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Joel Youngblood
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 72 of 1252 players
Joel Randolph Youngblood
Born: August 28, 1951 at Houston, Tex.
Throws: Right Bats: Right
Height: 5.11 Weight: 175

Joel Youngblood was the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup on August 28, 2009, May 8, 2013, September 1, 2018, November 21, 2019, and February 27, 2023.

First Mets game: June 24, 1977
Last Mets game: August 4, 1982

Share your memories of Joel Youngblood HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY: flushingflash That picture above is probably my all-time favorite Mets player photo. He could challenge Maz as the best- looking Met of the late '70s. Totally lost his hair by the time his playing career ended. Nobody was really sure where he belonged -- third base? right field? But he was a solid player and one I really liked. Let's not forget: he's the only player ever to get a hit for two teams on the same day. #1 Mets fan I think Joel Youngblood had the best arm ever on the Mets! He would throw a ball from RF to third base on a bounce; it was amazin! I remember watching one game (I think it was against Montreal) where he was running after a fly ball towards the fence and suddenly went through this door and disappeared! It was wild! Everyone was laughing. Does anyone remember this? Mike Tommy Helms, who won a batting crown in 1941 (or so) had a special bat that can measure the speed of a swing, and Helms (this was a one-day baseball camp at Shea during the '81 strike) told us that swinging about 100 mph is MLB standard and Youngblood could do it at 130+. Torre never liked him (or that's the way it seemed) and many fans believed that Mazzilli and Torre were conspiring against him. I also remember some fans DIDN'T want the '81 strike to end because then Youngblood would be the batting champ. Strange. The Happy Recap December 15, 2000 My brother once sent a baseball (wrapped in a wiffle ball box, with return postage, etc) to Joel with a note that read something along the lines of..."Dear Joel, You are my favorite player and the Mets are my favorite team. Please pass this ball around the clubhouse and have the team sign it." Well, much to his dismay, the ball never came back, but the kids on our street had a great time that summer coming up with the various scenarios as to what happened to the ball. Joel Youngblood contributed mightily to the end of our innocence. andy16 February 22, 2001 one bounce throw from right field corner on Pete Rose going to third.Pete Rose actually look back at him in disbelief........a EG March 18, 2001 Will always be remembered for getting hits with 2 different teams on the same day when the Mets traded him to the Expos. Mr. Sparkle April 19, 2001 How pathetic were the Mets in 81? Joel was their lone representative in the all-star game. How lame can you get? Mike July 29, 2001 I remember him as one of the best players on awful teams. I was roughly 11-14 during the darkest years. It seemed like my team never had a chance. But I thought Youngblood was such a star with his 14 homers and 76 rbi Mike August 3, 2001 Joel was a great guy. He send me numerous autographs whenever I wrote to him. We were even supposed to meet up for dinner once when he came to town with the Giants, but it got scratched at the last second. Growing up he was my favorite player, and living here in Mets/Yankees country, it was tough wearing my Youngblood Giants shirt. I recently bought a bat he used in a game and signed, it is one of my prized possesions. I can't remember too much of watching him play, I can just remember him being a really nice man. Lou C. August 14, 2001 Went to a game in 78 and saw Youngblood hit his first home run. Thought it was a big deal. Cathcart Furne August 31, 2001 In the late 70's my family had a cottage in Greene County NY. I was a big Mets fan, but my older brother didn't know Shea Stadium from Che Guavara. Well one day during hunting season, some guy walks onto our property, in bright orange hunting gear and carrying a rifle. My brother opens up the window, and yells, "GET OFF OUR PROPERTY!" The guy turns around, and it is Joel Youngblood! He says "Sorry, I'm Joel Youngblood and I followed a deer up into your woods. Do you mind if I stay and see if he comes out?" My brother yells back, having no idea who Joel is, "I don't care what Indian tribe you're from, get off our land." I was really pissed at my bro for a couple of years. Mike Heintz September 27, 2001 I am a huge Joel Youngblood fan. Right now I am looking for an address to mail a bat (his official game used bat) to have him autograph for me. I know this is a Mets site so forgive me as I am a Giants fan but Joel did play some formative years in San Francisco. He was one of the best pinch hitters I have ever witnessed, he always came through in the clutch. In 1987, Joel was sidelined during the playoffs against the Cardinals with a broken arm. I believe if he were able to pinch hit in a couple crucial situations the Giants could have won the series. There was no one on the bench who could do what he could as a pinch hitter. Another story is one game, after striking out, Joel threw his helmet toward the dougout and we all saw he was going bald and you could hear a gasp from the crowd as none of us had seen him topless before. It was funny to see all of us react so surprised to see his shiny top as many ballplayers loose their hair early, but he must have hidden it well. BIG MIKE November 15, 2001 To all Joel Youngblood fans...The Newark Bears on November 13, 2001, announced they have signed Joel Youngblood to manage their team in 2002. If you'd like to see him again the Bears open against the Atlantic City Surf on Friday, May 3rd, and will play on the 4th and 5th too. scott December 30, 2001 This past Christmas I had the pleasure of having Christmas dinner with Joel and his family and I have only great things to say about him. The Youngblood family has always been friends of my family but this is the first time I had the chance of meeting him and spending time with him(other then at the ball park.) and I have to say he is one of the nicest guys I've ever met. So all I can do now is wish him the best of luck with the new team and Joel, if you read this feel free to e-mail me back. rich edwards March 14, 2002 If you remember the famous Stearns-Parker collison at home plate, it was Youngblood who threw him out. Andy from Rego Park March 30, 2002 In 1980, when I was 15, my folks bought me a very basic super-8 movie camera. Of course I took it to the ballpark to film my favorite Met, Joel Youngblood. Incredibly, Youngblood crashes a home run while I'm filming. Somehow I had the steadyness to climb up on my seat (a field box... they weren't so hard to get in those days) so I could see over the crowd and film him rounding the bases. I even got a shot of Karl Ehrhardt holding up a sign saying "Blood Shot!" Priceless! clubhouse report April 20, 2002 An amazing trivia fact: The two hits Youngblood got in two different cities the day the Mets dealt him to the Expos, came against two future hall of fame pitchers: Fergie Jenkins of the Cubs and Steve Carlton of the Phillies. Larry Burns May 15, 2002 This guy was an All-Star? This is the lowest point in my time of being a Met fan. The team was awful, management did not care and the losses seemed to pile up. It was worse than 1962 because there was NO hope. The fact that the Mets tried to feature this utility player as a "star" was enough to make me hit the sauce hard. I always disliked him because of the futility he came to symbolize! Hans Moleman May 17, 2002 In 1981 he was the sole representative of the Mets to make the All star team. He ended up the season with only 143 at bats. So even if he injured himself during the all star game and never played again that season, he was still only a part time player before the all star game. Thank God I was drunk for most of 1981 and don't remember it all that much! STEVE B. May 22, 2002 Great arm. Warning track power! Louie G. July 4, 2002 The Mets were a particularly slow team when Joel was there - I vaguely remember Joel challenging Willie Montanez to have a race to determine the fastest Met at the time. I wore number 18 for a long time in a Staten Island softball league as I was usually relegated to right field. J August 1, 2002 Sometime during when Youngblood played for the Mets, I was crossing Parsons Boulevard at the corner of Northern Boulevard in Flushing when I saw 2 familiar- looking men in a convertible that was turning onto Northern. They were Craig Swan [driving] and Joel Youngblood. I screamed "Hey Swan" and got their attention. (They were stuck momentarily in the middle of the intersection while traffic flowed westbound on Parsons.] Swan waved at me brusquely, but I remember Youngblood smiled and waved very warmly. I was somewhere between 10 and 13 years old at the time. Bill V September 17, 2002 I have a vague memory of hearing Bob Murphy tell a story about Joel being a scrawny little kid, until he started adding iodine to his orange juice in high school. The story goes that he kind of blossomed after he started doing this. Does anyone else remember ever hearing this story, as weird as it sounds? Jonathan Stern November 21, 2002 During the years in which Youngblood was one of the Mets' best players, my dad had to resort to bribery to get my brother and I to go to Shea with him. A Catskills Mets fan January 18, 2003 I wrote to him in care of Shea once and got a really nice autographed photo. Did the same when he was with the Giants. I remember seeing him hosting a hunting show on TV once. Might have been when he was still with the Mets. Anyone else see this? I wonder where he is now? johnmn55 January 24, 2003 An example of what a bad manager Joe Torre was when he was with the Mets. When Youngblood was hitting .350 playing part time in '81, Torre said he couldn't put him in the starting line up because his versitility made him too valuable in late inning switches. Joe "Metsie" Feltman April 30, 2003 Had some potential but would get injured all the time. Typical, late 70's Met, hit about .260-.280, 5- 12 homers and 40 RBI's. Still better than we got now with Cedeno, Burnitz, etc. But that picture...he looks like Michael (Thriller) Jackson! Now as bald as a bowling ball. Thor July 22, 2003 The thing I remember most about Joel Youngblood was that he'd always start his "winter hunting" beard as the Mets season was winding down. As a kid who only knew the blacktop of the city, I thought it was pretty manly stuff, envisioning Joel Youngblood out in the snow-covered Little House on the Prairie boonies, battling a grizzly bear with a Bowie knife or something. He was also one of the nicer guys back then, always obliging for an autograph or photo. He even put a smiley face in the O in Joel. Joe Figliola July 23, 2003 He holds what may be the longest-standing JF scorebook record that is not shared with others... most triples in one season (four in 1978). Can you believe that? One would think that I got lucky scoring lots of three-baggers with the likes of Mookie, Lance Johnson, and Jeff Kent . But it hasn't worked out that way. In fact, I don't think I've scored 100 Mets triples in the more than 30 years of scoring. Anyway, I do recall the evolution of the Youngblood bear throughout the late summers of '78, '79, and '80. He kind of looked homeless with it. And speaking of lost, I don't think Clueless Torre knew where to play him . One day, it was right field; next day, second base. He was probably best suited for the outfield, as he had a decent arm. Feat Fan April 12, 2004 A proven performer and a fine defensive fly-chaser, Joel Youngblood had a fine major league career that spanned from 1976-1989. He was a second round draft- pick in June of 1970 and after just 57 at-bats for Cincinnati in 1976, the 6 foot, 180 pound outfielder was traded to the Cardinals before the '77 season. Youngblood was traded to the Mets in 1978 and became of one the Mets' fans favorites. In 1979 he hit .275, had a .349 on-base-percentage, slugged a career-best 37 doubles, lined 5 triples and 16 homers, scored a career-best 90 runs and stole a career-best 18 bases in 158 games. He was selected to the National League All-Star team in 1981 and after being nagged by injures in late-'81 and '82 he was traded to the San Francisco Giants. In '83 with the Giants, Youngblood hit a career- best .292, hit 20 doubles, belted a career-best 17 home runs, scored 59 runs, and collected 53 RBIs in 124 games. Joel Youngblood career stats: .265 BA, 969 hits in 1408 Games, 180Ds, 23Ts, 80Hr, 453 Runs, 422 RBIs, 332 Walks, 589Ks in 3,659 at-bats and stole 60 bases. Kiwiwriter June 22, 2004 Boy, I'll never forget the 1981 All-Star Game, with Joel Youngblood as the token Met. They had to dig deep to pick him. And he came up in the fourth inning as a pinch-hitter, and he was wearing an Atlanta Braves batting helmet. I guess the Mets didn't think he'd really come to bat, so they didn't send his helmet. I think he was leading the league in hitting by virtue of a spell on the disabled list and the baseball players' strike, but he had about 140 atbats that season, which made his presence bizarre, to say the least. During that strike, since 'Blood was on the DL, he could go to Shea Stadium every day and get his treatment and do his conditioning. He was not "on strike," since he couldn't play anyway. Marc C August 23, 2006 Hey FlushingFlash, you are correct! Joel was the first player to get a hit for two different teams on the same day, but to add to that, he did it in two different countries as well. {U.S.A / Mets and Canada / Expos} Charles Biggs October 19, 2007 I can not believe that no one remembers that Joel Youngblood was the last batter in the game that was fogged out. I was at the game and he hit a ball to the outfield and the other team could not see it. Being it was so late at night, they called the game. Witz September 16, 2008 I remember that fog game as well. I think it was Bill Robinson who "lost" the ball and I remember being pissed off that Joel stopped at 3b. If he had kept running the Mets win, but, as I recall, it was a tie game that had to be replayed from the start. I don't remember if the Mets ultimately won or lost, though. DavidC October 6, 2008 After coming across with a topic of Joel Youngblood, it occurs to me that during his playing days, I remember reading the back of his baseball card, that he named his dog, "Sangre Joven", which is "Youngblood" in Spanish. I wonder how the good old "Sangre Joven" is doing these days.. scott r December 20, 2008 His versatility may have hurt him. Always being moved from outfield to 3b. Would have been better being left alone in right field. Had a great arm, but in those days late 70's early 80's before Hubie Brooks came along we had nobody else for 3b. People like Roy Staiger, Elliot Maddox, Phil Mankowski. That's why Joel played 3b. Late 70's early 80's outfield of Henderson in left, Mazzilli in center and Youngblood in right would not have that bad. Nothing special but solid. Mitch45 September 25, 2009 Best feature was his great arm from right field. Bob Murphy once described it as a "howitzer". DIRK June 9, 2011 My cousin. Great player and has a wonderful mother. He can hit a golf ball also. Robin July 23, 2011 Loved Joel Youngblood when he played for the Mets. I can still see him running the bases. I used to call him "the fawn" because of his graceful base running! Was watching Jeopardy tonight and there was a contestant with the name of Zachary Youngblood; looked just like him. Any relation?

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