Anthony Young (NJ.com)

The Mets lost a member of the family yesterday, one who is in the history books. Anthony Young passed away at the age of 51 after battling with brain cancer for many years. 

Anthony Young was drafted by the Mets in 1987, and debuted for the team in 1991. He made major league history when he dropped 27 straight decisions from 1992-1993 for the team. In doing so, he broke an 82-year old record. For his career, Young went 15-48 with an actually respectable 3.89 ERA. Replacing an injured John Franco, Young had 15 saves in 1992, but went 2-14. It got worse when he went 1-16 in 1993.

Former Met Turk Wendell spoke to reporters regarding Young and his record. They both participated in a few Mets fantasy camps together. He had nothing but nice things to say about a former friend, who never hid from his troubles. Former Mets teammate and fantasy coach Doug Flynn had something to say in the Mets’ press release, stating: 

“A.Y. took a lot of kidding about his losing records. But he was the victim of some bad luck during the streak. He knew inside that he was a better pitcher than his numbers.”

A few unfortunate mistakes got in the way of finding out if Young was better than what his record stated. 

His record may never be broken, and until his death he accepted the situation. As a good sport, he even appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno towards the end of the streak. Young also played for the Chicago Cubs and the Houston Astros before ultimately retiring. 

A man with unfortunate luck made the best of it, making his story one for the highlight reel.