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Michael Young
Young fielding for the Rangers.
Texas Rangers – No. 10
Designated Hitter/Infielder
Born: (1976-10-19) October 19, 1976 (age 35) Covina, California
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 29, 2000 for the Texas Rangers
Career statistics (through May 6, 2012)
Batting average	.304
Home runs	172
Runs batted in	936
Hits	2,098
On Base Percentage	.350
Teams
Texas Rangers (2000–present)
Career highlights and awards
7x All-Star (2004–2009, 2011) Gold Glove Award winner (2008) 2005 American League batting champion 2006 MLB All-Star Game MVP 2x Marvin Miller Man of the Year (2008, 2011) 2x American League Championship Series Champion (2010, 2011)

Michael Brian Young (born October 19, 1976 in Covina, California) is a Major League Baseball All Star designated hitter and utility infielder for the Texas Rangers.

Young has also played a significant number of games at second base, shortstop, and third base over the course of his career. In 2005, he was the AL batting champion. In 2011, he played a number of games at first base also.

Early life[link]

Young attended Bishop Amat Memorial High School^[1] followed by the University of California, Santa Barbara, to which he later donated money to refurbish the school's baseball field.^[2]

Young was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 25th round of the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft but did not sign. He attended the University of California at Santa Barbara. He did sign three years later, when the Toronto Blue Jays selected him in the fifth round of the 1997 Major League Baseball Draft.

Young was traded in 2000 with pitcher Darwin Cubillán to the Rangers for Esteban Loaiza.

Major leagues[link]

Texas Rangers (2000–present)[link]

In 2002, Young placed 2nd in fielding with a .988 fielding percentage. In 2003, Young was 3rd in the league in hits with 204, and led all second baseman with a batting average of .306. Young had a fielding percentage of .987. At the end of the 2003 season, Young moved to shortstop after the Alex Rodriguez trade, to make room for Alfonso Soriano.

In 2004, Young was second in the American League in hits with 216 and at bats with 690, 4th in runs with 114, and 9th in batting with an average of .313. Young finished second among shortstops in RBIs, with 99.

Young won the AL batting title in 2005 with an average of .331, and was first in MLB in hits with 221. He was 2nd in AL in at bats with 668, and his 114 runs were 5th-best in the AL. His 40 doubles were the 8th-best in the AL. Young also established a career-high in home runs with 24. Young's 91 RBIs placed him second among all shortstops in the AL.

Young was elected to the U.S. 2006 World Baseball Classic roster. In the 2006 MLB All-Star Game held at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Young was rewarded with the Ted Williams Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVP Award after hitting a game-winning two-run triple in the 9th inning.

During the 2006 season, Young was 13th in the AL in batting with an average of .314. He was second in the majors in hits, with 217, doubles, at 52, and at bats, with 691. Young set a career high and led all shortstops in RBIs with 103. Young was 1st in the AL in fielding percentage at shortstop with .981. Young also played all 162 games of the 2006 season. Young became the 29th player to accumulate 200 hits, 50 doubles, and 100 RBIs in a season. Young became just the 5th player in Major League history to collect 215 hits in three consecutive seasons.

In March 2007, Young agreed to an $80,000,000 contract extension that would keep him with the Rangers until 2013.^[3][4]

Young finished the 2007 season with a batting average of .315, which led the Rangers and was 11th-highest in the AL. Young also led the Rangers with 94 RBIs and was second among all shortstops in the AL. Young was second on the team and tied a career high in stolen bases with 13. Young's 201 hits were 4th in the AL, and marked the 5th consecutive 200-hit season, joining Ichiro Suzuki and Wade Boggs as the only players to do so since 1940 and just the second middle infielder, along with Charlie Gehringer, to have accomplished that feat.

Young played in the longest All-Star game in history. He drove in the game-winning RBI at the 2008 MLB All-Star Game after four hours and 40 minutes of playing time. Also, in 2008 Young won the Gold Glove at shortstop for the American League.

In 2009, Young moved to third base to make room for shortstop prospect Elvis Andrus.^[5] On April 19, 2009, Young hit his first career walk-off home run, off Royals pitcher Kyle Farnsworth.^[6] Young was voted on the AL 2009 All Star team by the players.

On June 16, 2010, Young hit a two-out ground ball up the middle off the Florida Marlins' Jay Buente to collect his 1,748th career hit, and pass Ivan Rodriguez for first place on the all-time Rangers career hit list.^[7] On defense, in 2010 he tied for the AL lead in errors by a third baseman, with 19, and had the lowest fielding percentage among them, at .950.^[8]

During the 2010–11 offseason, Young said that the Rangers had "misled and manipulated" him and requested a trade.^[9] The Rangers, having acquired free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre, planned to have Young be the team's primary designated hitter as well as a utility infielder, and see time at first base for the first time in his career. He was a 2011 American League All Star.^[10]

On August 7, 2011, Young hit an infield single against Josh Tomlin of the Cleveland Indians for his 2,000th career hit. Young became the first Ranger to reach this milestone.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011, Young batted .338 (3rd in the American League) with 11 home runs, primarily splitting his time between DH (69 games), third base (40 games), and first base (36 games).^[10] He tied for the AL lead in hits (213), and was 5th in RBIs (106) and sacrifice flies (9), 8th in on base percentage (.380), and 10th in doubles (41).^[10]

Personal life[link]

Young's mother is of Mexican descent. Young met his wife Cristina [who is also of Mexican descent] while in high school. Young's hobbies include billiards and golf.^[11] Young is a cousin of former WBO Light Welterweight boxing champion Zack Padilla.^[12][13] He and his wife Cristina are very active sponsors in the campaign, Wipe Out Kids' Cancer.^[14]

Rangers single-season records[link]

Rangers career rankings[link]

Through 2011:

See also[link]

Baseball portal

• List of Major League Baseball batting champions
• List of Major League Baseball Hit Records

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Michael Young (baseball)

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2011)

Lord Kossity (real name Thierry Moutoussamy) is a rapper from Martinique, French Antilles, in the West Indies. His family is originally from Martinique but he was born in the suburbs of Paris, France and moved back to the French Antilles with his family when he was 11 years old.^[1]

He began his career in the 1990s with the group Contrast, with his cousin, Dr. Jekyll.^[1] He began incorporating ragga music with the zouk style later in the 1990s, and has since recorded a number of albums and collaborated with Suprême NTM]], Vybz Kartel, Shaggy, Bounty Killer,adult movie star Clara Morgane and Elephant Man. He sold 230,000 records.His last album sold 5000 albums according to la Casem.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Le Best Of 2009
• Koss 2008
• Danger Zone 2006
• Jamaican World 2005
• Booming System 2005
• El Indio 2003
• Koss City 2002
• The Real Don 2001
• Everlord 2000
• Versastyle 1998
• LordKonexion 1996

Singles[link]

• "Ma Benz" (NTM feat. Lord Kossity) 1998
• "Hey Sexy Wow" 2005
• "Dancehall Soldiers" 2006
• "Oh No (Judgment Day)" 2006
• "Balance Gal" 2006
• "Booty Call" 2006
• "Hotel Room" 2007
• "Le Respect Ne S'Achète Pas" 2007
• "So Sexy" 2009
• "Champion Sound" 2009

References[link]

External links[link]

• LordKossity.com official site (Universal Music)
• LordKo (MySpace)
• French bio

This Martinique-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e