By Mike Takeuchi
(AP Photo-Texas Ranger Third Baseman Michael Young stands below Division Champions banner.)
*Note A slightly different article appeared in another publication.
Just as they have done all season, the Claw and Antlers are set to strike next week-albeit in a larger arena. In the process, a rare display of team loyalty and leadership will be rewarded when former UCSB and current Texas Rangers infielder Michael Young takes the field to play in the first postseason of his 10-year Major League career.
“Because we are playing meaningful games this late in the season, this has been without a doubt, the most enjoyable season, especially in the last month,” Young said while sitting in the visitor’s dugout at Angel Stadium on September 20. “The job isn’t over yet, so we’re not going to slow down until we accomplish our goals-which aren’t planned for any time in September.”
Playing his entire career with Texas, Young is part of a shrinking membership that includes Albert Pujols, Chipper Jones, Ichiro Suzuki, and the Yankees trio of Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera-those who have spent their entire career wearing only one uniform. Yet despite solid career stats (.300 batting average, 808 RBI, 346 doubles, and 158 home runs as of Monday) that includes a Gold Glove (2008), a batting title (2005), and six All-Star game appearances, he is relatively unknown outside of his team and peer group. But, according to Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington, that doesn’t diminish his importance to the club.
“Michael Young IS the organization,” Washington said. “He’s been here ten years now, and he’s been the same guy showing up every day and giving everything he has while trying to make his teammates better. Now he’s paid his dues and gotten to the point where he’s close to what every manager, every player, and every coach would like to attain. And I couldn’t be happier for him.”
The fourth-year manager acknowledged that the team’s losing record during Young’s career could have been the main reason for his relative anonymity. In this span, not only have the Rangers not made the playoffs, they have finished on an average of 20 games behind in the standings, from merely three games back in a 2004 third-place finish, to a whopping 43.5 games behind in his rookie year of 2001. The 33-year-old, whose first sport love was boxing thanks to his parents and cousins, likened the struggles to a fighter backed into a corner.
“Sometimes you have to take it on the chin and fight your way out of it, even if it lasts awhile,” Young said. “There’s no point in dwelling on it. You make adjustments, keep swinging, and move on.”
That attitude was appreciated by his coach at UCSB Bob Brontsema. After moving from the outfield to shortstop, Young helped the Gauchos reach the NCAA Regionals during his sophomore year in 1996.
“At UCSB, the one thing the separated Mike from others was his work ethic and the fighter’s aggressive mentality,” Brontsema said. “He’s tough, strong, and nobody was going to beat him mentally. I think that’s what got him through the tough years at Texas. Because not only did he have to deal with losing seasons, he had to move to second base when he came up because they already had a pretty good shortstop (Alex Rodriguez) set in there. And despite winning a Gold Glove when another shortstop (Elvis Andrus) came up the next year, he wasn’t happy about moving to third at first, but you really didn’t hear about it too much from him.”
Brontsema added that another thing never publicly mentioned was complaints about the make-up of the team that last played in the postseason two years before Young’s first season. Until the Rangers play their first Division Series game, Young continues to be the player with the second most games played (1503 through September 27) behind St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Randy Winn (1713), without a playoff appearance. His statistics and playoff path is similar to that of his boyhood idol the former Yankees first baseman and Dodgers manager-to-be Don Mattingly (.307 avg., 1099 RBI 22 home runs 402 doubles over 13 full seasons) whose team qualified in his final year.
“I don’t look at his career in terms of who hasn’t played in the playoffs,” Brontsema said. “I see a loyal guy who decided to stay with (his team) by re-signing (six-year $80 million contract in 2007) despite getting other offers from teams with richer playoff histories.”
And it is paying off so far this year because of one thing.
“Plain and simple we got better players,” Young said. “We’ve always had good offense, but getting a monster like (Vladimir Guerrero) in the middle of our line-up made us more versatile in the line-up with power and speed throughout. Our pitching has been great since the start of this year, but since we got Cliff (Lee), we’re in another category. The whole team is the biggest bunch of blue collar gamers.”
The one thing that the team didn’t have was controversy- despite a March Sports Illustrated story breaking the news of Washington’s July 2009 positive cocaine test. Perhaps remembering an August 6, 2007 game when his manager was ejected for the first time in his career defending him, Young stood up for Washington in an emotional team meeting and later, publicly when the story broke on March 17.
“I’m a loyal guy,” Young explained. “I don’t let many people in, but when I do, you’re in. And Ron is one of those. I felt that he deserved the opportunity to show people who he really is. That’s why I was so outspoken about it. We got called into a meeting we had no idea why. Wash spoke to us
and the second he was done I wanted everyone to know that this is our guy. This is our manager. This wasn’t his issue it was ours. We were going to go through this as a team. Two days later, it was a nonstory.”
The team went on to have one of their most successful seasons, and raised their hopes in possibly making the organization’s first World Series appearance-although that has been clouded with the indefinite loss of MVP candidate Josh Hamilton to rib injuries while crashing into the on September 4 . Young still believes thanks to the power of Claw and Antlers.
The craze that has origins stemming from a few years back and continues presently thanks a ten-point buck set of antlers hanging over Hamilton’s locker and a double-following gesture by Nelson Cruz during an exciting midseason game. The “claw”, an extended arm with curled fingers represents a good play, the “antlers”, a spread of both hands and held on each side of the head, mark a display of speed (“run like a deer”) that are used each time a Rangers player does such. T-shirts depicting both are now a full-fledged Texas rage.
“This thing has taken on a life of its own,” Young chuckled. “We’ve done it for a while, but for some reason it has become a rallying cry for the guys on the team and our fans. This is a group of guys who like to have fun yet know how to walk the line between having fun and getting down to business.”
Despite the intensity of the postseason, Young admitted that he will allow himself a look around and think about the one thing more important to him than baseball, his wife Christina and their sons Mateo and Emilio.
“Since it’s been a long time coming, I am definitely going to take it in,” Young said. “I have been waiting for this opportunity since I got here. Once that first pitch comes, it’s time to be the one to deliver that coup de grace.”
