The Mysteries of History (May 5 Edition)
Origin of Cinco de Mayo; Cy Young's Perfect Game
1862 — Mexicans Upset French
public domain image from wikimedia commons
While the Americans to the North of them were fighting a Civil War, the Mexicans had their hands full with the French. Although outnumbered, they defeated the French on this day in 1862 in Puebla. That is why Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) is celebrated by some today.
Puebla, if it ever was, is no longer a puebla (town); it is a city of close to two million people, with skyscrapers. Not so in 1862, though, but it did have tens of thousands of residents even then.
What were the French doing in Mexico, anyway? Who did they think they were — Latin America’s long-time colonizer Spain? Actually, the navies of Spain and Britain had paid Mexico an unfriendly visit, too; their errand was that of debt collectors, as the Mexican government had defaulted on loans to those Countries due to an inability to pay them. The latter two Countries negotiated with Mexico and departed. France, though, wanted to colonize Mexico and so remained to fight.
The victory at Puebla encouraged the Mexicans to continue the defense of themselves and their homeland, and after six years the French finally went back home. In the meantime, in 1864, France had installed a man of their choice as “Emperor of Mexico.” When the French left, the Austrian archduke and puppet of the French who had been installed by the French as Emperor was captured by the Mexicans and killed by a firing squad.
image generated using Bing Image Creator
Questions: Is Cinco de Mayo a “big deal” where you live? What percent of people that you know are aware of its origin? How is it celebrated?
1904 — First Major League Perfect Game
public domain image of “Cy” Young in 1911 from wikimedia commons
Cy Young was not young at the time he pitched the first perfect game in Major League history. He was 37 years old. And he was not really “Cy” because his real name was Denton True Young.
Young’s team, the Boston Americans, defeated the Philadelphia Athletics 3-0 on this day in 1904. This game took place during a stretch of 45 innings where Young gave up no runs (batters reached base in the other games, but did not score).
For the uninitiated, a perfect game is one in which the pitcher pitches the entire game and allows no earned runs or hits. The pitcher is still considered perfect even if he throws some “balls” (non-strikes), but not if he allows bases on balls to batters (“walks” after throwing four balls to a batter in an at-bat). Unfairly, it seems, even errors are counted against the pitcher. If any runner gets on base by any means during the game — by getting a hit (obviously), via a bases on balls, by getting hit by a pitch, or even through an error — it is not a perfect game.
So a perfect game is quite an accomplishment. Most pitchers don’t even normally pitch a complete game (the full nine innings). In the history of major league baseball (as of 5/5/2025), there have only been 24 perfect games. Since the first major league game was played in 1876 (the year of the Country’s Centennial and “Custer’s Last Stand” — known to Native Americans as The Battle of Greasy Grass), there has been an average of one perfect game every six years. Each year (in the modern era) there are 2,430 games (30 teams multiplied by a 162-game schedule divided by 2 [as each game is played by two teams]).
In other words, pitching a perfect game is quite an accomplishment, and “Cy” Young pitched the first one 28 years after major league baseball began.
Questions: How did D.T. Young get the nickname “Cy”? What baseball award is named for him?
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