One hundred forty-six years ago today,
Denton True "Cy" Young was born in Gilmore, Ohio. At age 23 (the age
Jackie Bradley, Jr. will be in a few weeks), he started 16 games for the Cleveland Spiders of the National League. He won nine of them. In 21 seasons after that, he complied the greatest career win total ever—511. We think of him as a great hero for the Red Sox—and he was—but he joined the fledgling Boston "Americans" in 1901 when he was 34 years old. In his eight years with the Red Sox, he collected 112 wins and the very first World Series Championship in 1903. While we don't tend to evaluate pitchers of that era with modern stats, it is interesting that Young's WHIP during his Boston years was a ridiculous 0.97. And his ERA was an even 2.00. No wonder he has a statue on the Northeastern University campus—site of that first World Series. Happy birthday, Cy.
