Thursday, March 29, 2012

Today in Sports History: Cy Young

Cy Young born
on this day, March 29, 1867

This person won 511 games in Major League Baseball, he has a winning percentage of .618, he won more than 30 games four times, he lead the league in wins 5 times, 5 times he finished a season with an ERA less than 2.  However, he never won a Cy Young Award during his career.  He never won it because it was never around.  Nonetheless, the award bears his name. 

He debuted August 6th, 1890 for the Cleveland Spiders.  He tossed a 3-hit shutout.

In addition to his 511 victories, Cy Young had over 300 losses—316.   Both are still Major League records.

He had a stretch of 14 seasons where he won 20 games in 13 of those seasons. 

He appeared in only two post-season series:  The 1892 Championship Series, and the 1903 World Series

It’s amazing to think that Young was not a member of baseball’s first Hall of Fame class in 1936.  He did get in on the second ballot in 1937.

749 complete games

76 shutouts

He won the pitcher’s triple crown—wins, strikeouts, ERA—in 1901

He threw the first perfect game in modern Major League history.  He would add two no-hitters. 

Win number 511 came September 22, 1911 when blanked the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0.

His final game was October 6th, 1911 as a member of the Boston Rustlers. 

He would die November 4th, 1955 at the age of 88.

Cy Young was born on March 29th,  1867.  His given name was Denton True. 

As a hitter, he wasn’t too shabby, hitting over .200 for his career with 18 homeruns.

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