Festival organizers petition state for Cy Young Day

The organizers of the Cy Young Days Festival, held each year in June in Newcomerstown, could use some help. They believe keeping alive the memory of professional baseball pitcher Cy Young, who was from Newcomerstown, is important.

Even though the Cy Young Award for Major League Baseball pitchers is given each year, there are people who don’t know the pitcher.

“The younger generation has no idea who Cy Young was,” said Ed Gibson, president of the Cy Young Days Festival. “There’s a lot of the older people who don’t know too. I will get people calling us and say, ‘What’s the C.Y. Young Festival?’”

The exception to that is the dedicated Cy Young Days Festival royalty who travel each year to talk about Cy Young at other festivals.

“They’re amazing. They put their hearts and souls into what they’re doing, and they seem to really enjoy it,” Gibson said.

Gibson and others began a campaign several years ago to get the fourth Saturday in June designated as Cy Young Day in the state of Ohio, but they haven’t yet been successful.

“There’s two awards given out every year in the American League and the National League, and he was the first professional baseball player to have an award named after him,” Gibson said. “There should be a day set aside for him.”

A possible Cy Young Day would be celebrated during the Cy Young Days Festival as it is always held the fourth weekend of June. Saturday during the festival is the luncheon, which honors their special guest, who is a Cy Young Award winner.

The festival committee hasn’t heard back on their efforts yet.

“Hopefully, the legislators will take time to sit down, look at this and see if they will do it for us,” Gibson said.

The committee asks the public contact politicians to let them know they think a designated day for Cy Young is a good idea because of what he has accomplished. A list of representatives and their contact information is posted on the Cy Young Days Festival Facebook page.

“He has baseball records that have never been broken and never will be,” Gibson said.

Gibson said he has enjoyed being involved in the festival. Through it he has met elderly people who remember Cy Young from when they were children.

“It’s just great to listen to the stories that people have to tell,” Gibson said.

It was the late Jane Benedum Meuhlen who convinced Gibson to bring back the community festival named after the pitcher. She was once the caretaker for Cy Young.

Professional baseball was not as lucrative then as it is today.

“When he got out of Major League Baseball, he was broke. And he went to live with the Benedums. Jane was maybe 4 years old when he moved in,” Gibson said. “After she got a little older, at 14 years of age, the state gave her a special driver’s license so she could drive Cy Young around.”

Gibson said he feels honored he got the opportunity to meet Benedum Meuhlen, who flew in one year for the festival.

The committee members want to ensure the festival continues and welcome others who would like to be involved. You do not have to live in Newcomerstown to help.

“We’ve got people from Dover, Coshocton and Columbus that come to our festival meetings,” Gibson said. “We want everyone in the state to know about Cy Young.”

Information on how to help is on the website at www.cyyoungdaysfestival.com.

Currently, this year’s festival committee is working on securing a Cy Young Award winner to attend the 2024 festival.

“We’ve got a list of about three or four that we would like to have. It’s not an easy thing to do because, No. 1, the player has to go along with it and their agents have to go along with it,” Gibson said. “We try to bring a former Cy Young Award winner in every year. One of the things we do, we take them out to the grave site and let them put a wreath on the grave of Cy Young. I think they’re just amazed.”

Keeping the festival going forever is a priority.

“We’re glad we’re doing this, and we would love to have younger people getting more involved with it. There’s quite a few of us that are in their 70s,” Gibson said. “I really enjoy being involved, and we’ve got a lot of good people here involved in it.”

Gibson hopes others will contact the representatives to make a designated Cy Young Day in Ohio a reality.

“Bottom line, one person’s not going to get anything done by themselves. You have to have other people involved,” Gibson said.