Surrounded by weeds in a remote section of Webster County, Nebraska, sits an unremarkable clearing. You wouldn’t think it was anything special if you stumbled upon it,notes NTV,but if this pasture could talk it would tell you a secret. There used to be a baseball field here, and a legend pitched from its mound. His name was Denton True Young. But most folks know him as “Cy.”
Cy Young and his father moved to Cowles, Nebraska, in 1885, where Cy played for the town's semi-pro team as a teenager. Soon, he was signed to the squad in nearby Red Cloud. He would go on to be known as perhaps the greatest pitcher of the Dead Ball Era, and indeed one of the finest hurlers of all time. His name is enshrined in the name of the award given to the best pitcher in each league every season.
Amazingly, Cy was not the only resident of the region during this time to later gain fame. One wonders if Red Cloud native Willa Cather ever got to see the legend pitch as a young up-and-comer.
The field where Cy Young learned to pitch returned to its natural state during the Great Depression.