Cy youngs biography

Bill James, a baseball statistician, estimated that Zimmer caught Young in more games than any other battery in baseball history. Bill James wrote that Zimmer often put a piece of beefsteak inside his baseball glove to protect his catching hand from Young's fastball. In the absence of radar guns, however, it is impossible to say just how hard Young actually threw.

Young continued to perform at a high level during the season. On the last day of the season, Young won both games of a doubleheader. Anson told Spiders' manager Gus Schmelz, "He's too green to do your club much good, but I believe if I taught him what I know, I might make a pitcher out of him in a couple of years. Two years after Young's debut, the National League moved the pitcher's position back by 5 feet.

Since , pitchers had pitched within a "box" whose front line was 50 feet from home base, and since , they had been compelled to toe the back line of the box when delivering the ball. The back line was 55 feet 6 inches away from home. In , 5 feet was added to the back line, yielding the modern pitching distance of 60 feet 6 inches. Just as many contemporary Minor League Baseball leagues operate today, the National League was using a split-season format during the season.

The Boston Beaneaters won the first-half title, and the Spiders won the second-half title, with a best-of-nine series determining the league champion. Despite the Spiders' second-half run, the Beaneaters swept the series, five games to none. Young pitched three complete games in the series but lost two decisions. Young won three games in the series, and Cleveland won the Cup, four games to one.

It was around this time that Young added what he called a "slow ball" to his pitching repertoire to reduce stress on his arm. The pitch today is called a changeup. In , Young lost a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning when Ed Delahanty of the Philadelphia Phillies hit a single. On September 18, , Young pitched the first no-hitter of his career in a game against the Cincinnati Reds.

One of the errors had originally been ruled a hit, but the Cleveland third baseman sent a note to the press box after the eighth inning, saying he had made an error, and the ruling was changed. Young later said that, despite his teammate's gesture, he considered the game to be a one-hitter. Young also did something else in — he umpired in a game.

In fact, he umpired in two games. If the umpire failed to turn up, teams typically agreed upon someone to perform the role. On June 19, something else happened. In the seventh inning, umpire Tom Lynch not only ejected Cleveland manager Patsy Tebeau but had to be physically restrained from assaulting him, held back by Chicago players. In July , Young umpired two games in the American League.

Young played baseball at a fractious time, but was widely respected for his probity. Never once was he ejected from a ballgame. One of his wins was his first no-hitter, on September 19, a win over Cincinnati. By the time the season was over, Young had wins to his credit. He was for another fifth-place club. In 46 games, including 40 complete games in 41 starts, he walked only 41 batters.

It was his last year pitching for Cleveland. Louis team, too — the Perfectos. With no prohibition against it, they concentrated their best players in St. Young had another excellent year, for St. Louis: 2. In St. Louis changed its name to the Cardinals. The National League contracted from 12 teams to eight, so any pitcher was inevitably facing a better array of hitters.

After nine consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins — every season since his first, which was only a partial season — Young finished one win shy: He actually thought he had won 20 games, and it was reported as such at the time in both The Sporting News and the Spalding Guide but, according to Reed Browning, later reconstruction of the historical record including regularizing scoring rules deprived him of one victory.

The count at the time showed Young with 20 wins, and had everyone believed he was one win short of the number, there were two opportunities that might have been handled otherwise and given him a shot to reach When the syndicate of owners that controlled both the Cleveland and St. Louis franchises shifted Young to St. Additionally, as the summer progressed and Young suffered his share of tough losses, the normally quiet and reserved star uncharacteristically vented his frustration, charging into the stands on August 20 to confront a heckler who had accused him of quitting on the team.

The Perfectos slumped into fifth place, 10 games below. After the season, Young jumped to the nascent American League and won well over 20 games for each of the next four seasons, averaging more than 27 wins per year and twice topping 30 victories. Honus Wagner , who regularly faced Young in the National League toward the end of the decade, thought Young had the greatest fastball he had ever seen.

After the season ended, several St. At 34, Young had already entered the phase of his career when most pitchers start to break down. Indeed, in , some opposing batters attested that Young was more hittable than ever, and newspaper reporters began routinely affixing the adjective Old in front of his name. By all appearances, then, when the Boston Americans signed Young, his agreement secured by a three-year contract, the acquisition might have been thought to represent more a public-relations coup than a legitimate pitching upgrade.

