Cy Young, by far the winningest pitcher in baseball history, whose name is on the trophy given to the two best
@MLB pitchers each season, explains why he never warmed up before games.
#CyYoung @baseballhall
"I had a good arm and legs.
When I would go to spring training, I would never touch a ball for three weeks.
Just would do a lot of walking and running.
I never did any unnecessary throwing.
I figured the old arm had just so many throws in it, and there wasn't any use wasting them.
Like for instance, I never warmed up ten, fifteen minutes before a game like most pitchers do.
I'd loosen up, three, four minutes.
Five at the outside.
And I never went to the bullpen.
Oh I'd relieve all right, plenty of times, but I went right from the bench to the box, and I'd take a few warm-up pitches and be ready.
Then I had good control.
I aimed to make the batter hit the ball, and I threw as few pitches as possible.
That's why I was able to work every other day.
One of the fellows called me "Cyclone" but finally shortened it to "Cy" and its been that ever since.
Bob Feller is the best pitcher I’ve seen among the modern boys.
He was crude when he started because he had a hitch in his delivery, but he overcame that.
I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging on myself, but Feller wasn’t as fast as Walter Johnson or myself...."
Cy Young.
Career 511- 316 with a 2.36 ERA.