Today in Sports History: July 12th

7/12/1901 - Young wins 300th game

Pitching for the Boston Americans (AKA the Red Sox), Cy Young tallies the 300th win of his legendary career. In an era devoid of bullpens, closers, and five-men starting rotations, Young dominated like nobody else. Denton True Young, who earned the nickname "Cy" when someone referred to his fastball as a cyclone, went on to win an additional 211 games, making his career win total of 511 one of the most unbeatable records in all of sports. Since World War II, almost every pitcher to get 300 wins has had to pitch into their 40's; Cy was just 34 when he won his 300th game.

Like his win total, many of Young's career numbers are so far in the stratosphere that they will never be broken. His 7,354 innings pitched are miles away from the closest competitor (Nolan Ryan pitched until he was 46, and he was still 2,000 innings short of Young), and the same is true of his 7,092 hits, 316 losses, 749 complete games, and 815 games started. Young's numbers were so untouchable that in 1956, Major League Baseball created an annual award for the pitcher with the most excellent season, and called it the "Cy Young Award."

Young was the seventh player in history to produce a 300-win career. The previous six pitchers (for the sake of reference) were Pud Galvin, Tim Keefe, Mickey Welch, Charley "Old Hass" Radburn, John Clarkson, and Kid Nichols -- all of whom played the bulk of their in the late 1800's.

7/12/1979 - Disco Demolition at Comiskey Field