Maybe now people will finally stop underestimating Tim Lincecum.

According to most, the 24-year-old Liberty High School graduate has always been too small. The size is what held top colleges back from recruiting him despite the proof that he could flat-out pitch. It’s what held his hometown team back from drafting him after he proved he could dominate batters at the college level. Yet his 97-mph fastball, wicked curveball and unorthodox delivery helped him burst through those misconceptions and win the Cy Young Award as the National League’s top pitcher on Tuesday.

For Glen Walker, the head baseball coach at Liberty when Lincecum played there and now the head coach at Auburn Mountainview, the Cy Young award means he and every one of Lincecum’s fans who always believed were right.

“Despite his electric stuff, the size was always the biggest thing with everybody,” Walker said. But those doubts didn’t get Lincecum down, they made him want to be better. “He was always looking to beat you. You’re not going to dig in the box thinking you’ve got anything on him. He was tenacious. He just wanted to make people look foolish.”

Lincecum didn’t get going at Liberty until his junior year. Walker vividly remembers when he and his staff first realized the young pitcher had something special. In his junior season, Lincecum came into a game against Skyline in relief with the bases loaded and the heart of the batting order about to come to bat.

“He just mowed them down, made them look kind of foolish,” Walker said. “I looked at my coaches, they looked back at me and it hit us like a ton of bricks that this kid had something we had never seen before.”

Lincecum continued to baffle batters through high school with a great fastball and a curveball that “bit like a son of a gun,” Walker said.

Walker and his staff didn’t do much with Lincecum because he was the type of talent that you leave alone and let do his thing.

The next season, Lincecum missed some time with a back injury and the Patriots placed fourth in the KingCo. But the team battled through the playoffs and into the state tournament where Lincecum and Paul Routos pitched the Patriots to a 3A state title.

Through the playoffs, Lincecum continued to prove batters wrong who assumed he’d be a pushover on the mound because of his small size. Walker said he was about 5-10, 135 pounds while at Liberty.

At the end of his time at Liberty, Lincecum left his mark on the record book, even though he didn’t pitch until his junior year.

“If there was a record at Liberty, he broke it,” Walker said of Lincecum’s time as a Patriot.

However, Lincecum’s small size is also what kept his options limited coming out of high school. His electric pitches couldn’t outweigh his size.

The Chicago Cubs took a chance and drafted Lincecum in the 48th round in 2003, but he turned them down and decided to play for the University of Washington.

In each of his first two years at UW, he led the Pac-10 in strikeouts. In his final year as a Husky, he led the nation in strikeouts, with 199. When he left he was the career Pac-10 leader in strikeouts with 491.

The Cleveland Indians drafted him in the 42nd round after his 2005 season at UW, but he didn’t sign again. Finally, after the 2006 season the San Francisco Giants drafted him with the 10th overall pick and Lincecum signed with the team. But that draft wasn’t without a hint of controversy. The Seattle Mariners had the fifth overall pick and many fans around the area felt the team should have picked Lincecum. The Mariners picked Brandon Morrow instead.

“They (Mariners) completely dropped the ball,” Walker said. “Frankly I was pissed. When you have a guy like that in your own back yard… you bring him in and you build the club around him. You’ve got to take a chance on that guy.”

But like so many before, the Mariners were likely scared off by Lincecum’s small stature. In two years Lincecum has become one of the game’s top pitchers and won the game’s top award for a pitcher. While Morrow has been solid, but he remains a prospect.

Morrow has pitched mostly in relief in parts of two seasons with the Mariners. He’s appeared in 105 games, started five and won six.

Lincecum spent just 62 and two thirds innings in the minor leagues before the Giants called him up to the majors. It’s not hard to see why the Giants jumped the gun early: Lincecum dominated minor league batters. He struck out 104 batters and allowed just eight runs during that stretch.

Now, just over two years removed from UW, Lincecum had the National League’s best season. Lincecum tallied an 18-5 record, a 2.62 ERA and a major league-best 265 strikeouts in 227 innings. He led the league in strikeouts per nine innings with a rate of 10.51.

In the end he became the third-youngest winner of the Cy Young award – by receiving 23 of 32 first place votes and 137 total points by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Arizona’s Brandon Webb placed second with 73 points and four first place votes.

“I was so excited when I heard he won,” Walker said. “He’s a great kid and he’s worked very hard for what he’s got. It’s very exciting for any of us who have had the chance to get to know him.”

Walker watches Lincecum pitch when he can, but since most Giants games aren’t on TV in Washington, he follows many of Lincecum’s starts online.

In a whirlwind season where Lincecum graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, became an All-Star (although he was sick and could not pitch in the game), and won the National League’s strikeout title, Lincecum saved the best for last. With each nasty, curving, high-90s pitch, he etched his name in the history of baseball.