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Another Cy Young Record That Will Never Be Broken!
And no, I’m not talking about his 511 wins!
My recent posts about Johnny Vander Meer’s back-to-back no-hitters, and Brooks Robinson hitting into four triple plays, got some of our readers thinking about records that will never be broken. Invariably, whenever this topic arises, someone will always bring up other records that appear to be safe, like the DiMaggio hitting streak or Cy Young’s 511 wins (94 ahead of Walter Johnson who is second on the list).
But Cy Young had a few other records that, by today’s standards are “off the charts” and we can safely say will never be broken. Some are records that have stood for over a century. Among these are 815 games started, and 7,356 innings pitched. His 316 losses are also a record.
Ol’ Cy also has another one that I think we can put in the “safe” category, one I was shocked to see: He holds the record for complete games. Before I tell you how many, take a guess and see how close you can come to the actual number, which is at the bottom of the post.*
In the featured photo above, we see a beautiful Cy Young painting by Graig Kreindler.
Denton True “Cy” Young pitched 22 years in the major league (1890-1911) going 511-316 with a career 2.63 ERA for five different teams: Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Perfectos, Boston Americans/Red Sox, Cleveland Naps, and Boston Rustlers. He won at least 30 games in a season five times, and had ten other seasons of 20 or more wins. Cy also pitched three no-hitters, including the third perfect game in baseball history. His 76 shut outs are fourth in major league history.
Other career highlights include leading the league in wins five times, strike outs twice, and ERA twice. He was a member of the first World Series Champion Boston Americans in 1903, and won the pitching Triple Crown in 1901. At one point in his career, he had a streak of 25 1/3 consecutive hitless innings.
In 1999, 88 years after his final major league appearance and 44 years after his death, The Sporting News ranked him 14th on their list of “Baseball’s 100 Greatest Players”. That same year, he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. He was elected to the major league Hall of Fame in 1937, and is also a member of the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians Halls-of-Fame.
After his retirement, Cy Young went back to his farm in Ohio, where he stayed until his death at age 88 in 1955. One year after his death, the Cy Young Award was created to honor the season’s best pitcher.
*Cy Young holds the major league record for complete games with an astounding 749!
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: Featured Cy Young painting by Graig Kreindler: https://www.facebook.com/GraigKreindler/; All others from Google search
Information: Excerpts edited from the Cy Young Wikipedia page.
Statistics from the Cy Young page on Baseball-Reference.com
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