#4 Cy Young’s 511 Career Wins in Major League Baseball

The Sporting News recently came out with their Top 10 “Great Records” written by Steve Greenberg. In an 11 part series, I will breakdown each record, why the record is impressive (or not), and if the record could ever be broken.

#4 Cy Young’s 511 Career Wins in Major League Baseball

Talk about a different time and a different era. Denton “Cy” Young is widely known today as a title of pitching excellence due to an award (The Cy Young Award) given in his honor to the voted upon best pitcher in both the American League and National League in Major League Baseball. Cy’s name might as well be the Titanic as most sports historians let alone baseball fans know that much about neither the player nor his accomplishments other than his name.

Here’s a little history lesson. Young was given the nickname Cy, short for cyclone, due to his hard throwing fastball. Cy began his career in 1890, during the “dead ball” era, finishing his brilliant 22 year career in 1911. In 1893 MLB moved the pitcher’s “box” back to the modern day distance of 60 feet 6 inches from the 55 feet 6 inch back line previously used (front line was 50 feet). By his fourth year in MLB he was wearing a glove. Young’s MLB debut was a three-hit shutout. On the last day of the 1890 season he won both games of a double header. In 1892 he won 36 games, had an earned run average of 1.93, and totaled 9 shutouts. In 1895 Young is credited with developing a “slow pitch”, the change-up, to ease the strain of throwing so many fastballs on his arm.

Sounds like a pretty good start to a great career. Let’s put this into prospective. 1) Dead ball era or not, no one in modern day baseball would take the pitcher’s mound without a glove. It’s dangerous enough with a glove. 2) MLB did not have a pitcher’s mound in those days, they pitched off a flat surface called the pitcher’s box; this would be the equivalent to fast pitch softball only with a baseball. To put it another way, a pitcher’s mound (now 15” high) allows the pitcher to gain torque and velocity by throwing downhill towards the batter. Young was throwing on a flat surface, advantage to the hitter, and he was still able to be dominating. 3) With pitch counts and a 5 man starting rotation, no pitcher in the modern era would take the mound in the second game of a double header after starting the first game. Even if said team was getting blown out and said team had used all of their bullpen relievers; see Jose Canseco. 4) Most modern day pitchers are lucky if they start 35 games much less win 36. 5) Young’s inception of the changeup to fool hitters after throwing his fastball is the beginning of modern era pitching; the changeup remains one of baseball’s most widely used pitches. Only knuckle ball pitchers can rely on getting through an outing without some form of a fastball combined with a changeup. Marino Rivera has been able to have a great career throwing only a cut-fastball but that is another amazing baseball feat unto itself. 6) Cy would’ve won his own award in 1895 by posting an earned run average of 1.93. Roger Clemens won the Cy Young award in 2001 with a 20-3 record while posting an earn run average of 3.51. Only 7 AL pitchers have posted a better earned run average in a season since 1967 while winning the award and none have surpassed 25 wins in a season. Three of those winners won as relievers not starting pitchers.

Just to clarify, this is a record that will never be broken. I’m not even going to try and rationalize a 25 year career for a pitcher that averages 20.44 wins per season. Walter Johnson is second on the total career wins list at 417, 94 wins behind Young. Young’s total of 316 career loses would be a benchmark for a modern day player in victories. His record of 749 complete games will never be broken. The only thing that bewilders me is how this is #4 on Greenberg’s list. Yes the game has changed but doesn’t it always continue to change?