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March 29
⚾ The Cyclone - Cy Young March 29
TODAY ON THE DAILY HIGHLIGHT
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March 29, 1867 — Denton True “Cy” Young is born in Gilmore, a tiny village near Newcomerstown, Ohio. Young will earn his nickname for his cyclone-like pitching motion and he will win (and lose) more games than any pitcher in major league history with a 511-316 record and a 2.63 ERA over 22 seasons. Young will win 20 or more games 15 times, and top the 30-win mark five times. He will be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America in 1937, with 153 votes on 201 ballots.
Best Season: 1901Young won the pitching triple crown - leading the American League in wins (33), ERA (1.62), and K's (158). He also led the league in shutouts, with five. His 33 wins were 41.8 percent of his team’s 79 victories, a post-1900 record that stood unmatched until Steve Carlton won 45.8 percent of the Phillies' 59 wins in 1972.
Hall of Fame ArtifactsThe Hall of Fame has Young's Ohio license plate from well after his career ended. The plate is inscribed with "511" for his career wins, and "CY."
Matchup DataIn one of his first big league games, Cy Young defeated the Chicago Colts and struck out their star firstbaseman/ manager Cap Anson twice with his blazing fastball. After the contest, Anson attempted to purchase Young from Cleveland for $1,000 but the offer was refused.
Immediate ImpactIn baseball history, these pitchers had the most wins in their first 100 decisions for their new teams:
Pedro Martinez, Red Sox 78-22, .780 (1998-2002)Bill Hoffer, Orioles 76-24, .760 (1895-1897)Cy Young , Red Sox 75-25, .750 (1901-1903)Whitey Ford, Yankees 74-26, .740 (1950-1956)Dwight Gooden, Mets 74-26, .740 (1984-1988)
Prior to the 1901 season, Cy Young jumped from the National League to the infant American League. Young complained throughout the season about the AL rule restricting pitchers from warming up between innings but he still led the league with a 1.62 ERA... On July 29, 1903, Cy Young pitched a complete game as Boston lost to the New York Highlanders, 15-14. Boston's Patsy Dougherty hit for the cycle, but Young got little defensive help as Boston made eight errors behind him. New York's Willie Keeler banged out four hits off Young to lead the Highlander offense. Game time: two hours, 10 minutes.
Game of the DayOctober 6, 1948 Cleveland Indians vs Boston Braves
Tommy Holmes was one of my Dad’s favorites. Listen to him play in the 48,52 Series.
Did you know?
March 29, 1973, The "Alert Orange Baseball" is used for the first time in major league history. The unique baseball, an invention of Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley, is used in an exhibition game between Oakland and the Cleveland Indians. The A's lost 11-5 exhibition game. After Cleveland outfielder George Hendrick, who hit three home runs in the contest, claimes he had difficulty picking up the ball due to the lack of red seams on a white sphere.
🎙️ Classic Baseball Moment of the Day! 🎙️
Don Larsen(1956), Sandy Koufax(1965), Bob Gibson (64,67 and 68), Mantle, DiMaggio, Williams (1941), Clemente 1971, Brooks 1970, Oakland Three Peat and so many others!
With Classic Baseball Broadcasts, you can relive these legendary moments through the actual radio calls that made history!
Relive baseball history, one play at a time. Dive into the archives and feel the magic of baseball’s golden era.
Trivia:
What pitcher has the most consecutive hitless innings?
Hint: The answer is below
TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
Born: March 29, 1917 in Brooklyn, NY . . . Braves right fielder Tommy Holmes hit safely in a 20th-century NL record 37 straight games, from June 6 through July 8 of his 1945 TSN MVP season. That year, he hit .352 with 117 RBI, 125 runs, and 15 stolen bases, and had league highs of 47 doubles, 224 hits, a .577 slugging average, and 28 HR; he is the only player ever to lead a league in home runs and fewest strikeouts (9) in the same season. But these totals were all career highs, and though he batted over .300 in his next three seasons, he never again managed more than nine homers or 79 RBI. Appointed the Braves' manager in mid-1951, Holmes was fired early in 1952, finishing up as a Dodger pinch hitter. When Pete Rose broke his hitting-streak record in 1978, a tearful Holmes thanked him "for making people remember me."
March 29, 1935 -- The St. Louis Cardinals release Dazzy Vance. The future Hall of Fame pitcher will spend his last season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the team where he blossomed in 1922.
Born: March 29, 1944 in Chicago, IL Although he had won 20 games in 1966 and 17 more in 1967, few could have imagined what Denny McLain would accomplish in 1968. Pitching with a magical team behind him, the bespectacled righty won 31 games, becoming the first thirty-game winner since Dizzy Dean in 1934.
March 29, 1983 - While some clubs are concerned about low attendance at the start of the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers become the first team in major league history to cut off season ticket sales before the start of the season. The Dodgers, with 27,000 season tickets already sold, implement the cutoff so that group sales won't be impeded and fans will be able to buy tickets for individual games.
March 29, 1984, The Oakland A’s signed Dave Kingman as a free agent, he received a two-year deal worth $1.8M. After hitting .198 with 13 home runs for the Mets in 1983, Kingman bounces back to hit .268 with 35 bombs with Oakland. He held a record for a player in his final season broken in 2016. He also held the record for the lowest batting average among players with at least 300 home runs (.236) at the time of his retirement.
March 29, 2002 -- Rickey Henderson is added to the Boston Red Sox Opening Day roster as his contract is purchased from Triple-A Pawtucket. Henderson, who joined the exclusive 3000 hit club on the final day of last season, will begin his 24th year in the majors appearing with his eighth different club.
Quote of the day:
After one-hitting Boston on May 2, 1904, Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Rube Waddell taunted Young to face him so that he could repeat his performance against Boston's ace. Three days later, Young pitched a perfect game against Waddell and the Athletics. It was the first perfect game in American League history. Waddell was the 27th and last batter, and when he flied out, Young shouted, "How do you like that, you hayseed?"
MILESTONES
Birthday Boys
Ferris Fain, Denny McLain, Cy Young, Bill Dietrich and Tommy Holmes
Debuts
Final Games
None Today
Passings
Ted Kluszewski, Terry Moore, Rusty Staub, Ray Narleski, Ray Bare, Phil Masi, Luke Easter, Johnny Allen, Jim Holt and Dick Phillips
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Trivia Answer:
On May 5, 1904, playing for the Boston Americans, he pitched the first perfect game in American League history - and only the third in major league history - defeating the Philadelphia Athletics, 3-0. The perfect game came in the midst of a record streak of 24 hitless innings. It started on April 25th when he did not allow a hit over the last two innings of a start, continued with 7 hitless innings in relief on April 30th against the Washington Senators, then the perfect game, and finally the first six innings of his next start, against the Detroit Tigers on May 11th. That last game eventually went 15 innings before he won it, 1-0. The closest anyone has come to matching this record since then is the 21 innings pitched by Dennis Eckersley in 1977, around his only career no-hitter. Young also had a scoreless streak of 45 innings during that same span; that was also a record at the time, but it did not survive the season, as Doc White went 45 2/3 innings without giving up a run later that year.
