CY YOUNG

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.