Cy Young

created by Woundweavr
(person) by mauler (22.9 hr) (print)   (I like it!) 1 C! Thu Oct 25 2001 at 14:01:06
Denton True "Cy" Young (1867-1955) was the winningest pitcher of all time. The typical knock against Cy is that he pitched in the 1890s when it must have been easier to get wins, right? Well the fact is a lot of guys pitched in the 1890s, and none of them came even close to Cy. Consider that Cy's 511 wins are 94 more than runner up Walter Johnson's 417. 94! That's almost five 20-win seasons' worth. No, more so than anything else, the reason for Cy's success is that was just flat-out durable. In 1908, well into the modern era, Cy went 22-11 in 33 starts with a 1.26 ERA. And the man was 41 years old that year.

Cy's career numbers speak for themselves: 511 wins (1st all time), 7354.2 IP (1st), 749 complete games (1st), and 76 shutouts (4th), to go along with an astounding 15 seasons with 20 or more wins and 5 seasons with 30 or more. For good measure, Cy also tossed three no-hitters including a perfect game.

Cy built his records on the strength of his incredible consistency and unmatched durability. He had a rubber arm that never gave him a single twinge throughout his 22-year career. In fact, when Cy retired in 1911 at the age of 44, his arm was as good as ever. He could still throw the wicked heater that earned him his nickname Cy (as in "Cyclone"), but he was so fat that he was literally bunted in to retirement, no longer able to field his position.

Cy was elected as one of the first class of hall of famers in 1937.

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