To avoid setting a major-league record for futility, Anthony Young needed to beat the Cardinals. He couldn’t do it.
On June 27, 1993, Young was the losing pitcher in a 5-3 Cardinals victory over the Mets at New York.
That gave Young losses in 24 consecutive decisions over two seasons, surpassing the big-league mark of 23 straight defeats by Cliff Curtis of the 1910-11 Braves.
Young would lose 27 decisions in a row before earning a win.
He died at 51 on June 27, 2017 _ 24 years to the day after setting his unwanted record.
On the skids
Young, a defensive back, had been a University of Houston football teammate of Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware, but baseball was Young’s preferred sport and he believed it offered him his best chance for a professional career.
A right-hander, Young made his big-league debut with the 1991 Mets and was 2-5 with a 3.10 ERA that season. One of those losses came against the Cardinals.
In 1992, Young won his first two decisions, including an April 9 start against the Cardinals. He then lost 14 decisions in a row, including two to the Cardinals, and finished with a 2-14 record and 4.17 ERA for the 1992 Mets.
Young was 0-9 in 1993 _ giving him a record-tying 23 consecutive losses over two seasons _ when he entered the June 27 game against the Cardinals at Shea Stadium
Playing with fire
The Mets scored twice in the first, but the Cardinals rallied against Young with three runs in the fourth and two in the sixth. Rod Brewer contributed a two-run double for St. Louis and Brian Jordan, Tom Pagnozzi and starting pitcher Joe Magrane each had a RBI-single.
Each starter pitched seven innings: Magrane allowed 10 hits, no walks and three runs. Young yielded eight hits, two walks and five runs.
Magrane, who earned his fifth consecutive win, was relieved Young didn’t break his losing streak against him.
“I would have rather faced Doc Gooden or Bret Saberhagen,” Magrane said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I certainly didn’t want to be the answer to a trivia question. I was really scared of the game. It was like dancing on the rim of Vesuvius, waiting for it to explode. I was hoping that I wasn’t going to be the one to be torched.” Boxscore
Said Young: “It was the same old thing. I thought I pitched a pretty good game except for a couple of hits.”
Dallas Green, who was evaluating all the Mets after replacing Jeff Torborg as manager a month earlier, said of Young, “He has a great arm … but the important things to scout are the head and the heart.”
Cardinals closer Lee Smith, expressing empathy for Young, said to the Associated Press, “I’d tell him to hang in there. I know what he’s going through. I was with the Cubs.”
Season to forget
After that loss to the Cardinals, Young lost three more in a row, stretching the streak to 27, before he earned a win on July 28 against the Marlins.
Young finished the 1993 season with a 1-16 record and a 3.77 ERA.
He spent the 1994 and 1995 seasons with the Cubs, posting an overall mark of 7-10, before completing his major-league career with a 3-3 record for the 1996 Astros.
His overall record in the majors is 15-48 with a 3.89 ERA.
Young’s career record against the Cardinals is 1-6 with a 2.86 ERA in 16 appearances, including six starts. Three of his losses during his streak of 27 were to St. Louis.
Previously: Why 22-game loser Roger Craig appealed to Cardinals
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