It Feels Great to Be This Young

“Dmitri!” barked Manager Tony La Russa. “Grab a bat.”

The son of a former Navy commander, Dmitri Dell Young, 23, said, “Yes, sir.”

And the dugout of the St. Louis Cardinals snapped to attention.

Because big Dmitri, the kid from Camarillo, had never been in a spot like this before.

Ron Gant rushed to the rookie’s side, giving tips on how to hit the Atlanta pitcher.

Ozzie Smith did the same.

Gary Gaetti tried, but said, “He was wandering around, looking for a stick. He didn’t hear me.”

Terry Pendleton said, “Swing the bat, big boy.”

The young Young listened to the wisdom of his teammates. He heard them say, “Don’t try to pull the ball.”

Then he tuned them out. He tried to concentrate.

Nothing like this had ever happened to Dmitri. Oh, sure, at 12, he played high school ball, a child prodigy. But this was the big-time, the National League championship series, Game 4.

It was the seventh inning Sunday night, Atlanta 3, St. Louis 0, with 56,764 Busch Stadium fans in a frenzy. Cardinals were perched on second and first base. A new pitcher, Greg McMichael, was being brought in by the Braves.

La Russa sent up Young to pinch-hit.

“He told me I would hit right-handed against [Denny] Neagle if he stayed in the game,” Young said. “La Russa was stuck with me, I guess.”

Not necessarily.

He could have used Ray Lankford, a left-handed batter who started Games 1, 2 and 3. But he didn’t. He could have used Smith, a switch-hitting wiz. But he didn’t. Lankford’s not feeling 100%. Ozzie’s not a slugger.

“With two outs, we needed an extra-base hit,” La Russa explained. “I just felt Dmitri could get it for us.”

Good strategy, except for one thing.

Dmitri had never--repeat, never--had an extra-base hit in the majors. Not one double, triple or homer in his 29 big-league at-bats.

In the minors, sure, the 240-pounder hit a ton. At Johnson City, at Springfield, at Louisville, he was huge. Twenty-seven triples alone.

But since becoming the fourth pick of the entire 1991 draft, at the tender age of 17, Young hadn’t done diddly-squat in the majors.

“One of our people at Louisville who saw him said he’s a bona-fide hitter,” La Russa said. “I remember he got a big hit for us against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. I knew he would give us a good at-bat.”

Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox also knew what to expect.

“Dead fastball hitter,” Cox said.

And?

“We throw him three straight changeups and a fastball, and he knocks the . . . out of it.”

Young drove the ball to the left-field wall. It fell just beyond Ryan Klesko’s reach.

And the Cardinals flew. John Mabry scored from second. Tom Pagnozzi ran home behind him. And into third base, with a headfirst triple, slid Dmitri Young, the previous owner of seven major-league hits . . . all singles.

Minutes later, Young scored on Royce Clayton’s infield tap . . . a Royce roller.

And then St. Louis took the game, 4-3, on Brian Jordan’s eighth-inning home run, as Young swung from the roof of the Cardinal dugout, doing pull-ups.

Missouri, the show-me state, had finally seen something.

Everybody has been waiting for Dmitri to do something like this. He was supposed to be a star by now, a super-powered first baseman.

Andy Benes, the starting pitcher Sunday, said of the eventual hero, “What can I say, the rookie came through. This kid hit .340 in Triple-A. If you’re hitting .340 in Triple-A, you must know what you’re doing.”

When he got called up to the majors Aug. 28, Young was hitting .333 and trying to win the American Assn. batting title. A Cardinal executive awoke him from a sound sleep to say, “You’ve been called up.”

“To what?” a groggy Young replied.

The former Rio Mesa High School record-breaker tried to call his father, Larry, now a pilot for Delta, with the good news. A self-described “military brat” who moved around a lot, Dmitri had just had a father-son argument over the phone, and now tried to call his dad back.

“He was out taking our mangy mutt to the vet,” Young recalled.

Ever since, he has waited for his chance.

Fame, it can be so sudden.

“Ever held a press conference before?” Dmitri was asked.

“No, I see them on television all the time.”

“Ever remember a hit this big?”

“I can’t look back past about 30 minutes ago,” he said.

Looking around at the TV camera lenses, Young shook his head and said, “This is amazing.” He said since he was a child, he had seen other people do memorable things in baseball. Things like this.

“Did you really play high school ball when you were 12?”

“Yes,” Young said. “In Montgomery, in Alabama.”

“What did you hit.”

“Five-sixty-four.”

Dmitri Young, looking back farther than 30 minutes, laughed at his own remark, then said, “No, really.”