A week after being arrested and accused of yelling anti-Semitic epithets in New York, an apologetic Delmon Young is trying to make amends.
“I’m sorry to all the fans, the Tigers, my teammates and everybody out there, but I just want everyone to know that I am not anti-Semitic,” the Detroit outfielder said. “I wasn’t raised that way. I came from a good family and we weren’t taught any of that.”
Young spoke to reporters in the dugout before Friday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox.
He was reinstated earlier in the day from the restricted list following a seven-day suspension, but Young was not in the starting lineup. Manager Jim Leyland said he likely will use him at designated hitter over the weekend.
Young had been forced to sit out by Major League Baseball since police say he yelled anti-Semitic epithets during a late-night, drunken tussle before he was arrested at a New York hotel the morning of April 27.
Young said Friday he couldn’t talk about anything “case related” but he says he’s getting treatment in MLB’s alcohol program.
“I put myself in a bad situation, and I have no one to blame but myself,” he said. “I hope that going through the treatment program will get all the help I need to come back and be a great teammate and a successful baseball player in the Tigers’ organization.”
SHORT HOPS
All-time home run leader Barry Bonds asked a federal appeals court to toss out his felony obstruction conviction, arguing it was based on his rambling – but truthful – answer to a grand jury question about whether his trainer ever provided him with an injectable substance. … Josh Hamilton returned to the Rangers’ lineup after missing three games with a back injury. … Ryan Braun was out of the Brewers lineup in San Francisco, two days after the reigning NL MVP left a game at San Diego in the sixth inning with a sore right Achilles tendon. … Injured Yankees closer Mariano Rivera vowed he will return by 2013. … The White Sox are moving Chris Sale back to the bullpen to be the team’s closer. The left-hander was initially set to make his sixth start of the season Sunday at Detroit, but the team says right-hander Dylan Axelrod will take his spot in the rotation that day. … After watching Carlos Marmol blow another ninth-inning lead, Cubs manager Dale Sveum told the erratic right-hander he was removing him from the closer’s role. … The baseball that rolled through the legs of Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series was sold at auction for $418,250. … Lillian Musial, the wife of Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial, died at the age of 91. The team said she died Thursday.
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