Cy Young

Born March 29th 1867, Denton True Young was set to become one of
the most amazing pitchers to ever grace the game of baseball. Over
the years many, of the records he set have yet to be broken.
For a man with no more than a sixth grade education, he went a long
way and earned the respect of many he met along the way.
Denton Young was nicknamed "Cyclone" by one of the pitchers who
helped him warm up before games. This ended up being shortened to
"Cy" which is how he was known for the rest of his life.
On August 6th, 1890, in his first major league start. Young threw a
3 hit shut out. From that day forward the pitching abilities of
this man continued to astound all that faced him.
Boston (as the Boston Americans) was lucky enough to have Young on
the pitching rotation from 1901 to 1908. During the 1907 he was
also the team manager.
He is credited with the first perfect game in AL history, pitched
an amazing 7,355 innings, started 815 games, completed 749 with 76
shut outs. He went 24.3 innings in a row without a hit. That's 73
hitless batters. Even with these records, Young also held the
record for most losses, 316. Because of the speed of his fastballs
(as well as a few other pitchers at that time)
Cy Young is partially responsible for the pitching mound being
moved from it's original 50 feet to 60 feet 6 inches. During his
time on the mound, Young developed what he called his "slow ball".
This pitch is now referred to as a change up.
With a career and records like his, it is no wonder that the award
for best pitchers in both leagues is named in his honor.
So on March 29th, take a minute and remember the birth of one of
the greatest pitchers of all time. Give thanks that the Red Sox
were able to call him theirs when they were just coming into
existence.