He played all or parts of 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left fielder, first baseman, and designated hitter, for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, and Washington Nationals from 1996 through 2008.
In 1994, a Cardinals farm director told the Los Angeles Times that the organization worried he might "eat himself out a major league career."
Eight days later, he was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the expansion draft, then traded back to the Reds for Mike Kelly.
"[7] On April 4, 2005, Young joined George Bell and Tuffy Rhodes as the only players to hit three home runs on Opening Day in Detroit's 11–2 win over the visiting Kansas City Royals.
Young appeared at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s Survivor Series 2005 in an interview segment with Edge and Lita.
[10] Young subsequently voluntarily spent 30 days in a rehabilitation facility, Promises Malibu, and three weeks working out with minor league teams.
On June 30, 2006, Young revealed that he had been battling several illnesses that resulted in him self-medicating with alcohol,[12] which limited his physical fitness and kept him from appearing in all but a small fraction of Tigers games during the season.
He made a statement to the press in which he asserted that he had been making progress overcoming it with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, whose logo has been tattooed on his hand as a gesture of thanks.
He returned to action on July 21, 2006, versus the Oakland Athletics, starting at designated hitter and ending the game with two hits and 2 runs batted in during the Tigers' 7–4 win.
Before the game started, FSN Detroit aired a video of Young apologizing to the fans and saying how he will continue to struggle against alcohol and drugs for the rest of his life.
On September 6, 2006, with less than a month to go in their American League Championship season, the Tigers gave Young his unconditional release in a move that surprised both teammates and fans alike.
[13] The day after Thanksgiving, an ambulance took him to a hospital, where he endured a three-day stay in the intensive care unit as his doctors diagnosed diabetes.
[18] In 2002, Tigers teammate Robert Fick introduced Young to Dave Bailey, a memorabilia collector, and the two eventually amassed perhaps the greatest collection of rookie cards in the world.
[citation needed] In 2012, Young put nearly 500 of the mint condition rookie cards up for auction with plans to use the proceeds to open a baseball school and nonprofit foundation in Ventura County, California.
[20] His 1955 Topps Roberto Clemente card fetched the highest price, setting a post-World War II record by selling for $432,690 (equivalent to $574,244 in 2023).
[26] Dmitri and Delmon's father, Larry Young, from Mississippi, was one of the United States Navy's first African American F-14 fighter pilots.