Reprint of Sport magazine article about Dick Young

Those who knew him will certainly recognize him in this profile. It's a good introduction for those who never met him.

Short version: He was a force in his time, an absolute trailblazer. He was completely off the rails in his last 10 years, an irrational crank who pretty much hated everybody and everything.

http://thestacks.deadspin.com/dick-youngs-america-the-reactionary-who-changed-sp-862557756

 

Couldn't help but notice that the master plan DY had for himself and his wife -- retiring to Arizona once he left newspapering at age 69 -- never came to pass. He died in the saddle. Probably happy that way, but still, I've heard of too many people who look forward to a renewed life in retirement and get a year or less.

 

This gave me goosebumps:



Joe Trimble, Dick Young's colleague at the Daily News, is sitting at his typewriter in the press box at Yankee Stadium, staring at a blank piece of paper. An hour ago Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the World Series and now the press room downtown is freaking out—where's Joe Trimble's story? "I'm blank," Joe Trimble says to Dick Young in a cold-sweat panic. "I can't write a word." Dick Young calmly rolls a piece of paper in his own typewriter, types out a sentence, takes out the paper and hands it to Joe Trimble. "The imperfect man pitched a perfect game." Forty-five minutes later, Joe Trimble's story is finished, it's the best story of his career, he wins awards for that story—and Dick Young never says a word.

 

Agreed. That's an incredibly solid thing for anybody, but especially for a guy who was widely regarded as a hard ass.

 

The Village Voice parody column of Dick Young in hell which they also ran this week was really funny.

 

It made me wonder what the lead was on Dick Young's own story off that game.

 

Great point, Joe. It can't be that difficult to track down, I imagine.

 

My limited perception of Dick Young is that in his later years he was bitter with the changes in baseball and newspapers. His gesture after Larsen's perfect game likely came from the fact he wanted to help a colleague he respected.

Reminds me of the many times I'd joke to brighter stars in the biz: "Hey, whatever lead you reject, send 'em my way."

 

How many editions did the NY papers print each day back then? When would the first edition that included the no-hitter have been available? Sometime that evening? Earlier?

Curious because of the passage that said the newsroom was "freaking" because they didn't have a story one hour after the no-hitter was over, which would have been shortly after 4 p.m.

 

Recall a young sportswriter asking an older sportswriter, a number of years ago, how he felt about his career.

"The first 25 years were great," the older fellow said.

His paper, for whom he had been a workhorse for a long time, had changed editors and sports editors and the older guy had been shifted from high-profile stuff to small colleges and preps, GA work, vacation fill-in, etc. Had his skills diminished? No. Some new bosses wanted to put their "imprint" on the section. So they rearranged the furniture and hired a couple "young studs."

At least the suits in this industry, when they get out (by choice or pushed), often exit with those golden parachutes we hear about. Worker bees aren't usually that fortunate. Most are desperate just to keep the paychecks coming as long as possible, never mind their duties or role.

 

I don't know how many editions, but I used to pick up the bulldog around 10 pm to read on the ferry back to Staten Island in the mid-'70s.

I grew up reading the Daily News (and Post and Times) everyday in the '60s and '70s. As much of a trailblazer as he was (he visited the clubhouse!), Dick Young was a miserable, toxic scumbag who was wrong on just about everything. But I would always read him.