I wanted the info handed to me. But Eric Young had another idea.
The year was 2000, and Young was the Cubs’ sparkplug, a second baseman built like a fullback who would produce a season of 40 doubles and 54 steals.
Young told me he had leverage after the season, but I didn’t understand why.
“Think,” he would say. “Think.”
What I didn’t know was this fairly obscure rule: A player with five or more years of major-league service traded in the middle of a multiyear contract could require his new team either to trade him or let him go free after the season.
By the time I figured this out, Young was off to Milwaukee.
“You remember that?” Young asked Friday from the visiting clubhouse at Wrigley Field.
He is now the first base coach for the Rockies, with whom he spent the formative seasons of his 15-year career.
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Young was touched to hear that Cubs fans remember him, with one hollering: “I was a little kid when you were playing.”
“You make me feel like I’m old,” he shot back.
He’s not forever Young but still youthful at 49.
The New Jersey native did some work for ESPN after retiring, serving as an analyst for “Baseball Tonight.” He’s in his third season coaching with the Rockies and has the itch to be a big-league manager.
His aim?
“To lead, to manage, to communicate with the players of today, to challenge them,” he said. “My past experiences … (Don) Baylor, (Bruce) Bochy, Buck Showalter, (Tommy) Lasorda, Ned Yost. Picked up a little from each one. I always felt like I was some type of leader, I just didn’t know quite which one it was. Many people would probably say a vocal one.”
Young laughed. Yes, he had plenty of bark. And East Coast bluntness.
He remains tight with his Cubs double-play partner Ricky Gutierrez, whom he said is “chilling” in the Miami area.
“Ricky is my boy,” Young said. “He eventually wants back in. He told me if I ever get a manager’s job to come get him. I said: ‘You need to get in some systems. Get some experience. I can’t just throw you in there.'”
The Rockies drubbed the Cubs on Friday, benefiting from four errors in a 6-1 victory.
“I think that team is solid all-around,” he said. “They have it all — speed, power, defense, pitching. I guess we just caught ’em on an off day.”
He has yet to see the Cubs’ spacious new clubhouse and doubts it will translate to actual extra victories this season. But he sees a positive long-term effect.
“The atmosphere it creates among your players, getting more personal space, that’s big-time,” he said. “And when you’re trying to get free agents, that will help tremendously. They’ll come to Chicago and be smiling from cheek to cheek. Before you get on that flight, you’re going to sign that contract. It’s a great tool.”
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein