Ernie Young

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Ernie Young

|image=Ernieyoungusabaseball.jpg

|caption=Young with the USA Baseball in 2019

|position=Outfielder

|birth_date={{Birth date and age|1969|7|8}}

|birth_place=Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=May 17

|debutyear=1994

|debutteam=Oakland Athletics

|debut2league = NPB

|debut2date=June 7

|debut2year=2002

|debut2team=Yokohama BayStars

|finalleague = NPB

|finaldate=September 15

|finalyear=2002

|finalteam=Yokohama BayStars

|final2league = MLB

|final2date=September 24

|final2year=2004

|final2team=Cleveland Indians

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.225

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=27

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=90

|teams=

Oakland Athletics ({{mlby|1994}}–{{mlby|1997}})
Kansas City Royals ({{mlby|1998}})
Arizona Diamondbacks ({{mlby|1999}})
Yokohama BayStars ({{npby|2002}})
Detroit Tigers ({{mlby|2003}})
Cleveland Indians ({{mlby|2004}})

|medaltemplates=

{{Medal|Country| the {{bb|USA}}}}

}}

Ernest Wesley Young (born July 8, 1969) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and current coach for the United States national baseball team. He played in parts of eight seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for five different teams, primarily the Oakland Athletics. He also played one season in Japan for the Yokohama BayStars, and was a member of the United States' gold medal-winning baseball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. As a player, Young was listed at {{convert|6|ft|1|in}} and {{convert|190|lb|kg}}; he bats and throws right-handed. On July 19, 2013, he was inducted into the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame for his contributions during his time with the Buffalo Bisons.{{Cite web |title=Ernie Young - Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame |url=https://img.mlbstatic.com/milb-images/image/private/q_100/milb/ss2kybp3guwwnwkggef2 |website=Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame}}

Playing career

In his major league career, Young played in 288 games, had 179 hits, 27 home runs, 90 RBI, 10 stolen bases, and a .225 batting average. In 2000, he led the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds with 35 home runs (second in the entire St. Louis Cardinals organization to Jim Edmonds' 42) and 98 RBIs (third in the organization behind Troy Farnsworth with 113 and Edmonds with 108).{{cite book | editor = Cardinals' Media Relations | year = 2001 | title = St. Louis Cardinals 2001 Media Guide | publisher = Hadler Printing Company | pages = D-23}} On June 12, 2006, he hit his 300th career minor league home run. As a member of the Oakland Athletics, in a game against the Tigers, Young started a triple play with a leaping catch in center field.

Minor league coach/manager

Following his retirement after the 2007 season,{{cite web |url=https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-337332 |title=Young's 'retirement' won't be restful |access-date=2008-12-07 |author=Lisa Winston |author-link=MLB.com |date=2008-01-09 |work=MLB.com |archive-date=May 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519141616/http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080108&content_id=337332&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp |url-status=live }} Young became the hitting coach on the Chicago White Sox' rookie-level team, the Great Falls Voyagers. On November 21, 2008, he was named the manager of the Kannapolis Intimidators for the 2009 season.{{cite web |url=http://www2.independenttribune.com/content/2008/nov/21/young-manage-intimidators-2009/news/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126140714/http://www2.independenttribune.com/content/2008/nov/21/young-manage-intimidators-2009/news/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-26 |title=Young to manage Intimidators in 2009 |access-date=2008-12-07 |date=2008-11-21 |work=independenttribune.com}} In 2011, Young was tabbed to manage the West Michigan Whitecaps, the class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers,{{cite web |url=http://www.mlive.com/whitecaps/index.ssf/2010/10/former_tigers_outfielder_ernie.html |title=Former Tigers outfielder Ernie Young officially named Whitecaps manager |access-date=2011-04-03 |date=2010-10-21 |work=mlive.com}} a position he retained for the 2012 season, but not for 2013.

International career

As a player, Young won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the Team USA in baseball at the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney, Australia.

After his playing career ended, Young managed the national team for the 2011 Baseball World Cup (fourth-place finish) and 2011 Pan Am Games (second-place finish).{{cite web |url=http://web.usabaseball.com/events/events.jsp?ymd=20111223&content_id=26231086&vkey=event_usab |title=2011 Pan Am Team Roster |url-status=dead |access-date=2013-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707064335/http://web.usabaseball.com/events/events.jsp?ymd=20111223&content_id=26231086&vkey=event_usab |archive-date=2017-07-07 }} Circa 2013, he served on the board of directors of USA Baseball.{{cite web |url=http://web.usabaseball.com/about/board.jsp#young |title=Ernie Young — Recent Athlete (Secretary General) |access-date=2013-02-25 |archive-date=August 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803190207/http://web.usabaseball.com/about/board.jsp#young |url-status=dead }}

In August 2019, Young became a national team coach for the 2019 WBSC Premier12 tournament.{{ cite web | url=https://www.usabaseball.com/news/gritty-film-productions-acquire-rights-to-sydney-2000-olympic-gold-story-miracle-on-grass/c-310907214/?tid=216632610 | title=USA Baseball Finalizes Premier12 Coaching Staff | work=USA Baseball | date=August 13, 2019 | access-date=October 13, 2019 }} The team finished fourth in the tournament, and failed to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.{{Cite web|url=https://premier12.wbsc.org/en/2019/news/navarro-singles-in-extras-brins-mexico-to-the-2020-olympics|title = Navarro singles in extras, brings Mexico to the 2020 Olympics}} In April 2021, Young was again named as a coach for the national team, for the team's final efforts to qualify for baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.{{cite web | url=https://www.usabaseball.com/news/topic/professional/usa-baseball-finalizes-2021-professional-national-team-staff | title=USA Baseball Finalizes 2021 Professional National Team Staff | work=USA Baseball | date=April 22, 2021}} The team qualified, with Young serving as hitting coach and first base coach for the Olympics.{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2021/07/02/triston-casas-jack-lopez-us-olympic-team/ |title=Red Sox minor-leaguers Triston Casas, Jack Lopez named to US baseball team for Olympics |first1=Kris |last1=Rhim |first2=Alex |last2=Speier |website=Boston.com |date=July 2, 2021 |accessdate=July 3, 2021}}{{cite web |url=http://www.usabaseball.com/team-usa/professional-team/roster |title=Olympic Team Roster |website=usabaseball.com |accessdate=July 3, 2021}} The team went on to win silver, falling to Japan in the gold-medal game.{{cite web |url=https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/baseball-softball/results-baseball-fnl-000100-.htm |title=Baseball/Softball - United States vs Japan - Gold Medal Game Results |website=olympics.com |date=August 7, 2021 |accessdate=August 8, 2021 |archive-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816171932/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/baseball-softball/results-baseball-fnl-000100-.htm |url-status=dead }}