Fact Check: Was baseball icon Cy Young once traded for a suit? Legendary pitcher's Cleveland move revisited

While there have been several strange trades in the MLB over its long and storied history, one of the strangest has to be legendary pitcher Cy Young's trade to the Cleveland Spiders, which included a suit. The pitcher was signed by the Cleveland side in 1890 from the Canton Nadjys for a reported fee of somewhere between $250 and $300, along with a new suit for the Canton skipper. From the cost of stadium fences to fancy dinners, there have truly been some strange and noteworthy trades in MLB history.

Denton "Cy" Young started his professional baseball career with the Canton Nadjys before being signed by the Cleveland Spiders in the National League, the major league at that time. He went on to play for several teams in the course of his career, including the St. Louis Cardinals, the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Naps. He is widely considered the best pitcher of all time, having won a Triple Crown, five-time Wins Leader, two-time strikeout and ERA leader and three no-hitters.

Cy Young was dubbed by the press as "Cyclone" early in his career, which later came to be known as "Cy", giving rise to the legendary name. It happened when he broke a fence with his fastball, making it look like a cyclone in the process. While his storied career has been studied by many fans ever since, one of the most interesting facts about his signing with the Cleveland Spiders is the new suit for the Canton manager. Despite sounding too bizarre to be true, it indeed is.

A few trades weirder than the Cy Young suit exchange

While Cy Young's career-first major league contract involved a new suit for his former manager, there have been a few more strange moves in the MLB that stand alongside it.

One such trade was between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, who exchanged outfielders Max Flack and Cliff Heathcote in between their double-header in 1922. Both players were in a rut and the exchange proved to be fruitful for both sides.

Another is set during the 1994 players' strike which wiped out the World Series in September. Before that, however, the Cleveland Indians managed to sign Dave Winfield from the Twins just for a steak dinner between the team's executives.