| Dmitri Young | |
|---|---|
 Young with the Washington Nationals | |
| Northern Colorado Owlz | |
| First baseman /Left fielder /Designated hitter | |
| Born: (1973-10-11)October 11, 1973 (age 52) Vicksburg, Mississippi, U.S. | |
Batted: Switch Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| August 29, 1996, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| July 11, 2008, for the Washington Nationals | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .292 |
| Home runs | 171 |
| Runs batted in | 683 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Dmitri Dell Young (born October 11, 1973) is an American former professionalbaseball player. He played all or parts of 13 seasons inMajor League Baseball (MLB) as aleft fielder,first baseman, anddesignated hitter, for theSt. Louis Cardinals,Cincinnati Reds,Detroit Tigers, andWashington Nationals from 1996 through 2008. He is a two-timeAll-Star and winner of theNational League Comeback Player of the Year Award. His younger brother,Delmon Young, also played in MLB.
Young attendedRio Mesa High School inOxnard, California.[1][2] He never hit below a .400 batting average while playing in high school[3] and earnedUSA Today High School All-American honors in his senior season.[4]
Young initially committed to playcollege baseball for theMiami Hurricanes.[5]
TheSt. Louis Cardinals selected Young in the first round, with the fourth overall selection, in the1991 Major League Baseball draft. Early in his professional career, Young's weight raised concerns. In 1994, a Cardinalsfarm director told theLos Angeles Times that the organization worried he might "eat himself out a major league career." At the time, he weighed 240 pounds (110 kg).[6]
In 1995, Young punched a fan who had been heckling him and calling him racial slurs, which earned him a suspension from theTexas League.[7][8]
Finally, in 1996, he had a big year atTriple-ALouisville, batting .333, being chosen as a Triple-A All-Star first baseman and the St. Louis Cardinals Minor League Player of the Year. He was called up at the end of the season and played a few games with St. Louis in the majors.
Young's first full season in Major League Baseball was with the Cardinals in 1997, in which he hit .258. After the season, he was traded to theCincinnati Reds forJeff Brantley. Eight days later, he was selected by theTampa Bay Devil Rays in theexpansion draft, then traded back to the Reds forMike Kelly. While with the Reds, Young hit over .300 in each year (finishing second in doubles in 1998, and hitting 21 home runs in 2001). During those years, he played primarily the outfield and at first base.
After the 2001 season, he was traded by the Reds to theDetroit Tigers forLuis Pineda andJuan Encarnación. In 2003, he hit .297, with 29 home runs, and 7triples (10th in the league). He was the Tigers' lone representative at the 2003MLB All-Star Game, although he did not make an appearance on the field or in the batter's box.
On May 6, 2003, Young went 5–5 against theBaltimore Orioles hitting two homers and two triples, and asingle. When he came up to bat in the ninth, he was a double short of thecycle. Instead, he hit his second triple of the night offBuddy Groom. "It crossed my mind, but since the game was close, my individual accomplishment took a back seat," Young said. "The run is the important thing."[9]
On April 4, 2005, Young joinedGeorge Bell andTuffy Rhodes as the only players to hit three home runs onOpening Day in Detroit's 11–2 win over the visitingKansas City Royals. Young, along with Tigers first basemanMiguel Cabrera, former Royals Designated HitterKendrys Morales, and Mariners third basemanKyle Seager, are the only players to hit three home runs in one game atComerica Park—one of the more difficult home run stadiums.[10] He was also known as "Da Meat Hook" and "The Big D" to Tigers fans.
Young appeared atWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'sSurvivor Series 2005 in an interview segment withEdge andLita. Edge made fun of the Detroit Tigers, saying that they sucked, while Young cracked jokes at Edge concerning his failures on capturing a World Title.
In 2006, Young went through a divorce, and was treated for alcohol and substance abuse and depression. He pleaded guilty to assault after an argument inBirmingham, Michigan.[11]
On May 17, 2006, theDetroit Free Press reported that Young faced amisdemeanordomestic violence charge.[12] Young subsequently voluntarily spent 30 days in a rehabilitation facility, Promises Malibu, and three weeks working out with minor league teams. On June 13, 2006, Young failed to appear for a pretrial hearing on this matter and abench warrant was issued for his arrest.[13] Ten days later, he pleadedno contest to the domestic violence charges.
On June 30, 2006, Young revealed that he had been battling several illnesses that resulted in him self-medicating withalcohol,[14] which limited his physical fitness and kept him from appearing in all but a small fraction of Tigers games during the season. He made a statement to the press in which he asserted that he had been making progress overcoming it with the help ofAlcoholics Anonymous, whose logo has been tattooed on his hand as a gesture of thanks. He returned to action on July 21, 2006, versus theOakland Athletics, starting atdesignated hitter and ending the game with twohits and 2 runs batted in during the Tigers' 7–4 win. Before the game started,FSN Detroit aired a video of Young apologizing to the fans and saying how he will continue to struggle against alcohol and drugs for the rest of his life.
