Scott H. Longert - Cy Young: An American Baseball Hero

Cy Young

Cy Young

AN AMERICAN BASEBALL HERO

Scott H. Longert

BIOGRAPHIES FOR YOUNG READERS

Ohio University Press

Athens

Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701

ohioswallow.com

2020 by Scott H. Longert

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: Cy Young, Cleveland Naps, baseball card portrait (1911).

Courtesy Library of Congress

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Longert, Scott, author. | Ohio University. Press

Title: Cy Young : an American baseball hero / Scott H. Longert.

Other titles: Biographies for young readers.

Description: Athens : Ohio University Press, 2020. | Series: Biographies for Young Readers | Includes webography. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020002541 | ISBN 9780821424186 (Hardcover) | ISBN 9780821424193 (Trade Paperback) | ISBN 9780821440841 (PDF)

Subjects: LCSH: Young, Cy, 1867-1955--Juvenile literature. | Pitchers (Baseball)--United States--Biography--Juvenile literature. | Baseball players--United States--Biography--Juvenile literature. | Boston Red Sox (Baseball team)--History--Juvenile literature. | Cleveland Indians (Baseball team)--History--Juvenile literature. | World Series (Baseball)--History--Juvenile literature. | National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum--Juvenile literature. | Major League Baseball (Organization)--History--Juvenile literature. | Baseball--Ohio--History--Juvenile literature.

Classification: LCC GV865.Y58 L66 2020 | DDC 796.357092 [B]--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020002541

Contents

Authors Note

BASEBALL HAS ALWAYS been a big part of my life, from collecting baseball cards as a small boy to playing Little League and then writing about the men who played the great game so many years ago. When I got the chance to write a biography about the amazing Cy Young, imagine how excited I was! He was the man the Cy Young Award was named for. Each year, one pitcher from the American League and one from the National League win the award, including great stars like Corey Kluber, Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, and Max Scherzer.

I learned quickly that Cy was a good man, a good husband, a loyal friend, and a gentleman both on and off the baseball field. He was not like some of the guys he played against, like Ed Delahanty, who bet on the horse races and visited saloons until the early morning hours, or John McGraw, who would scream at the umpires and break most of the rules on the ballfield. In his time, Cy was one of the most admired men in baseball. A feature article in a sports magazine noted that Cy was unassuming, genial, earnest, had common sense, and was fair to everybody.

Along with being a good man, Cy was one of the finest pitchers baseball has ever seen. He won 511 games, a record that will never be broken. He pitched eleven seasons in the 1890s National League and then another eleven in the new American League from 1901 to 1911. Whatever team he faced in either league, he usually won. Cy pitched against some of the greatest hitters in the game, like Ty Cobb, Nap Lajoie, and Honus Wagner, and beat them. I could not wait to start telling his story.

One of the first things I did was to plan a trip to Newcomerstown, Ohio (near Cys birthplace), to see the historical society museum, where his memorabilia is kept. My wife and I left Cleveland on a beautiful, sunny, July morning for the ninety-minute car ride. We arrived outside the museum, where a member of the staff had agreed to meet us. Inside, there was a terrific collection of things that were about Cy or that once had belonged to him. Right at the beginning, we saw his favorite chair, the one that stood beside the fireplace at the home where Cy spent the last years of his life. Photos, baseballs, and newspaper articles were everywhere, from his ball-playing days to his retirement years. Even his license plates that read CY-25 were on display.

After a long tour of the exhibit, we drove on to Peoli, to see the cemetery where Cy and his wife Bobby are buried. The trip took us past some old country roads that Cy had likely traveled more than a hundred years ago. The roads narrowed until we reached the small red-brick church where Cys funeral services had been held. Behind the church was a gently rising hill, at the top of which stood the fine-looking headstone for Mr. and Mrs. Young. I noticed several baseballs placed there and some coins left behind by recent visitors. Below me were green valleys with trees everywhere, much like the landscape was when Cy lived.

We left the cemetery and started back to Newcomerstown. Before leaving, we drove by the park dedicated to Cy, with a baseball field, of course. On the way back to Cleveland, I thought about the huge impact he had left on his hometown and all across America. I can only hope this biography of Cy Young shares some of that impact.

Cy Young

ONE

IN THE BEGINNING

When I was a boy, I spent most of my time pitching a baseball.

Cy Young (Cy Young files, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

IN APRIL 1865, after four long years of hard fighting, the American Civil War came to an end. Among the thousands of returning soldiers was a young veteran of the Union Army, McKinzie Young Jr., who was making his way back home to Gilmore, Ohio. After spending a few days with family and friends, McKinzie went back to work, helping his father, McKinzie Young Sr., tend to the family farm.

The Youngs had over a hundred acres of land, with cattle, hogs, and crops like corn and soybeans. A one-hundred-acre farmabout the size of seventy-five football fieldswas quite large for that time. Father and son had to wake before sunrise to chop wood for the cooking stove, clean the barns, feed the animals, and head out to the fields. They would work all morning, take time off for lunch, and continue through the afternoon until their chores were finished. Then it was time for dinner and an hour or two to relax before bedtime.

The Young family home, probably in the 1880s.

Courtesy of the Newcomerstown Historical Society, Newcomerstown, Ohio

With no more worries about army life, McKinzie married Nancy Miller, who lived on a neighboring farm. Her family had come from Pennsylvania and settled just a short distance from the Youngs. The marriage took place in February 1866, after McKinzie had bought enough land to start a farm of his own. Thirteen months later, on March 29, 1867, the Youngs welcomed a baby boy, whom they named Denton True Young. As an adult he would get the nickname Cy, but until then, everybody in Gilmore called him Denton or just Dent. A year later, Jesse was born, followed by Alonzo in 1870, Ella in 1872, and Anthony in 1874.

Dent and his siblings had all the time in the world to run and explore their fathers land. He had two shepherd-collie dogs who happily followed him around on his adventures. One of the things Dent liked to do most was throw a baseball. As a boy, he could throw a ball farther and faster than anyone his age. Each summer, after school was out, Dent and his friends started to play regular games of baseball. Within a few years, he had become the best player among all his friends and neighbors.