As it turned out, Boston, not to mention the rest of the American League, got much more than it could have expected. He demonstrated that he was far from washed up. During his eight years with the Americans later called the Red Sox , Young won games, becoming the first major-league hurler to pitch effectively into his 40s. Nonetheless, Young enjoyed one of the greatest pitching seasons in baseball history.

The win was also the first extra-inning game in American League history. He led the league in victories 33 , strikeouts , and earned-run average 1. He also led the league in shutouts 5. The many photos of Young that survive from this period portray a man advancing in years and gaining in weight. But as his girth expanded, his control sharpened; five times after he led the league in fewest walks per nine innings.

And though his fastball lost some of its zip, the wily Young more than made up for it with a pair of curveballs, one thrown overhand with a sharp break, the other thrown side-arm with a sweeping arc. From late February into early April of , Young even took a position as pitching coach of the Harvard baseball team. He led the league in victories in and , and finished second in Before that, fouls simply did not count.

The New York Times. November 5, Retrieved July 27, Baseball Biography. Baseball Library. Archived from the original on May 26, Archived from the original on December 29, The Sporting News. Archived from the original on October 18, Retrieved July 27, — via HighBeam. Archived from the original on May 25, Archived from the original on May 31, Archived from the original on May 1, Baseball Reference.

Retrieved August 3, Archived from the original on September 13, Baseball Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on December 19, Retrieved July 16, Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original on October 7, Tell us your memories". The Plain Dealer. Archived from the original on October 14, Philadelphia Athletics.

Archived from the original on June 26, Retrieved November 11, Retrieved March 29, July 24, Retrieved July 29, Retrieved November 14, Retrieved January 21, University of North Carolina Press. August 11, Lodge No. August 24, Retrieved March 9, Pre-War Cards. September 8, Retrieved September 28, Retrieved April 13, April 2, Retrieved January 13, Retrieved May 20, External links [ edit ].

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cy Young. John Montgomery Ward. Links to related articles. Boston Red Sox managers. Mercer Bears head baseball coaches. George Stallings — Henry E. Glass John J. McGrawl Zachary W. Copeland Eugene W. Stroud — John H. Scully Fred A. Clements Josh Cody — E. Louis Cardinals Opening Day starting pitchers.

Taylor Jack W. Boston Red Sox Opening Day starting pitchers. Cleveland Spiders Temple Cup champions. Player-manager: Patsy Tebeau. Boston Americans World Series champions. Manager Jimmy Collins. Regular season. Boston Americans American League champions. Major League Baseball pitchers who have pitched a perfect game. Lee Richmond game John Montgomery Ward game.

Harvey Haddix's near-perfect game Armando Galarraga's near-perfect game. Major League Baseball pitchers who have won the Triple Crown. National League season wins leaders. Cooper M. Jackson Koufax Koufax M. Niekro Seaver R. Jones Carlton Perry J. National League season ERA leaders. Jones M. Brown P. Johnson K. Brown R. Johnson R. National League season strikeout leaders.

The next highest number of wins in a career belongs to Walter Johnson , whose wins fall 94 wins short of Young's totals.

Cy youngs biography

The modern player with the closest number of wins is Roger Clemens with wins. A player would need to average a little more then 25 wins a year for 20 years to catch up with Young. However, the last player to win more the 25 games was Bob Welch, who won 27 seven games in It is unlikely that this record will ever be challenged. The fact that Young is so far ahead in wins but not in losses displays his outstanding talent.

Pud Galvin's 6, The difference of 1, innings would be more than complete nine-inning games. Next on the list is Nolan Ryan games. With the modern five-day rotation now the standard, this is unlikely to be equaled. Next on the list is Pud Galvin with games. The use of the "set-up man" and the "closer" to finish out games in the modern era makes this record practically untouchable.

Roger Clemens' has the most complete games among modern players with In and , the league leaders in complete games had seven and six, respectively. For at least a portion of Young's career, statistics such as on-base percentage, sacrifice hits, and caught stealing were not yet officially counted, thus making his career numbers in those categories unknown.

There are some discrepancies between the official website of Major League Baseball and the National Baseball Hall of Fame website on the statistics of certain players. Thus, the official website of Major League Baseball was used for the statistics in this article. New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards.

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