Cy Young: A Baseball Life [Hardcover]

Reed Browning (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

He was the winner of 511 major league baseball games, nearly a hundred more than any other pitcher. He threw three no-hitters, including the first perfect game in the new American League. He was among the original twelve players inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame, and his name is now attached to the game's most prestigious pitching award. Yet for all his accomplishments, Cy Young remains to most baseball fans a legendary but little known figure.

In this book, Reed Browning re-creates the life of Denton True "Cyclone" Young and places his story in the context of a rapidly changing turn-of-the-century America. Born in rural Ohio, the son of a Civil War veteran, Young learned his trade at a time when only underhand pitching was permitted. When he began his professional career in 1890, pitchers wore no gloves and stood five feet closer to the batter than they do today. By the time he retired in 1911, the game of baseball had evolved into its modern form and claimed unquestioned status as America's "national pastime."

As Browning shows, Young's extraordinary mastery of his craft owed much to his ability to adapt to the changing nature of the game. Endowed with an exceptional fastball, he gradually developed a wide array of deliveries and pitches-all of which he could throw with astonishing control. Yet his success can also be attributed, at least in part, to the rustic values of loyalty, hard work, and fair play that he embraced and embodied, and for which he became renowned among baseball fans of his day.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cy Young, baseball's greatest pitcher, owns one record that will never be broken: 511 career victories. Unfortunately, Young didn't also possess the larger-than-life personality of a Babe Ruth or a Ty Cobb (whose signature records have both been surpassed). Consequently, his life has largely been forgotten. History professor Browning hopes to revive Young with this chronicle of a career that straddled the centuries and saw the birth of the modern game. The problem is that his subject won't cooperate. What few pieces of correspondence the semiliterate pitcher left behind "are almost silent about his thoughts." In addition, "Young was a quiet man" with an "aversion to interviews" and a reluctance to talk about himself. That's why, from a baseball writer's point of view, "[he] was not good copy"; from a reader's point of view, the same holds true. Young's private life must remain undecipherableAthe simple life of a humble man. As for his career, Browning tries his spirited best to bring countless games to life, but with little incisive commentary from Young himself, Browning's efforts are frustrated, and the book eventually grows wearisome. Nonetheless, the author has also packed in many colorful anecdotes: for example, on the evolution of the pitcher's mound, the origins of the American League (especially the Red Sox), the history of baseball in Cleveland and the first World Series. Ultimately, even if the book doesn't post a W, it isn't a bad game to watch. 24 illustrations. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A carefully researched book written in a straight-forward reporter's style that should satisfy baseball buffs." -- (Cleveland) Plain Dealer

"A superb Young reader, documentary, [and] biography." -- Grandstand Baseball Annual

"A wonderfully nuanced and researched biography." -- Sports Collectors Digest

"An unusually readable book. . . . This biography is exemplary." -- SABR Book Reviews

"Browning produces an entertaining portrait of an exciting baseball season." -- The Historian

"It is difficult to imagine a more definitive biography of Young ever being done." -- Judge Paul Herbert, Casey Award selection committee --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558492623
• ISBN-13: 978-1558492622
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,989,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Greatest Baseball Player brought to life again, June 22, 2005

By 

Hedley Lamarr (kentucky, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cy Young (Paperback)

I'm sure that if your "into the game and history of baseball," someone has asked you the following question...... "Who do you think is the greatest baseball player? Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb." Browning realizes that there have always been great players of the game. However, by the ending of the book, he proves that Cy Young's name should be up there with Cobb and Ruth. Mays, Ryan, Bonds, Koufax, Aaron.... outstanding players. However, for reasons that I'll not go into here, you need to read the book, to understand why there are many great players that are true legends.... Walter Johnson, Ted Williams. However, No one has come close to Ruth, Cobb, and Young, when you look at the big picture. Ruth was bigger than life, and I remember my grandfather talking about taking a train to New York just to set in the grand stadium known "as the house that Ruth built," and watch Ruth come up to the plate. A lot of the old-timers talked about Cobb playing the game more like a civil war battle. As for Young, at this point in time, there is no one living who can remember him as a player in his prime. The possible youngest person to see him perform in a major league game, would be at least 95 to 100 only to remember him as a player in his mid-forties with quite a gut. Browning states that this is one of the problems. Sure, there are still those baseball players that remember talking to the legend back in the 1950's when he was in his eighties, but one point Browning makes is that those who remember Young the pitcher are all gone. He also tells why Cobb and Ruth are usually remembered more, and have many books and movies of them, unlike Young. Ruth could drink and curse and raise hell with the best of 'em, and could usually be found at a whore house when not at home. Cobb who refused to play even exihibition games againt colored people, and was well known for his hot temper, and his hatred of anyone who crossed him (and that was almost everyone). Anyway the point here, is that an interesting life on and off the field makes more of a sensation to read about or watch. Cy Young, who was never thrown out of a game, led a very quite and normal life off the field. On and off the field he was a gentleman...... Not usually the stuff interesting books and movies are made of. Please don't think this book is about comparing Young, Ruth, and Cobb. this is only the opening of the book. Even though Young was a "gentleman" he didn't take any crap off anyone either. Cobb who was well known for his aggresiveness, and crowding the plate, years later said that he knew when Young warned me.... I'd best move out some or I'd be hit and hard. It's really a great book about a true baseball hero on and off the field. One final point Browning shows....... Young was not just great because of his records, of at least five that will probably never be broken. He was the greatest flexible player. Baseballs rules changed more in the 1890's and 1900's more than any other time. Read the book. Unreal that this man could remain at the tops from 1890-1911 with all those changes. Perhaps my review has bored you..... I promise if you love the game and the history of baseball, you won't want to put the book down.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Do you know Cy Young?, March 10, 2008

By 

Jim (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cy Young (Paperback)

This book is for baseball fans. It answers the question of Who was Cy Young? Every year Major League Baseball gives an award in both leagues and I doubt that the vast majority of baseball fans can write two sentences about Cy Young. I found his accomplishments stunning in an era when pitchers started every third day, the good ones threw more than 400 innings a year and finished their own games.

Baseball was clearly not the game then that it is today. This tells how it has changed. For example, in Young's day, fans were called "cranks." I think this is an apt description of even today's fans! It was common to call the police to settle on-field arguments! Wow! Read this before the season starts if you are a fan. If you aren't a baseball fan...why not?

Jim

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent biography of a very respectable player, September 20, 2007

By 

Bob Manson (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cy Young (Paperback)

Cy Young spent most of his life in a small Ohio village. He left in 1890 to play baseball for the Cleveland Spiders, and returned in 1912 after racking up a truly impressive pitching career: 511 wins, pitched the first perfect game, won more than 30 games a season five times.

This modern biography (written in 2000) is equally impressive for focusing on his baseball career instead of making spurious accusations about his psychological makeup and personal life. It also gives an excellent historical background and explanation of the rule changes during the period, and touches on a few personal areas without going into excessive detail; his life from 1867-1890 and 1912-1955 is covered in just two chapters.

Of the six baseball biographies I've read recently it truly stands out. The author did a great job of explaining how baseball worked back then, both in terms of the game itself and the teams/managers--and, as you can imagine, professional baseball was more than a wee bit different in 1890 than it is today. He uses copious references and footnotes, and makes it clear when he's speculating rather than writing based on fact. (In particular we don't know for sure what player salaries were like during the time. He has a helpful appendix explaining his reasoning.)

If you have any interest in baseball history pre-1920, or are just curious, it's well worth reading. It's one of the best modern biographies I've read.