Celebrating Cy Young

HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

Cy Young Day, an exhibition game to celebrate the greatest pitcher of all time, was bracketed by days of sports celebration, from prizefighters in the squared circle to old time baseball in the Harbor Islands. Held at the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds on August 13, 1908, the Cy Young celebration drew a record crowd of 20,000 fans to the now long gone ballpark. By this time, Young had been playing professional baseball for 20 years, and he was starting to slow down. Nobody knew if the old Ohio farmboy would be playing for Boston when the 1909 season rolled around, so it seemed as if the whole city turned out to show the pitcher their love, and to make sure he would have a comfortable nest egg for his expected retirement.

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Celebrating Cy Young

Cy Young and his loving cup (Nuf Ced collection)

The crowd for Cy Young’s game (Globe photo)

Boston Americans in their costumes (Globe photo)

Old timers’ game on Peddocks (Globe photo)

Sports writers on Peddocks for the old timers’ game (Nuf Ced collection)

Cy Young pitches at the first World Series (Northeastern collection)

• A photo analysis of the presentation of Cy’s floral arrangements
• A postcard sent from someone who attended Cy’s game
• Another of Cy’s loving cups
• SABR analysis of Cy’s first perfect game
• Cy’s duel with Rube Waddell
• The Sox trade Cy Young away
• Baseball on Peddocks Island
• Boston Globe articles
  • August 13, 1908: old timers’ game on Peddocks
  • August 13, 1908: post game coverage
  • August 14, 1908: game analysis, photos of crowd
  • August 14, 1908: Cy Young day benefits the league
• Papke fights a double card
• Cy Young facts
• We may not see another Cy for a hundred years
• Cy’s game brings in 20,000 people and at least $7,500
• Detroit’s Cy Young naysayer
• The Cy Young Day festival in Ohio