Your mother told you, nothing good happens after midnight

"I'm going to do everything I can to improve myself as a person and player."

Those are the words of Detroit Tigers leftfielder Delmon Young, who probably should begin his trip to probity by not getting drunk anymore and not getting arrested in the middle of the night in New York on hate crime charges.

Last Thursday night, Young and his teammates arrived in Gotham for a weekend series against the New York Yankees, who suck.  Did Young a) report directly to his hotel room at the Hilton  or  b) get drunk and get into a fracas with four men, all the while throwing anti-Semitic slurs at them and chasing one of them into the hotel lobby?

Of course, you picked b.  Baseball Commissioner Bud "Bud" Selig said, “Those associated with our game should meet the responsibilities and standards that stem from our game’s stature as a social institution. An incident like this cannot and will not be tolerated. I understand that Mr. Young is regretful, and it is my expectation that he will learn from this unfortunate episode.”   He suspended Young for seven games.

Then Young issued a statement, saying he “sincerely regretted” the incident that led to his arrest.  He apologized to people of the Tigers organization and said he took the matter “very seriously. ” He said he would “do everything I can to improve myself as a person and player.”

The seven-game suspension will cost Young $285,000 in salary, and he will have to participate in a treatment program.

Good pic for a bubblegum card

When he was a minor leaguer, Young, a member of the AAA Durham Bulls,  chose to register his disagreement over a called third strike by throwing his bat at the umpire.   He was suspended 50 games for that one.  The year before, playing for the Montgomery Biscuits (no I didn't make that up) he bumped an ump and missed three games.

Now he's D&D (drunk and disorderly) in the middle of a Manhattan night.  Maybe it was a three-Manhattan night.  And besides the drunkenness, he's out there hitting people who were giving alms to a homeless guy and shouting anti-Jewish epithets at them.

I don't know; maybe playing baseball has not done much for his anger issues.  I would like to see the Commissioner require Young to spend some time in a synagogue and in a homeless shelter, getting to know some people he clearly does not understand.