20,000 days since Herb Score’s injury

20,000 days ago, a promising young career came to a screeching halt. It was May 7, 1957, and the Cleveland Indians hosted the New York Yankees. On the mound for the home team was Herb Score, one of the brightest young stars in the game. Two years earlier, a then 21-year-old Score had a national coming out party, fanning 16 batters in a 4-1 victory. In his 1955 rookie season, he went 16-10 with a league-leading 245 strikeouts. Only one other pitcher in the AL struck out over 160. He averaged 9.7 K/9 in a league that averaged 4.4. The next year, Score was even better, enjoying his first 20-win season while leading the league in shutouts, ERA+ and, of course, strikeouts. His 263 punchouts that year were 71 more than runner up Billy Pierce. He was so well thought of that before the 1957 season began, the rival Red Sox offered the Indians $1,000,000 for Score—and Cleveland turned down Boston. That’s how highly his team thought of him. The early going in 1957 made t...