Rated Random: Anthony Young

Loser.

Why we like him: If you ever see a pitcher at any level that has lost a ton of ball games consecutively or otherwise, you know two things. First, he was probably a not a very good pitcher. Second, he was at least good enough to make his manager keep giving him the ball enough times to have the opportunity to lose all those ball games. Such is the legend of Anthony Young.

Anthony Young broke into the majors in 1991 with the Mets at the age of 25. Little did he know that it was actually the best Mets team he would pitch for. The Mets were suddenly becoming somewhat of a shambles of a ball club after their 1986 World Series title and a few subsequent years of success due in large part to the fact that most of the squad was too busy snorting massive amounts of cocaine to play the game very well. It's not like they weren't talented. They had Dwight Gooden, Bret Saberhagen, David Cone, and Sid Fernandez in the rotation and Howard Johnson, Dave Magadan, Eddie Murray, and Bobby Bonilla in the lineup, but they were simply terrible as a unit.

Anthony Young was one of the young guys with a clean conscience and clean drug test that arrived in Queens looking to solidify a spot in the rotation or a role in the bullpen. He wasn't a flashy, overpowering pitcher, but instead more of a "bulldog" kind of guy that just found ways to get batters out. He even saved 15 games for the Mets in '92. However, after losing to the Reds 5-3 on May 6, 1992, Young had no idea what he was about to experience. Young would go on to lose 27 consecutive games in which he had a decision over the next two seasons. He finished with a 2-14 record in 1992 and followed that up with a 1-16 mark in 1993. The streak came to an end on July 28, 1993 against the Marlins where Young won the game by pitching the top of the 9th inning, and the Mets scored two runs in the bottom half to win it.

Let's get this straight. Anthony Young was not a bad pitcher. The highest ERA he ever posted for a season was 4.59, and his ERAs in '92 and '93 were 4.17 and 3.77, respectively. He was just the undeserving recipient of a two-year run of excruciatingly bad luck, as evidenced by the fact that he never posted a winning record. His final numbers: 6 seasons, 3 teams, 3.89 ERA, and a record of 15-48. Poor guy. Now he's enjoying the baseball afterlife as a Little League coach in Texas. I would really like to see how he would have done on a better team with a little help. Maybe he could at least live in anonymity instead of being "the guy who lost 27 straight decisions."

Ladies and gentlemen, Anthony Young, Ballplayer.