitched in 906 games, 7354 innings
and he fanned 2803 hitters. Cy Young started 815 games and
completed an amazing 749 of them.
In his second full season, 1892, Cy Young was 36-12, an ERA
of 1.93 and he limited the opposing batters to an .211 batting
average. He pitched 453 innings, hurled 9 shutouts, started
49 games and completed 48 of them (a baseball record).
In 1895, Cy Young won 35 games and lost 10 and in the world
series, he won three games. An old "Sporting Life Magazine"
recalls Cy Young - The great Cap Anson saw Cy Young, "Is
that the phenom?", he asked with a sneer and all of the Chicago
players burst out laughing. Young was noted for his
weirdness of appearance, his arms dangled down from his opened
sleeves and he walked across the field bashfully, every angle
of his 6'2" - 200 lb frame exaggerated and emphasized,
and the fans sneered again." "When the gaunt figure
started warming up and the ball shot to the catcher's glove
with a crack that betoken even greater speed than the flash
of the sphere in the sunlight." "When the game began
and the Chicago batters strode to the plate arrogant and confident;
one after another they threw down their bats and returned
to the bench puzzled and baffled".
"Young grew even more effective as the innings passed
and Anson's Chicago's left the field beaten and blind with
rage. Then the crowd which had laughed at the unique figure
of the new pitcher arose in a mass and gave him an ovation."
After the game 'Cap' Anson offered Cleveland $1,000 for the
young phenom but was simply laughed out of town.
View Cy Young Legends (Page
2)
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