Former Tiger Dmitri Young officially announced his retirement

Former Tiger Dmitri Young named vice president of Oakland County Cruisers

Published: Friday, March 19, 2010

By MARVIN GOODWIN
Of The Oakland Press

After 13 seasons in the major leagues, former Detroit Tiger Dmitri Young officially announced his retirement from the game he’s played since he was 8 years old on Thursday.

But his work is just getting started as the new vice-president and senior adviser-baseball operations for Diamond Heroes of Southeast Michigan, Inc., the owner of the Oakland County Cruisers independent professional baseball club.

Young was introduced Thursday among a gathering of team officials, baseball fans and youngsters at the Baseball Academy at Summit Place Mall in Waterford.

“It’s a great asset to have him on board with us,” said Cruisers manager Eric Coleman of Young.

“Our common goal is we want to win here. I can’t be more excited to have him as part of our organization.”

Young spent the last few years with the Washington Nationals. He was injured during the 2008 season and was on the spring training roster in 2009 when he injured his back. He was sent down to Double A for rehabilitation, but in May he tore his quadricep running out a ground ball. That injury ended his season.

“I was very unsure of what to do,” he said, “but I knew I wanted to do something in the realm of baseball.”

So Young’s business manager, Dave Bailey, and Rob Hilliard, chief executive officer of Diamond Heroes of Southeast Michigan, connected and a deal was struck to bring Young to the club.

“It was a good fit,” said Tim Birtsas, former major league player and executive vice president of business development for the Cruisers.

“When you have a career like he had, with the success he had ... the desire and love of the game ... and that’s when we realized what he was bringing to the table (and) also what he’s going to bring to the community.”

Young will have a part in scouting, management decisions and a number of other facets of the organization, including broadcasting.

“What you’re going to see is good old-fashioned baseball and people able to take their families to the baseball game,” said Young, who also signed autographs and answered questions from a number of youngsters in the gathering.

“I think he’s really cool,” said 13-year-old Dylan Holland of Waterford, “and he’s one of my favorite baseball players.”

With the Cruisers staff in place, the only matter left is a place to play, which Hilliard said should be coming soon.

According to Hilliard, the BroSente Group, a local real estate firm, has been in contact with parties in Long Beach, Calif., to help with financing. “They basically put us in touch with (them) ... and it’s now going through processing,” he said.

“We have a confidentiality agreement signed (but) within the next 15 days we expect to receive our terms and conditions sheet.”

Hilliard said the Cruisers season starts May 21 and, if everything falls into place, the team will play its first home game July 16 at the completed facility on the northwest side of the Summit Place Mall area. “We want it to be started no later than sometime in April,” Hilliard said.

The baseball facility, which will have artificial turf, is expected to hold from 2,500 to 3,900 spectators.

The engineering, utilities and enviromental studies have already been done.

The Cruisers, who compete in the Frontier League, played their home games at Eastern Michigan University last year.

Carl Solden, Waterford Township supervisor, looks forward to when the team begins play in Waterford.

“This area is a sports area that really supports its sports teams,” he said.

Contact Marvin Goodwin at marvin.goodwin@oakpress.com.