Hey, Baseball Aficionados!
With the coronavirus pandemic putting a moratorium on all sporting events, the nation is eager to get their sports back. Right now is the typical baseball season, and I know folks here at Everything Summer Camp are itchin’ to get some ballgames back. It certainly won’t be a normal season as nothing about 2020 seems normal, but a shortened 60-game season of the Major League is arriving in just a couple days! 
As I’m sure we’re all excited to get back to some level of normalcy, I thought we could celebrate the comeback of baseball by talking about one of the major record-setters of the Major League: Cy Young. Born within the same two years of each other, Cy and the Major League both go way back to the late 1860s. Cy grew up working on his family’s farm, but at just 23, he entered the Major Leagues as a pitcher for the Cleveland Spiders.
In the next couple of decades, Cy had an incredible career. Over the years, Cy was transferred to other teams. He ended up playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Boston Red Sox, the Cleveland Naps, and the Boston Rustlers. And in that time, he cinched the record for most career wins at 511, most career losses, most innings pitched, most games started, and most games completed.
One of the hardest-throwing pitchers in the game, Cy was a formidable force from the beginning. After some time, he lost some of the speed behind his pitches, but made up for it with focusing more on control and accuracy. By his retirement, he had established a number of pitching records, some of which have stood for over 100 years.
Throughout his career, Cy led his league in wins during five seasons and pitched three no-hitters—one of which was a perfect game. It’s no surprise that Cy was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937. And, in honor of his legacy, the Cy Young Award was created in 1956, the year after he died, to credit the best pitcher of a league every season.
As always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans. Now—play ball!
- John