Game 1

So if you had any questions about Cliff Lee's abilities to pitch in the post season, they were definitely put to rest yesterday with a 5-1 win that should have been a blow-out, but who's complaining? Cy Young award winner Lee pitched a great game, as the rest of the team played beautifully. No homeruns, but around the 5th inning the Phillies bat really came alive.

Watching Lee pitch, I became interested in Cy Young and the award in his name. Here's what I found:

His birth name is Denton True Young, and he was born on March 29, 1867 in Ohio. Denton was a very common name back then, and his middle name is attributed to the Civil War officer under whom "Dent"'s father served. He had a pretty low-key childhood and adolescence. Baseball was Dent's passion at a young age. By 23 years old he became a professional baseball player, making $60 per month. The name Cy came around this time when he was trying to prove to his teammates that although he was from the country, he was talented.

"I threw the ball so hard, I tore a couple of boards off the grandstand. One of the fellows said the stand looked like a cyclone struck it." -Cy Young

With this reputation, it did not take long for major league scouters to start coming to Young's games. In 1890 he joined the Cleveland Spiders. After 8 years, Young moved to St. Louis, along with most of the better Spiders as the owner of the club also owned the St.Louis team. Young played in St. Louis for only two years, but found Lou Criger, his favorite catcher. Young jumped to the newly-created American League in 1901, joining the Boston Americas club. He was traded back to Cleveland in 1909, before spending the final two months of his career in Boston. In 1937, Young was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. After his retirement, Young went back to his farm in Ohio, where he stayed until his death at age 88 on November 4, 1955, after 22 years of playing professional baseball.

Amazing Stats:

• 7, 355 career innings pitched
• 815 career starts
  
• 749 complete games
• 316 loses
  All of these are the most in the Major League
• 76 shut outs (4th best in Major :eague history)
• Young threw the first perfect game in recorded baseball history
  

One year after his death (1956), the Cy Young award was introduced by baseball commissioner Ford Frick, and is given to the best pitchers, one winner each for the National league and American league. However, originally the award was given to a single player from the Major league, but in 1967 after Frick died, it changed to its current form.

Each league's award is voted on by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, with two representatives from each team. Each votes for first, second, and third place among the pitchers of each league, and the pitcher with the highest score wins the award from each league.

Sources:
Browning, Reed. (2000). Cy Young: A baseball life. Massachusettes: University of Massachusettes Press.