Who was the best pitcher of all-time? What made their pitches so successful?
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$3 Answers
Cy Young is hard to dispute-he has more losses than 99% of pitchers have wins, and he was consistently brilliant for a very, very long time-from 1891 to 1908. Even at the very beginning and very end of his career (1890 and 1909-1911) he was an average pitcher, which is remarkable when you consider he was 44 when he retired.
It's hard to construct a definition of "greatness" in sports that doesn't include brilliance and longetivity, and Young had both.
And Young had the two things every pitcher absolutely needs- speed and control. Young was fast at his peak, and still very good as he aged, but always had fine control. During his career, the average pitcher walked almost 3 batters per 9 innings, and Young walked half that much-a little less than 1 1/2 batters per 9 innings.
In terms of how to do it, the quality of the pitch is not so important as the control-the ability to put the ball over the plate, time after time after time, is the key to baseball success.
Lee Sinins' Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia (www.baseballencyclopedia.com)
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$In addition, he was extremely durable--look at the number of innings pitched--290.2 (1970, 286.1 (1971), 290 (1973). In this age of 5- and 6-inning starters we will never see starting pitchers achieve these totals again.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
He real name is Denton True Young, but he got the nickname "Cyclone", shortened to "Cy", from his amazingly fast pitches. He retired with an amazing 511 career wins, and it's likely no one will ever come close to beating that record.
He had blazing fastballs, and amazing control of the ball, especially on curves.
Baseball's pitching award is named after him.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
