Blog 4

Cy Young Award

In Major League Baseball, two pitchers, one in the American League and one in the National League, receive the Cy Young award for being the best pitcher in their respective league. The prestigious award was named after Baseball Hall of Fame and Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame pitcher Denton "Cy" Young.


Cy Young was born and raised in Gilmore, a small farming community located in southern Tuscarawas county. After playing non-professional baseball for a team in Carrollton, Young accepted an offer to play for Canton's minor league team. Not long after, he joined the Majors by playing for the Cleveland Spiders (a name far more terrifying and threatening than the current Indians we know today).

Cy Young wearing a Cleveland cap in 1909

By the time Young entered the pros, he was known for his incredibly quick fastball. These lightning fast pitches earned him the nickname Cyclone, which eventually shortened to "Cy". Cy Young remained a professional baseball player for over 22 years and retired at the age of 44. At the time of his retirement in 1911, Cy Young recorded 511 career wins, pitched 749 complete career games, and pitched 7,356 career innings. These three records are still held by Young almost 107 years later.


Young came back to Tuscarawas county after retirement and lived in Newcomerstown until his death in 1955. In the following year in 1956, the Cy Young Award was posthumously dedicated to Young. Ever since then, this award has been given annually to the best pitcher or pitchers in baseball. With a very short list of famous people coming from Tuscarawas county, I am glad that one of the greatest players in baseball history was born and raised in the same county as my own.