Happy Birthday to pitcher Denton True “Cy” Young (b. March 29, 1867, in Gilmore, OH), Major League Baseball’s all-time wins leader and the namesake for its top pitching award. Struggling through the Great Depression, he made a remarkable return to professional baseball in his late sixties. He pitched for the Coshocton County All-Stars at a local state fair against the Cleveland Indians major league team in September 1933. Then he played a series of games with other retired players before signing a contract to play in a more regular professional gig. In 1935, he signed with the Traveling Baseball School, a Massachusetts based group of former big leaguers. Under his contract, he would pitch one inning per game and be paid $250 monthly. That one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history resorted to piecing together contract pitching work in his late sixties exemplifies how hard the Great Depression hit the people of the United States. Unfortunately, his Traveling Baseball School group earned a reputation for being unreliable and not showing up at games. Less than ideal travel arrangements, lagging motivation, and health issues likely contributed to these inconsistent performances.
Citations: Bob LeMoine, “‘But I'm All Alone, and This May Be Sort of Fun’: The Ageless Cy Young on the mound in 1934-35,” Baseball Research Journal 46, no. 2 (Fall 2017): 38+, https://sabr.org/journal/article/but-im-all-alone-and-this-may-be-sort-of-fun-the-ageless-cy-young-on-the-mound-in-1934-35/; Louis Van Oeyen, “Old reliable ‘Cy’ Young,” photograph (location unknown, August 26, 1905), https://lccn.loc.gov/2008678738.
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