Accused anti-Semite Detroit Tigers star Delmon Young pleaded guilty in Manhattan yesterday in a random, drunken bias attack on a male Midtown tourist back in April.
The deal keeps the free-agent outfielder out of jail and will eventually leave him with no criminal record.
The $6.7 million-a-year player had lost $250,000 in salary after being suspended by Major League Baseball for the attack, a bizarre sidewalk beatdown during which he was heard shouting, “F–king Jews!”
Young, 27 — this year’s American League Championship Series MVP — has since spent months in counseling, according to defense lawyer Daniel Ollen.
“He has spent the last few months in counseling with Jewish leaders,” the lawyer said of Young.
“He has reached out to two rabbis in Detroit who have become his confidants.”
The rabbis wrote letters of support to the judge on Young’s behalf, Ollen said.
“Delmon has accepted responsibility for his actions,” the lawyer said.
In court, the slugger admitted he was guilty of misdemeanor aggravated harassment but did not admit to any specific details of the attack, which was partially caught on surveillance video but of which his lawyer has said he has no recollection.
The victim, a businessman from Schaumburg, Ill., was among a group of four tourists in town for a bachelor party and had been conversing with a panhandler — who was wearing a yarmulke and a Star of David — outside the Hilton hotel on Sixth Avenue, officials said.
Young was accused of throwing the businessman into a wall and tackling him while shouting, “F–king Jews!” before the scuffle was broken up.
Under terms of the deal, Young must complete 10 days of community service in New York and a one-day program of workshops at the New York Museum of Tolerance on East 42nd Street.
He’ll then return to Manhattan Criminal Court on May 7 and replead to second-degree harassment, a violation that will not leave him with a criminal record.
Despite walloping the Yankees out of the playoffs, the free agent Young is not expected to re-sign with Detroit this winter.
He batted .353 with two homers and six RBIs during the Tigers’ four-game sweep of the Bombers. But Tigers officials said last week they don’t expect to pursue Young, leaving him free to sign with any team in baseball.
“Defendants learn how their words and actions can have implications far beyond a single incident, and are taught about sensitivity and compassion,” Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance said of the program Young will attend.
The museum has partnered with the DA’s Hate Crimes Unit in creating interactive workshops, videos and guided discussions that are tailored to defendants convicted of bias and hate crimes, Vance said.