The Cy Young Award: Every pitchers dream
The Cy Young Award is given to the best pitchers from the American and National League. It is awarded every year and lately it has been awarded to the likes of Cliff Lee, Tim Lincecum, Roy Holladay and Felix Hernandez among others.
Even though it is a very reputable award, many people don’t know what its history is or who inspired this award. That person would have to be Denton True Young, the first most dominating pitcher in baseball.
Denton True Young became Cy because of his fastball which has such speed that it was thought to resemble a cyclone. In his own words he said, "One of the fellows called me 'Cyclone' but finally shortened it to 'Cy' and it's been that ever since."
Cy has one of the most impressive statistics ever. In his 22 year long career, he only threw three no hitters! He has played in 751 complete games, has had 511 wins, and has pitched 7,356 innings. There is a fair chance that these statistics may never be
broken, and for this he is ranked number 14 on the list of the 100 greatest baseball players ever.
One of the most memorable days was on August 13 on Cy Young Day when all games were suspended for a day so that the veteran pitcher could be honoured by the All Star Team. When the gates at the Huntington Avenue Grounds were opened 20,000 fans jammed themselves
inside and since there was no space almost 10,000 were rejected. Young was so overcome with emotion after pitching two innings against the All Stars that he couldn’t even manage to respond to the presentation speeches. Finally, he pitched his last game as
a part of the Braves.
In 1956, the Cy Young Award was introduced by Ford Frick, the Commissioner of Baseball in honour of the world class pitcher Cy Young, who died a year earlier. The award is only presented to pitchers, one from the National League and one from the American
League. Cy has been an inspiration to many and the players who are bestowed with this award truly deserve it for upholding his name and legacy with pride.
It is every pitchers dream to win the Cy Young Award for their performance during the season. For them it marks a truly remarkable and honourable comparison with one of the greatest pitchers in Major League Baseball history. Every year speculations swirl
as to who will win the Cy Young Award from both the National and American League. The award has become a positive fixture in baseball with a fan following all on its own. It will be interesting to see who wins the Cy Young Award for the upcoming 2011 season.
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