The Youngblood
On August 4, 1982, Joel Youngblood made history
On August 4, 1982, Joel Youngblood made history, and I'm guessing he had a
lot of fun doing it. Youngblood woke up in Chicago, Illinois as a member
of the New York Mets. He started off his day playing a couple innings of
baseball, making a few put outs in centerfield, and collecting a single
off of future Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins.
(http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN198208040.shtml). Shortly
thereafter, Youngblood was pulled from the game, traded to the Montreal
Expos, and hopped a plane to Philadelphia. Youngblood capped off his day
playing a few more innings of baseball, making a few put outs in
rightfield, and collecting a single against future Hall of Famer Steve
Carlton. (http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI198208040.shtml).
With his seventh inning single, Youngblood became the only player in MLB
history to collect a hit for two different teams in two different cities
on the same day.
Years later, Youngblood's historic performance made me think. Hmm...
Zack Hample's book, The Baseball, concludes with a "ballhawking glossary"
defining many terms that are commonly used by MyGameBalls.com members.
While writing the book, Zack called on his blog readers for assistance.
If you read his blog regularly, you might have submitted recommendations
for words or phrases that should appear in his ballhawking glossary.
Several years too late, I have come up with a new word that hopefully can
become part of our collective lexicon: the "Youngblood."
I bet you can figure out what it means, eh?
Youngblood = the act of snagging at least one baseball at two different
MLB stadiums in two different cities on the same day.
There are a couple ways this word can be used. For instance, while you
are in the process of snagging a baseball at two different stadiums in two
different cities on the same day, you're "Youngblooding." After you've
succeeded, you have just "pulled a Youngblood." Or you can be more
descriptive: "I just pulled a Baltimore-Philadelphia Youngblood."
Youngblooding is hard. For one thing, unless you are taking a
strategically timed flight, there are only a few days all season that a
Youngblood can be achieved. Scour the MLB schedules thoroughly and you
will find that the (very few) baseball teams that are located close enough
to each other that a Youngblood could be achieved (e.g., the Nationals and
Orioles) are seldom home at the same time.
To achieve a Youngblood, you typically have to look for ballparks that are
spaced out a bit, but are close enough to be drivable within an hour or
two: DC-Philadelphia, Baltimore-Philadelphia, Philadelphia-New York, Los
Angeles-Anaheim, Pittsburgh-Cleveland and
Chicago-Milwaukee are a few decent options.
Still, it is not as simple as finding two of these teams both playing at
home on the same day because, typically, when that happens both games will
start at the same time. You really need to find a day when both teams
are playing home games with one team starting its game at 1:05 and the
other team starting its game at 7:05. Those circumstances coincide only a
few days each season.
We have had two Youngblood opportunities and achieved it once.
In 2010, with no thought of Youngblooding, I had a goal of pulling a
two-city, day-night doubleheader. I scouted it out and found our
opportunity. On
September 6, 2010, we saw the Mets and Nationals in DC. We snagged a long
toss-up from Livan Hernandez during Nationals BP. Our goal was to attend
a "doubleheader" so we stayed all 9-innings to witness the Nats beat the
Mets. Then, we hopped in the car for a 2.5 hour drive to Philadelphia.
BP was finished by the time we entered the stadium. We saw a great game
(highlighted by a monster homerun by Mike "Not-Yet-Giancarlo" Stanton),
but we were unable to complete the Youngblood -- it was the only game we
were shut out in 2010. Had we left the game in DC early, we could have
made it to Philadelphia for BP. That would have made Youngblooding much
easier. But we are in it for the baseball, not just the baseballs.
The lesson: Youngblooding is easier if you don't care about actually
watching the first game. On the other hand, it is much harder (and, in my
opinion, more meaningful) if you make it a true day-night, two-city
doubleheader. Of course, not even Joel Youngblood himself was able to do
that.
On May 7, 2011, we did another two-city, day-night doubleheader featuring
a day game in Baltimore and a nightcap in Philadelphia. During the day
game, Avi Miller was the big winner: he made a clean catch on Evan
Longoria's first homerun of the season. We came away with three BP
balls of our own. Again, we stuck it out for all nine innings in
Baltimore. After the day game, we made the 2 hour drive to Philadelphia.
I thought we'd catch the tail end of BP, but a traffic jam at the
Pennsylvania state line put the kybosh on BP. If we were going to pull
a Youngblood, it would have to happen during or after the game. Luckily,
we had awesome seats right behind the 3B end of the 3B dugout. And it all
fell into place in the top of the fifth inning. Alex Gonzalez squibbed a
little foul ball to Braves 3B coach Brian Snitker. I popped up and called
out "Hey, Brian!" He turned and made an easy underhand to us. As I
squeezed down on the ball, it was a great feeling knowing that we had
successfully pulled a
Youngblood. Later, Brooks Conrad capped our great day by hooking us up
with a post-game baseball.
So, there you go, a new term: Youngblooding.
Although it seems somewhat popular with some of the MyGameBalls.com
members in Pittsburgh who frequently travel between Pittsburgh and
Cleveland, it is generally a very rare occurrence. If you're looking for
something new and fun to try, and you live in a location where it is
possible, start scouring your MLB schedules and see if you can find an
opportunity to pull a Youngblood of your own.
Editors Note: Mets-Yankees and Cubs-White Sox doubleheaders are
encouraged, but they don't count in terms of pulling a Youngblood because
they don't involve two-city travel. Sorry.
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