Cy Young Port

Denton True "Cy" Young (1867–1955) appears here on the T206 White Border tobacco set in his portrait pose, depicted in his Boston Red Sox uniform near the tail end of a pitching career that the modern annual award now bears his name to commemorate. The right-handed pitcher and hitter had already passed his 41st birthday by the time the T206 series began distribution in 1909, but he was still putting up serviceable numbers and would not retire from the major leagues until 1911 — a career that had begun in 1890 and spanned 22 seasons across both leagues, with stops in Cleveland, St. Louis, Boston, and back to Cleveland. His career win total of 511 has stood essentially unchallenged since the day he hung up his glove and is the kind of single-figure record collectors point to when explaining why even his late-career T206 portrait carries weight. The portrait is one of two T206 Young variations, the other being a glove-side action pose, and the studio shot is generally the cleaner survivor since action cards saw heavier handling. He died November 4, 1955 on a farm in Newcomerstown, Ohio. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937 — the second Cooperstown class — and the Cy Young Award was created two years after his death, named in his honor by Commissioner Ford Frick to recognize each season's top pitchers.