Sport: Iron Man

One summer afternoon in 1890, a gawky farm hand named Denton True Young came down from "the Ohio hills to try out as a pitcher for the Canton baseball team of the Tri-State League. He had no uniform, and the Canton manager did not even bother to use a catcher. One of the team's best batters simply stood in front of the grandstand, and the kid started firing the ball past him. The batter never got a piece of it, and the big farmer's fast ball almost tore up the grandstand backboard. "Looks like a cyclone hit it," said the Canton...