Ralph Young (baseball)

American baseball player

Ralph Stuart Young (September 19, 1888 – January 24, 1965), commonly known as "Pep", was an American professional baseball player and coach. A native of Philadelphia, Young played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), principally as a second baseman, from 1913 to 1922, including nine seasons in Major League Baseball with the New York Yankees in 1913, the Detroit Tigers from 1915 to 1921, and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1922. He threw right handed and batted as a switch hitter. Over the course of Young's big league career, he appeared in 1,022 games, 993 as a second baseman, and compiled a .247 batting average. Fueled by a disciplined batting eye, Young's on base percentage was nearly 100 points higher at .339. He collected 495 bases on balls and struck out only 235 times in 4,342 plate appearances. Young was also known as one of the best defensive second baseman in the American League (AL) during his playing career until a back injury in 1921 led to erratic throwing. After Young's playing career ended, he served as a college baseball coach in Philadelphia for the Temple Owls baseball team from 1932 to 1942 and for the Saint Joseph's Hawks baseball team from 1948 to 1955. In 19 seasons as a head coach, Young compiled a 158–154 win–loss record.

Young was born in 1888 in Philadelphia. His father operated a grocery store in Philadelphia. In 1912, he drew attention after he compiled a .308 batting average in 357 at bats, scored 79 runs, stole 31 bases, and in 80 games at shortstop garnered 284 assists and 165 putouts with a .941 fielding percentage. Former major league shortstop and manager Arthur Irwin called Young as promising a young shortstop as he ever saw.

Young appeared in 160 games for Sacramento in 1913. Young announced his retirement, but changed his mind and returned to Sacramento in 1914. He appeared in 199 games in 1914, and his batting average rose to .275.

On August 12, 1914, Young was sold by Sacramento to the Detroit Tigers on the condition he would finish the 1914 season with Sacramento. Young remained as the Tigers' starting second baseman for seven seasons from 1915 to 1921. During the 1915 Tigers season, the club compiled a 100–54 for the second highest winning percentage (.649) in franchise history. Young appeared in 123 games for the 1915 Tigers, including 113 as the team's starting second baseman. He only managed to compile a .243 batting average in 1915, but he demonstrated a sharp batting eye and drew 53 bases on balls to boost his on base percentage to .339. He led the American League's second basemen with 32 errors, but showed promise in also ranking highly among the league second basemen with 371 assists (fourth), a 5.46 range factor per nine innings (fourth), 233 putouts (fifth), 44 double plays turned (fifth), and a .950 fielding percentage (fifth).</blockquote>
Young's erratic throwing led to his removal from the lineup in the latter part of the 1921 season. During the off season, Young stated than an x ray had revealed that he had been playing with a "dislocated vertebrae" for which he was undergoing treatment in Philadelphia.

On April 3, 1922, the Tigers placed Young on waivers. Ty Cobb said at the time that he doubted whether Young would regain his old form. On April 7, he was claimed off waivers by Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics. This gave Young the opportunity to play for his home town team. Young appeared in 125 games for the 1922 Athletics, including 116 games as the team's starting second baseman. Young's arrival required the Athletics' second baseman, Jimmy Dykes, to move to third base for the 1922 season. Young compiled a .223 batting average and .309 on base percentage in 1923. Young spent only one season with the Athletics, appearing in his last major league game on September 29, 1922. At the time of his release, one writer noted it marked "the passing of one of the smartest men in the game," an individual who "played 'heads up' baseball, and in his prime was considered one of the best second sackers in the majors." He reportedly signed a contract in March 1923 with a club in Chester, Pennsylvania. In a game played on June 30, 1923, Young had five hits for Chester, matching the hit total of the entire opposing team. He was reportedly "instrumental" in helping Chester win a pennant in 1923.

After his career as a professional baseball player, Young coached college baseball in his hometown of Philadelphia. On March 1, 1932, he was hired as the head coach of the Temple Owls baseball team. He remained the head coach at Temple for 11 seasons from 1932 to 1942. He compiled a 110–85 record at Temple. In November 1942, Young was granted a leave of absence from Temple to serve for the duration of World War II as an associate inspector of engineering machinery at a war plant. On March 23, 1948, Young was hired as the head coach of the Saint Joseph's Hawks baseball team. He coached at Saint Joseph's from 1948 to 1955. He compiled a 48–69 record in eight years at Saint Joseph's. He was inducted into the Saint Joseph's University Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.

In January 1965, Young died in Philadelphia after a brief illness at age 76. He was survived by his wife and a daughter.