Dmitri Young Officially Retires; Meathook Memories

Fans may have assumed that former National Dmitri Young had already retired, however, he officially retired on Thursday, March 18 after 13 seasons. 

Young made the announcement when he was introduced as the new Vice President and Senior Advisor of Baseball Operations of the Frontier League's Oakland County Cruisers, an independent professional baseball team.  Video link.

Young, 36, retires with a .292/.351/.475 lifetime batting line over 13 professional seasons with the Nationals, Tigers, Reds and Cardinals. He was a two-time All-Star (Tigers and Nationals).

Nats News Network wishes Dmitri all the best!


Ah, the Meathook memories......


Dmitri Young had a successful career with the Detroit Tigers before joining the Washington Nationals. Young had quite a tumultuous past which Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post describes very well in this piece.

2007:

• The Nationals gave Dmitri Young his second chance and it paid it off. Initially, anyway. With first base open for the 2007 season due to Nick Johnson's injury, Young stepped in and did such a great job that he was selected to represent the Washington Nationals at the All-Star game.
• It didn't look like Young would get into the game, however, with the National League down by three runs, NL Manager Tony La Russa brought inYoung pinch hit for pitcher Trevor Hoffman.  Dmitri stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and reached on infield single to second off of J.J. Putz to bring up Alfonso Soriano.  Soriano homered to bring the game within one run. The AL brought in K-Rod who closed out the game and the AL won over the NL 5-4. 
  
• Many baseball fans probably remember Ichiro's inside-the-park homerun if you asked them about the 2007 All-Star Game, but ask a Nats fan....they will remember that Meathook made them proud.
  
• Young hit .320 with 13 home runs and 74 RBIs in 136 games, finished eighth in the NL in batting average and was named the 2007 NL Comeback Player of the Year.
  

2008:

• With the uncertainty of Nick Johnson's playing ability for 2008, the Nats decided to re-sign Young for two years.
  
• Meathook reported to camp in 2008 at 298 pounds, and he believed his daily insulin treatments for his Type-II diabetes is to blame for his weight.
  
• Young remained a fan favorite and Nationals had a Dmitri Young Bobblehead giveaway.
  
• On July 11, 2008, Meathook played his last major league game -- a Nats home game hosting the Houston Astros.
• Young was outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse in November 2008.

2009:

• MLB Network featured Dmitri Young in an original documentary, "We Are Young: A Baseball Family" which was a story of brothers Dmitri and Delmon Young who both overcame personal struggles to persevere in the Major Leagues.  It aired on March 2, 2009 and was MLB Network's first-ever original film from MLB Productions.
• On July 25, 2009, Young injured a quad muscle in Harrisburg, and an MRI revealed a tear in the muscle and he'd be out for the season.

Photo 2008 © Cheryl Nichols. All Rights Reserved.