July 28, 1993: Anthony Young Gets the Zoo Off His Back

July 28, 1993: The unluckiest man in baseball finally sees his luck turn around.

Anthony Wayne Young was born on January 19, 1966 in Houston. He went to the University of Houston in the mid-1980s, a time when Carl Lewis, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler were recent graduates. He was drafted as a righthanded pitcher by the New York Mets in 1987.

He made his major league debut on August 5, 1991. He pitched 2 1/3rd innings in relief of Pete Schourek, and allowed a run. As a result of a double switch, he was placed in the 5th spot in the batting order, but did not come to the plate. The Mets lost 7-2 to the Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium.

The next season, he switched from Number 33 to 19. Unfortunately, these were the 1992 Mets, The Worst Team Money Could Buy, according to the title of a book by sportswriter Bob Klapisch of the New York Daily News. On April 19, Young was the winning pitcher, despite allowing 2 runs in 3 1/3rd innings of relief, as the Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 11-6 at the Olympic Stadium. This was followed by relief appearances without decisions in Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Then, on May 6, he was the losing pitcher as the Mets lost 5-3 to the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium. He kept losing, finishing the year with a record of 2-14, although he did have 15 saves.

The streak continued into 1993. He broke the record of 23 consecutive losing decisions, by Cliff Curtis of the 1910-11 Boston Rustlers (forerunners of the Braves). He eventually lost 27 straight decisions: 0-14 as a starter and 0-13 as a reliever.

If 1992 was a competitive disaster for the Mets, the 1993 season was a disaster both competitively and morally. It was the year Bobby Bonilla threatened Klapisch in the locker room, captured on video; Bret Saberhagen put bleach in a water gun and squirted it at reporters, and Vince Coleman set off a firecracker in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, injuring 3 children, including a toddler. That followed a 5-4 10th inning loss in which Young walked home a run with the bases loaded, extending his streak to 0-27.

Manager Jeff Torborg was fired, and noted disciplinarian Dallas Green was brought in. Green was able to stop the tomfoolery, but not the losing. And it was hardly just Young: Even stars like Saberghagen and future Hall-of-Famer Eddie Murray were underachieving.

It's not that Young was particularly bad, either: Included in that streak was 12 straight save opportunities successfully converted, and a streak of 23 2/3rds consecutive scoreless innings. Those 27 losses included 13 "quality starts," but the Mets went just 4-23 in those games -- and in none of those 4 wins could the win be credited to Young.

Instead of turning on him, the way New York sports fans so often do to players who let them down, fans sent him good luck charms: Four-leaf clovers, horseshoes, rabbits' feet. Psychics called the Met offices, offering their help. No less than Hall-of-Famer Bob Feller, one of the greatest pitchers then living, wrote him a letter of encouragement. He was introduced to Cliff Curtis' descendants, who wished him well. Jay Leno invited him to appear on The Tonight Show, for after the streak ended, whenever that might be, and he accepted. It got to be like the stories of Catholics praying for Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers during his hitless run in the 1952 World Series.

Certainly, his new manager, however tough he was, could empathize: Green had been a pitcher for the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who set a 20th Century team record by losing 23 straight games; and was still with the Phillies in 1964, when they dropped 10 straight games in September to blow the Pennant.

"Finally!" I remember Len Berman saying on WNBC-Channel 4 on the night of July 28, 1993. Young was 0-13 on the year, 0-for-his-last-27, and Green brought him in to pitch the 9th inning against the expansion Florida Marlins at Shea. He didn't help himself, but an error by catcher Todd Hundley also contributed to the Marlins scoring a run. But in the bottom of the 9th, Jeff McKnight singled, Dave Gallagher sacrificed him to 2nd, Ryan Thompson tied the game with a single, and Murray doubled Thompson home with the winning run. Mets 5, Marlins 4. WP: Young (1-13). LP: Bryan Harvey (1-3).

After the game, reporters asked Young if it felt like "the monkey is off your back." He said, "It wasn't a monkey, it was a zoo." An entire zoo.

Years later, he said, "I got a bad rap on that. I always said I didn't feel like I was pitching badly. It just happened to happen to me. I don't feel like I deserve it, but I'm known for it."

The Mets traded him to the Cubs before the 1994 season, and he finished his career with the Houston Astros in 1996. His career record was 15-48 -- 15-21 without the streak -- but his career ERA was 3.89, giving him an ERA+ of 100, exactly average, and his WHIP was 1.387, bad for a reliever, but for a guy who was a starter and a reliever, not especially shabby.

He returned to the Houston area, married, had 3 children, worked in a chemical plant, and coached in local youth leagues.

But he developed an inoperable brain tumor, and died on June 27, 2017. He was just 51 years old. Anthony Young did not deserve to lose 27 straight decisions. He did not deserve to have his 51st and 52nd years be full of pain and misery. He certainly did not deserve to have his 52nd year be his last.

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July 28, 1993 was a Wednesday. These other games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 12-7 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. For the Tigers, Travis Fryman goes 5-for-5 with 4 RBIs, hitting for the cycle: He hit a single, a double, a triple and a home run, all in the same game. But it's far from enough. Don Mattingly, Pat Kelly and Paul O'Neill hit hit home runs for the Bronx Bombers. Bob Wickman is the winning pitcher, in relief of Mark Hutton.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 14-6 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Lenny Dykstra and Mariano Duncan, the top 2 hitters in the Phils' batting order, each had 3 hits. Darren Daulton went 2-for-3 with a home run, 2 walks, and 6 RBIs.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Cal Ripken Jr. not only goes hitless, 0-for-3, but makes an error in the bottom of the 10th inning, allowing the winning run to score.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos, 3-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres, 8-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Sammy Sosa and Kevin Roberson hit home runs. Surprisingly, Tony Gwynn went 0-for-5.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-4 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Yes, both Chicago teams were at home on the same day, and both won on the same day.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount, in his final season, goes 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 10-3 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. George Brett, in his final season, went 1-for-4.

* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Colorado Rockies, 3-2 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Rickey Henderson hit a home run.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 2-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 0-for-4.

* And the Minnesota Twins beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Willie Banks outpitched Randy Johnson. Dave Winfield, 41 and from St. Paul, Minnesota, hit a home run for the Twins. The Mariners' only run came in the 7th inning, on a home run by Ken Griffey Jr. It was his 8th straight game with a home run, tying the major league record set in 1956 by Dale Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and tied in 1987 by Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees. None of them made it to 9 straight.