On September 6, 2006, with less than a month to go in theirAmerican League Championship season, the Tigers gave Young his unconditional release in a move that surprised both teammates and fans alike.[15]
The day afterThanksgiving, an ambulance took him to a hospital, where he endured a three-day stay in the intensive care unit as his doctors diagnoseddiabetes.[11] Since then, Young has taken steps to get his diabetes in control and is encouraging others to do so. He has recently[when?] appeared ondLife to talk to people about how he has lived with diabetes.
In late 2006, theWashington Nationals lost their first basemanNick Johnson for nearly a year due to a broken leg. The following spring, the Nationals invited a number of first basemen to camp, including Young, who won the starting role. In his first game with the Nationals, on opening day, he hit two doubles. He went on to have a sizzling first half, reaching the All-Star break batting .340, third in the league, and he was selected to his second All-Star game—the Nationals' only representative. He singled in his onlyat-bat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and scored on anAlfonso Soriano home run.
Young received his Detroit Tigers 2006 American League Championship ring when the Tigers played the Nationals in an interleague series atRFK Stadium in June 2007.
On July 4, Young hit agrand slam against the visitingChicago Cubs. It was his sixth career grand slam. He finished the year batting .320, the highest of his career, and ninth in theNational League. Towards the end of the month, Young signed a two-year, $10 million extension with a vesting option.[16] Upon the season's close, Young won thePlayer's Choice National League Comeback Player of the Year award.[17]
On March 29, 2008, the Nationals confirmed that Johnson would open the season as their starting first baseman over Young,[18] although on June 24, 2008, the Nationals announced that Johnson would have season-ending wrist surgery and named Young as the starting first baseman. On September 17, Young was declared officially out for the season due to his diabetes.
After spending the 2009 season in the minor leagues, Young announced hisretirement on March 18, 2010. On the same day, he was introduced as the Vice President and Senior Advisor of Baseball Operations and Special Hitting and Fielding Instructor of theOakland County Cruisers minor league baseball team. After the 2011 season, Young announced he was attempting a comeback, but was not signed by any team.[19]
Young began collectingbaseball cards in 2000 when he and Reds teammateDanny Graves were offered $2,000 to appear at a card show. Young saw aPete Roserookie card and asked for it in lieu of the cash payment.[20] In 2002, Tigers teammateRobert Fick introduced Young to Dave Bailey, a memorabilia collector, and the two eventually amassed perhaps the greatest collection of rookie cards in the world.[20][21] He estimated that he spent $5 million of the $52 million he earned as a baseball player on his card collection.[20]
In 2010–11, Young co-hostedCard Corner Club Radio, a weekly sports card and collectibles show.[citation needed]
In 2012, Young put nearly 500 of themint condition rookie cards up forauction with plans to use the proceeds to open a baseball school andnonprofit foundation inVentura County, California.[20] The cards were auctioned individually and the collection ultimately fetched $2.4 million in total (equivalent to $3.29 million in 2024).[22] His 1955ToppsRoberto Clemente card fetched the highest price, setting a post-World War II record by selling for $432,690 (equivalent to $592,620 in 2024).[22] Overall, six different cards in the collection sold for six figures.[23]
At his heaviest during his playing career, Young weighed 295 pounds (134 kg) and was the third-heaviest player in MLB history.[24] As of July 2014[update], he had lost more than 100 pounds (45 kg) from his peak weight.[25]
Dmitri is currently the President of The Dmitri D. Young Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization providing baseball and life choices camps for student athletes in Southern California, in particular in Ventura County and with this alma mater, Rio Mesa High School. His foundation is awaiting IRS section 501(c)(3) status.[citation needed]
In August 2020, Young was named the head baseball coach atAdolfo Camarillo High School inCamarillo, California.[26]
In February 2025, Young was named manager of theNorthern Colorado Owlz, a member of the independentPioneer League based inWindsor, Colorado.[27]
Dmitri's younger brother isDelmon Young, thefirst overall draft pick in the2003 Major League Baseball Draft and runner-up for the 2007American League Rookie of the Year Award. Delmon made his major league debut on August 29, 2006, exactly ten years after his older brother.[citation needed]
Young's sister, DeAnn, playedcollege softball for theOregon State Beavers.[28] His nephew, Quentin Young, is a prospect in the2025 MLB draft.[29]
Dmitri and Delmon's father, Larry Young, from Mississippi, was one of theUnited States Navy's first African AmericanF-14 fighter pilots.[30] He later worked as a pilot forDelta Air Lines.[31]
On July 6, 2010, Young was arrested at theCentral Illinois Regional Airport on charges of possession drug paraphernalia and marijuana inBloomington, Illinois.[32]
· Baseball Almanac