1879
Born December 17, 1879
Chicago, IL, USA
Cy Falkenberg Marquee
b. December 17, 1879 · Pittsburgh Pirates 1903, Washington Senators 1905–1908, Cleveland Naps 1908–1911, 1913, Indianapolis Hoosiers 1914, Newark Pepper 1915, Brooklyn Tip-Tops 1915, Philadelphia Athletics 1917
He learned to roughen one side of the ball with a strip of emery cloth hidden in his glove around 1913, when he went 23-10 for Cleveland with a 2.22 earned run average. The following year he jumped to the Federal League and went 25-16 with 236 strikeouts and nine shutouts for Indianapolis, which won that league's pennant.
The emery ball was banned in 1915 after enough hitters complained. Twelve seasons gave him 130 wins against 123 with a 2.68 earned run average, 2,275 innings, 180 complete games and 27 shutouts, most of it for clubs that finished in the second division.
He was six foot two and thirty-four before his best season. The 1937 ballot gave him one vote of 201. He died in 1961, at eighty-one.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Baseball Magazine All-Star | 1 | 1913 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1903 | PIT | 10 | 21 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | .190 |
| 1905 | WSH | 12 | 32 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 0 | .125 |
| 1906 | WSH | 40 | 106 | 11 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 29 | 1 | .170 |
| 1907 | WSH | 33 | 86 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 33 | 1 | .140 |
| 1908 | CLE/WSH | 25 | 44 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | .182 |
| 1909 | CLE | 24 | 52 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 0 | .173 |
| 1910 | CLE | 37 | 82 | 6 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 25 | 1 | .183 |
| 1911 | CLE | 16 | 40 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 19 | 2 | .175 |
| 1913 | CLE | 39 | 84 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 41 | 2 | .119 |
| 1914 | IND | 49 | 125 | 5 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 11 | 38 | 0 | .168 |
| 1915 | BTT/NEW | 32 | 72 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 0 | .056 |
| 1917 | PHA | 15 | 27 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | .185 |
| Career | — | 332 | 771 | 49 | 117 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 47 | 39 | 273 | 7 | .152 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1903 | PIT | 1 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 56.0 | 65 | 24 | 32 | 24 | 3.86 |
| 1905 | WSH | 7 | 2 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 75.1 | 71 | 32 | 31 | 35 | 3.82 |
| 1906 | WSH | 14 | 20 | 40 | 36 | 1 | 298.2 | 277 | 95 | 108 | 178 | 2.86 |
| 1907 | WSH | 6 | 17 | 32 | 24 | 1 | 233.2 | 195 | 61 | 77 | 108 | 2.35 |
| 1908 | CLE/WSH | 8 | 6 | 25 | 15 | 0 | 129.0 | 122 | 38 | 31 | 51 | 2.65 |
| 1909 | CLE | 10 | 9 | 24 | 18 | 0 | 165.0 | 135 | 44 | 50 | 82 | 2.40 |
| 1910 | CLE | 14 | 13 | 37 | 29 | 1 | 256.2 | 246 | 84 | 75 | 107 | 2.95 |
| 1911 | CLE | 8 | 5 | 15 | 13 | 1 | 106.2 | 117 | 39 | 24 | 46 | 3.29 |
| 1913 | CLE | 23 | 10 | 39 | 36 | 0 | 276.0 | 238 | 68 | 88 | 166 | 2.22 |
| 1914 | IND | 25 | 16 | 49 | 43 | 3 | 377.1 | 332 | 93 | 89 | 236 | 2.22 |
| 1915 | BTT/NEW | 12 | 14 | 32 | 28 | 1 | 220.0 | 206 | 70 | 59 | 96 | 2.86 |
| 1917 | PHA | 2 | 6 | 15 | 8 | 0 | 80.2 | 86 | 30 | 26 | 35 | 3.35 |
| Career | — | 130 | 123 | 330 | 266 | 8 | 2275.0 | 2090 | 678 | 690 | 1164 | 2.68 |
On this day & linked events
1961
Died April 15, 1961
1903
Major-league debut: Cy Falkenberg
Cy Falkenberg made a major-league debut on April 21, 1903.
1917
Final major-league game: Cy Falkenberg
Cy Falkenberg played a final major-league game on July 4, 1917.
Image: Bain News Service, public domain