Texas Rangers To Retire Michael Young's Jersey

Michael Young
Photo credit Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
DALLAS (105.3 The Fan/AP) - The Texas Rangers will retire Michael Young's No. 10 prior to their game against the Seattle Mariners on August 31, the club announced Tuesday. Young will join Nolan Ryan, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez, Johnny Oates, and Adrian Beltre as the only Rangers to have their jersey number retired. 

-- 08.31.19 | #ForeverYoung -- pic.twitter.com/BRy4kNWZAQ

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) June 18, 2019

Young hit .300 in 14 seasons, all but the last with Texas. He spent the 2013 season with the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers. He made the all-star game seven times with Texas, winning the game's MVP award in 2006.  He also helped lead them to back to back world series appearances in 2010 and 2011. 

Along with his .300 average, Young hit 185 home runs and had 1,030 RBI. He won a gold glove in 2008.

Young will become the second player to have his jersey retired by the Rangers this season, joining future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre, whose number was retired on June 8. 

Jon Daniels, the Rangers general manager and president of baseball operations, was recently asked on the Ben and Skin Show why the club choose to retire Beltre's number before Michael Young's?

"That's a really good and fair question. The thought process has been for a while, outside of Johnny Oates, who had a unique circumstance when he had brain cancer. Other than that, I think that the process has been when a player goes into the baseball Hall of Fame then the Rangers would retire his number. I think all clubs view it that way.

"I think with Adrian, because he's going to go to Cooperstown ... certainly with Adrian and Michael ... it kind of forced us to reconsider, 'is this how we should do it?' We waited until Pudge got into the Hall of Fame to do it (retire his number), 'is this how we should continue to do it from a Hall of Fame standpoint?'

"So we just decided to review our policy and we decided, 'yeah, absolutely.' We didn't wait for Adrian and I think you're onto something. I think Michael is a true deserving ... don't tell him I said that ... But obviously, (he's) extremely deserving. (He has) a huge role in the organization right now, and we're going to look at ways to continue to honor him."