The Sommer Frieze

With Michael Phelps winning 8 gold medals, I’ve seen articles, polls and heard conversation over what is the greatest feat ever. I won’t get into that, but obviously some records seem untouchable. Of course, a person can only match Don Larsen’s WS perfect game, not break it. In order to best Johnny Vander Meer, someone has to throw THREE consecutive no-hitters. No one has come closer than 12 games to Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak. Wilt’s 100 point night. Just think. When Kobe Bryant scored 81 not that long ago, he was still 19 short of Wilt.

Too often, when these great achievements are brought up, one person is missing. Too many people know of him through the award named after him, which in a way is good. At least his name is out there. Cy Young. 511 career wins. Just think about that. 511. Walter Johnson, at 417, is the only other one to win 400. Since 1930, only Warren Spahn made it to 360. He ended with 363. (Right now, Greg Maddux has 353. Clemens retired with 354).

Consider this. We know how closers now have changed the game of baseball. Starters rarely complete games anymore. We have seen seasons where no one in an entire league wins 20. Now suppose some phenom is a 20 game winner at the age of 20. He wins 20 games, on the dot, each and every year right through the age of 44. From young phenom to an amazing veteran. 25 straight years of winning exactly 20 games in a season. Remember that Mike Mussina right now has 16 wins, and if he wins 20, it will be the first time in his career (at age 39) he would have done so. 20 wins a year for 25 consecutive years. At the age of 45, that person would still be 11 wins short of Cy Young.

Yes, things were different in Young’s time (1890-1911). The dead-ball era. Starters going all the way. Young started 815 games in his career, and completed 749 of them. That is 92%! He LOST 316 games, which is also a record that won’t be broken. Do you know how good you have to be to LOSE 316 games? To be a .500 pitcher, you must WIN 316. In 1892, Young pitched 453 innings. Not too many pitchers today throw half that many in a season. Besides his 511 wins, he also holds other records that will most likely last forever. 7355 IP. He pitched in 906 games, a mark surpassed by the closers of today. But he started 815 of the 906. Of the people above him, only Dennis Eckersley and Hoyt Wilhelm spent considerable time starting. Both however, are in the HOF for their relief work, not their starting work.

As stated, Young’s margin of wins over #2 Walter Johnson is 94. 94 more wins than the guy in 2nd place. Over 1350 more IP than the guy in 2nd place (Pud Galvin). 103 more complete games than the guy in 2nd place (Galvin again). With today’s closers, I doubt if anyone today completes 100 games anymore in their career, much less 749.

Believe it or not, Denton True Young did not get into the Hall on his first try. Was he upset? You bet. In 1936, the original class consisted of Cobb (who got the most votes), Ruth, Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson. Young got in the 2nd year, 1937, along with Tris Speaker, Nap Lajoie, Connie Mack, John McGraw, George Wright, Ban Johnson and Morgan Bulkeley (Bulkeley’s inclusion is probably the worst selection ever). Grover Cleveland Alexander, who won 373 games—the same number as Mathewson—had to wait until 1938, when he was the only player to get in (alongside baseball pioneers Henry Chadwick and Alexander Cartwright). Looking at Young’s vote total, can you believe that when he DID get in, he got in with just 76% of the vote?

Young died in 1955 at the age of 88. True, times have changed. They have changed in baseball SO MUCH from Young’s time that his accomplishments seem to date from the stone age. But when considering unbreakable records, that is what should stand out all the more. We’ll never see 511 wins, 749 CG (30 CG a year for 25 consecutive years) or 7355 IP (294 IP a year for 25 consecutive years) ever approached.