Who Is The Youngest Baseball Player?
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Many people don’t know who the youngest baseball player is. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the youngest player in baseball history and see how he stacks up against some of the game’s biggest stars.
Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb was the youngest player in Major League Baseball when he made his debut in August 1905. At that time, he was just 18 years old. He went on to have a Hall of Fame career, setting numerous records along the way.
His early life
Ty Cobb was born in rural Georgia in 1886. His father taught him how to play baseball, and he quickly developed into a talented player. When he was just 18 years old, he was signed by the Detroit Tigers and made his Major League debut. He quickly became one of the Tigers’ best players, and by 1907, he was one of the league’s top hitters. He continued to play well for the next few years, and in 1909, he had his best season yet, batting .377 with 27 home runs and 107 RBIs.
His professional career
Ty Cobb began his professional baseball career in 1905, when he was just 18 years old. He played his first season with the Augusta Tourists of the South Atlantic League (now known as the Sally League), and hit an impressive .366. The following year, he was promoted to the major leagues, where he would play for the next 22 seasons.
In his first season with the Detroit Tigers, Cobb hit .240 and stole a league-leading 7 bases. He quickly improved, hitting over .300 in each of the next 10 seasons. He also led the league in stolen bases 5 times and hit a career-high .377 in 1911. That year, he also set a then-record with 96 stolen bases.
Cobb continued to be one of the best players in baseball into his 30s. He won the Triple Crown (leading the league in batting average, home runs, and RBIs) in 1909 and 1917, and he finished his career with a .366 batting average—still the highest ever for a player who spent his entire career in the modern era (post-1900). He retired after the 1928 season with 4,191 hits—the most by any player at that time.
His retirement
Cobb left the game in 1928 at the age of 41, still relatively young for a professional athlete. He had intended to return for one more season but was persuaded to retire by his wife and daughter. In his last season, he batted .323 with six home runs, 78 RBIs, and 22 stolen bases. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, the first year it opened. He received 222 out of a possible 226 votes (98.2 percent), a record that stood until Tom Seaver received 98.84 percent of the votes in 1992.
Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax was the youngest player in Major League Baseball (MLB) when he made his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on September 9, 1955, at the age of 20. He was also the youngest player to win a World Series, doing so with the Dodgers in 1955. Koufax became the youngest player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame when he was elected in 1972.
His early life
Sandy Koufax was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 30, 1935. His parents, Evelyn and Jack Braun, were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Sandy was the eldest of three children. The family lived in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. Koufax’s father worked as a house painter, while his mother stayed at home to care for the children. Koufax’s parents divorced when he was three years old, and his father remarried a year later.
Koufax was a good student and a talented athlete. He played baseball and basketball in high school. After graduating from Lafayette High School in 1953, Koufax attended the University of Cincinnati on a basketball scholarship. He only stayed at the school for one semester before returning home to Brooklyn.
His professional career
Sandy Koufax played for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. A left-handed pitcher, he had a career record of 165 wins and 87 losses. He was a three-time Cy Young Award winner and a seven-time All-Star. He was also the National League MVP in 1963. Koufax’s career ERA of 2.76 is the second lowest among all pitchers who have thrown at least 2,000 innings.
His retirement
Koufax’s retirement came as a great shock to the baseball world. He had just turned 30, and had pitched in four World Series, winning three. He was, at the time, the youngest player in baseball history to have won three Cy Young Awards. Koufax cited arthritis in his left elbow as his reason for retiring.
Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth was an American baseball player who became one of the most famous athletes in the world. He started his Major League career with the Boston Red Sox in 1914, and he helped the team to win the World Series in 1915. Ruth was traded to the New York Yankees in 1920, and he quickly became one of the most popular players in the game. He helped the Yankees win seven World Series titles, and he is widely considered to be one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
His early life
George Herman “Babe” Ruth Jr. was born on February 6, 1895, in Baltimore, Maryland, the second child of George Herman Ruth Sr. and Katherine Schaefer Schamberger. George Sr., also known as “Muddy,” worked as a bartender and an ironworker for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Muddy had baseball in his blood: He had played on amateur teams as a teenager and could hold his own against some of Baltimore’s best sandlot players. Muddy’s marriage to Katie produced two more children after Babe: a daughter named Mamie, who was born in 1897, and a son named George Jr., who arrived in 1900 but died of pneumonia three years later.
His professional career
Ruth began his professional career playing for the Baltimore Orioles of the International League (IL) in 1914. He appeared in 28 games for the team as a first baseman, pitcher, and outfielder, batting .315 with four home runs. The following year he played forBaltimore’s minor league affiliate, the Providence Grays of the Class AA International League, and was promoted to the major leagues in July. With Providence that season, Ruth hit .300 with six home runs. In his major league debut on July 11, 1915, Ruth pitched a seven-inning shutout against the Cleveland Indians and also collected a single in three plate appearances as the Red Sox won 3–0.[12] As a rookie pitcher he posted an 8–5 win–loss record with a 2.44 earned run average (ERA) in 19 games started.[1] As a hitter that season he had five doubles and four triples to go along with his two home runs while batting .315/.412/.491 in 89 games played.[13]
In 1916 Ruth continued to pitch primarily while also appearing in 34 games as an outfielder. He had another strong year on the mound, posting a 23–12 win-loss record with 2.01 ERA over 345 innings pitched,[1] but his ERA+ was just 108—slightly below average—due largely to pitching half of his games at Fenway Park, which at that time was one of baseball’s most hitter-friendly venues.[14][15] As a hitter he regressed slightly from his 1915 totals (.269/.376/.453 in 97 games).[1] John Drohan of The Boston Post wrote that Ruth “seems to have lost much of his batting eye” that season.[16][17]
His retirement
Babe Ruth played his last game on May 30, 1935, for the Boston Braves. He was released by the team after that game, and officially retired from baseball. He was 42 years old.
