Global Courant 2023-05-05 09:02:43
Cy Young, pitcher for the newly established Boston Americans, pitched the first perfect game of the World Series era on this day in history, May 5, 1904.
Young mowed down 27 consecutive batters in front of 10,267 fans at Boston’s former Huntington Avenue Grounds as the Americans—later renamed the Red Sox—beat the Philadelphia Athletics 3–0.
Perfect games are one of the rarest achievements in all sports – with an average of less than 1 in 10,000 games.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, 4 MAY 1979, ‘IRON LADY’ MARGARET THATCHER BECOME UK’S FIRST FEMALE PM
The imposing 6-foot-2-inch, 210-pound fireballer played 22 seasons of big league baseball, winning 511 games—a record never approached—and is the namesake of the award given to the best pitcher in each major league. Baseball league every year.
Young was also the ace on the Boston team that won the first World Series in 1903.
Cy Young, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, warms up for a game on Huntingdon Ave. Grounds in Boston, Mass., in 1908. (Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images)
“It’s not my job to figure out my best day in baseball,” the Gilmore, Ohio, farm boy who grew up once said in an interview with Major League Baseball years later.
“It was May 5, 1904, when I was pitching… and beating the Philadelphia Athletics without a run, strike, or man reaching first. Of all the 906 games I pitched in the major leagues, that one stands out to me most clearly for the mind.”
“It’s not my job to figure out my best day in baseball. It was May 5, 1904.” —Cy Young
The performance was part of an incredible streak of dominance from Young, who ranks high on the shortlist of all-time best pitchers.
“What seems interesting to me is that Young’s perfect game came in the middle of a no-hit streak that lasted 25 1/3 innings and a scoreless streak that ran to 45 innings,” John Thorn, Major League’s official historian Baseball , told Fox News Digital.
Cy Young, born Denton True Young (1867-1955), posing next to a wagon during the 1907 offseason. A record-breaking American League pitcher, he played for five teams during his major league career. The Cy Young Award, named in his honor, was established in 1956 to recognize the best pitchers of each season. (PhotoQuest/Getty Images)
Young’s 45 consecutive innings with scoreless ball, the equivalent of five complete games without yielding a run, was matched later that season by Doc White of the Chicago White Sox.
MEET THE AMERICAN WHO IS THE ‘TRUE FATHER OF BASEBALL’, NEW YORK CITY DOCTOR DANILE ‘DOC’ ADAMS
It has since been awarded only seven times.
No player in 119 years has matched Young’s stunning steak of over 25 innings without turning up a hit.
The 1903 Boston Americans, renamed the Red Sox in 1908, pose for portraits taken in 1904 by the Sporting Life newspaper in this team photo collage. Cy Young, second row down, far left, and manager and third baseman Jimmy Collins, center, were the stars of the team. (Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images)
Dennis Eckersley is number 2 on the list and went 21 consecutive innings without hits for the Cleveland Indians in 1977.
“What interests me is that Young’s perfect game came in the middle of a no-hit streak that lasted 25 1/3 innings.” — Major League Baseball historian John Thorn
Denton True Young was nicknamed Cyclone for his overwhelming fastball early in his career.
His perfect game was the first of only 21 in the World Series era (1903–present).
Major League Baseball recognizes two previous perfect games, both played just five days and 40 miles apart in 1880.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, MARCH 7, 1857, BASEBALL HAS NINE PLAYERS, NINE INNINGS AS THE STANDARD OF COMPETITION
Lee Richmond pitched a perfect game for the Worcester Worcesters on June 12.
John Ward Montgomery Ward of the Providence Grays followed the feat on June 17.
Just Verlander, No. 35 (far right), won the 2022 Cy Young Award and helped lead the Houston Astros to a World Series championship. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Both men pitched to different standards than Young and players who followed.
The mound, notably, was only 14 yards from home plate in 1880, compared to the 60 feet, 6 inches for Young in 1904 and still.
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
Baseball has seen just 20 more perfect games since Young’s historic effort in 1904 – making it one of the rarest achievements in all of sports.
According to BaseballReference.com, there have been a total of 23 perfect games over a total of 236,000 games played since 1876 – one perfect game or every 10,260 games played.
“Cy Young has left a legacy as a pitcher that will probably never be matched.” — National Baseball Hall of Fame
Baseball hasn’t witnessed a perfect game in over a decade.
The latter was thrown by Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners in a 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on August 15, 2012.
Baseball player Cy Young (née Denton True Young), of the Boston Americans, 1902. Nicknamed Cyclone for his powerful pitching. (PhotoQuest/Getty Images)
Young’s 511 wins remain unmatched in total and no approximation in the more than a century since he last played.
Walter Johnson is a distant second with 417 wins.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Cy Young left a legacy as a pitcher that will likely never be matched,” notes the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which inducted the pitcher into its second league of players in 1937.
“On May 5, 1904, Young pitched the first perfect game of the 20th century, a day he considered his best in baseball.”
Kerry J. Byrne is a lifestyle reporter at Fox News Digital.
