Episode 253: Joe Young

We recap what has been a busy couple of weeks on the local baseball scene, including Matt Lloyd being named Baseball Canada's Men's National Team Most Valuable Player, Fort McMurray being named hosts for more national tournaments, a local look at the Arizona Fall League and a multitude of college commitments. Then we get to our guest, and the mere mention of Joe Young brings back a lot of memories for baseball scouts and insiders from the early-1990s. The 6-foot-4, 210 pound righthander made life miserable for men’s league athletes in Fort McMurray when he was just 14. In 1991, he won gold with Canada at the World Youth Baseball Championships, a team that featured Jason Dickson and Stubby Clapp among others. Two years later, Young was drafted in the third round of the MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays, embarking on a six-year pro career that included the 1993 and 1994 seasons with the Medicine Hat Blue Jays. He played with and against some of the best young talent who later went onto become MLB players including Chris Carpenter, Roy Halladay and Michael Young, before retiring, coming back to the St. Paul area, where he is still involved in baseball and hockey. We sat down earlier this week to talk about his journey, including a chance encounter with ball player and future Hockey Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla.