Ball from McCann's milestone HR tracked down by Young

NEW YORK -- Chris Young's job description is to play all three outfield positions and contribute at the plate, but with the ball from Brian McCann's 200th career homer somewhere out in the right-field stands, he volunteered to try his skills as a negotiator.

Young helped track down McCann's milestone souvenir on Sunday night, which the catcher slugged off Edward Mujica in the eighth inning of the Yankees' 14-4 victory over the Red Sox. McCann said that he was happy to be able to bring the meaningful ball home.

"Chris Young got it for me," McCann said. "He ran out there with a ball and got me to sign it, and asked the fan if he wanted to exchange. It was really nice of the fan to do it."

Tracking down the lucky customer wasn't as easy as McCann made it sound, according to Young, who said he spoke to six or seven fans in order to find the person who'd pocketed the homer.

"You feel like a secret agent, trying to go through multiple people to get to the source," Young said. "It was just a mad hustle. I tried to make it happen as fast as possible."

The homer was McCann's first of the season and his 24th as a member of the Yankees. Of those homers, 20 have come at Yankee Stadium, where the short porch in right field promises to help him continue to pile up the roundtrippers.

"It's something I didn't think I'd get to when I first started my career," McCann, the active leader in home runs by a catcher, said. "I'm happy about it."

McCann said that he knew he started the season with 199 homers, but didn't realize the milestone until he reached the dugout and started receiving congratulations from his teammates.

"You know, McCann is such a great guy and he's done so many great things in this game," Young said. "To reach a milestone like that is special. Any time you do something like that in this game, this game is so hard as it is. To be able to reach 200 home runs, that's special. I think he deserved the ball, and the fans were amazing to him."