At 31 years old, he would take the mound for the St. Louis Cardinals, and while he
wasn't the first 20 game winner on this team, he was one of the first to win
20 and not lose 20 in the same year. Finishing at 26-16, Cy Young would turn this
team around… at least for one season before going on to the Boston Red Sox to
continue his career as a regular 30 game winner… and amass the most wins of any
pitcher in history (511). Cy Young was the only reason for the success of the
Perfectos however… another future Hall of Famer named Bobby Wallace would join
the team as well and hit 12 HRs (double-digits in HR was very rare during the
"dead-ball era"). While knocking in 108 RBIs, tying Bones Ely (1894) for the most
HR at Robison Field and becoming the first triple-digit RBI man in Robison
history. Even those numbers weren't as impressive as the 3rd future Hall of Famer...
Jesse Burkett who nearly hit .400 batting .396 in 635 plate appearances to
take the all time batting title thus far at Robison Field. These three future
Hall of Famers would combine to give the Perfectos the first measurable level
of success that they would see for quite some time. |