Cy Young: An American Baseball Hero

by Scott H. Longert

Overview

Cy Young was one of the hardest-throwing pitchers of all time. He recorded three no-hitters—including a perfect game—and accumulated more than 2,800 strikeouts on his way to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Scott H. Longert uses Young’s life story to introduce middle-grade readers to the game, explaining balls, strikes, and outs in an easy-to-understand way. Longert narrates each season and each milestone game with an enthusiastic play-by-play that is sure to draw readers into the excitement on the field and in the crowd, fostering a better understanding of and a passion for baseball.

Baseball fans today know Cy Young’s name chiefly through the award given in his honor each year to the best pitcher in the National and the American Leagues. Denton True “Cyclone” Young won more than five hundred games over a career that spanned four decades, a record that no other major league pitcher has come close to matching. In addition to being the winningest pitcher in baseball history, he was also a kind, self-effacing, and generous man. Born into a farm family in rural Ohio, he never lost touch with the small-town values he grew up with.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821424193
Publisher:	Ohio University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2020
Series:	Biographies for Young Readers
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	1060L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

Scott H. Longert is the author of six books (including four Ohio University Press titles) on Cleveland baseball history from the post–Civil War era through the middle of the twentieth century. He has an MA in American history from Cleveland State University and has appeared on numerous broadcast media shows and baseball documentaries. Longert is a lifetime resident of Cleveland, where he lives with his wife, Vicki, and several dogs and cats.

Table of Contents

Author's Note vii

Chapter 1 In the Beginning 1

Chapter 2 The Pride of the Spiders 13

Chapter 3 League Park Opens 20

Chapter 4 The First Try at a Championship 32

Chapter 5 The Temple Cup 41

Chapter 6 Cy Changes Teams 52

Chapter 7 The World Series Begins 62

Chapter 8 Cy Is Perfect 82

Chapter 9 A New Record 94

Chapter 10 The Hall of Fame Calls 100

Cy's Timeline 113

Glossary 117

Acknowledgments 123

Notes 125

Bibliography 129

Editorial Reviews

Young fans of baseball, future pitchers, and the casual reader will be well-served by Scott Longert’s portrait of Cy Young, an exceptional individual who has not been given his due in literature written for young people.”—Paula Geglein, collection development librarian and juvenile specialist, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

From the Publisher

2020-05-03
A worshipful portrait of a nice farmer’s boy from Ohio who grew up to become (by far) the winningest pitcher in major league baseball history.

Pitching Denton True (“Dent,” later “Cy” for “Cyclone”) Young as role-model material from the get-go, Longert introduces him as “a good man, a good husband, a loyal friend, and a gentleman both on and off the baseball field” before going on to a bland account of his long and lustrous career. Students of the game’s history may be able to draw some juice at least from the generous set of period team, town, ballpark, and trading card photos and perfunctory notes on how baseball’s rules and playing fields evolved. Even team names hark to a different era, as between 1890 and 1911Young compiled totals that will never be surpassed while hurling for the Spiders and the Naps of Cleveland, the St. Louis Perfectos, and the Boston Americans and Braves. But the author is a better historian than storyteller, and his narrative alternates dry strings of season overviews with anemic anecdotal hacks: “He did not allow a run until the eighth inning, when the Spiders already had a big lead. The final score was Cleveland 12, Cincinnati 3. While batting, Cy had gotten a single and scored a run.” A final 10-page chapter barely skims Young’s four post-retirement decades, including his 1937 induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame and the posthumous creation of the award that justly bears his name. Stats geeks will have to look elsewhere for a table or even a summary list of his awesome achievements.

A utilitarian tribute more likely to find itself in the dugout than the lineup. (timeline, glossary, endnotes, source list) (Biography. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews