Today, the Kane County Chronicle continues "One for 25," an occasional series that examines the people and moments who paved the way for the Cougars' 25th anniversary season in 2015. In this installment, we check in with Joel Youngblood, who managed the club in its second season, 1992.

GENEVA – Joel Youngblood totes much more than tutelage to his various stops as the Arizona Diamondbacks' outfield, bunting and baserunning coordinator.

The 63-year-old baseball lifer also sports an impressive recall from nearly four decades as a player and coach.

His lone season as a manager prompts Youngblood to conjure primitive images of Fifth Third Bank Ballpark, then known as Elfstrom Stadium. It was 1992, just the Cougars' second year of existence. These days, there's a lot more to behold, something Youngblood quickly has noticed during his visits this season.

"When I drove up, I was like, 'This doesn't ring a bell to me,' " Youngblood said. "It looked different. I was like, 'Oh my God.' "

With the Cougars now aligned with the D'backs as part of a two-year, Class-A, player-development contract, Youngblood already has made a pair of eye-opening trips to Fifth Third in 2015.

To visit with him during one of these ventures is to marvel yourself.

Sure, Youngblood sprays to all fields with anecdotes about his season in Kane County, then a Baltimore Orioles affiliate. But this also is a man who played with, for and against his unabashed idol, Pete Rose, and collected hits for separate teams against separate future Hall of Famers on the same day in different cities.

That feat transpired on Aug. 4, 1982, a decade before Youngblood's one and only managerial season.

"That cured me," Youngblood laughed, recalling managing.

"The thing about it is I realized it was a demanding job for organization, making sure everything was prepared before the players got here. So I was virtually spending all my time here. … But it was a lot of fun. … I tried it one year, and I didn't think it was where I wanted to continue my pursuit in this game."

Still, he reflects on his time in Geneva favorably.

In no particular order, Youngblood speaks about his penchant for early-season ejections, the way he enjoyed working alongside Cougars coaches Rich Dauer and Larry McCall and the novelty of having his teenage son, Jade, around the ballpark as a concessions and grounds crew employee.

"You know something," Youngblood said, "it was a great franchise then. ... I told Baltimore, I said, 'Don't ever leave this organization or this affiliate. It's great.' "

Kane County welcomed the Florida (now Miami) Marlins as a PDC partner shortly after Youngblood managed his final game. The Cougars since have groomed prospects from the Oakland A's, Kansas City Royals and Cubs organizations.

No stranger to movement himself during a five-team, 14-season major league career – not to mention that famed August 1982 whirlwind – Youngblood temporarily left baseball in the late 1990s.

Now in his eighth season with the Diamondbacks organization, Youngblood credits a sojourn to corporate America for sharpening his coaching efficiency. There was plenty of clubhouse and dugout introspection when he worked in the computer industry in California, but also new challenges and growth.

Thoughts of the good old days rarely stray from Youngblood's psyche.

The most enduring 24 hours of his playing career began at Wrigley Field, where Youngblood batted third and played center field for the New York Mets against Cubs right-hander Ferguson Jenkins.

He smacked a two-run single against Jenkins in the third inning of a Wednesday matinee. Shortly thereafter, Mets manager George Bamberger removed Youngblood from the game, informing him he'd been traded to the Montreal Expos, who were in Philadelphia that night to face the Phillies.

So began a remarkable rush that saw Youngblood scurry to the Mets' team hotel, pack his bag, hail a cab to O'Hare International Airport, realize he'd left the glove he'd used for 14 years at Wrigley, pick up the glove, say goodbye to the Mets once more and head to catch a 6:05 p.m. Central flight out of Chicago.

Upon landing in Philadelphia – his wife, Becky, now also was en route to Veterans Stadium from Connecticut – Youngblood hailed another cab to meet his new teammates. His Expos jersey already was waiting in the clubhouse, and Youngblood showed it off as a sixth-inning defensive replacement. In the Expos seventh, he singled against Phillies lefty Steve Carlton.

More than 30 years later, no player has matched Youngblood's accomplishment, something he credits to day baseball, an early trade, luck and drive.

"I think with today's players that tomorrow's good enough," Youngblood said.

Not so for Youngblood, long known for his urgency and versatlity. Nor Rose, the then-Phillies first baseman who greeted him once more after Youngblood's hit against Carlton.

Banned from baseball in 1989 for betting on games – including those involving his own team – Rose, baseball's all-time hits and games played leader, should be Hall of Fame-eligible, in Youngblood's eyes.

"What he did off the field, anybody could say he shouldn't have," Youngblood said. "Yeah, but there's a lot of things people shouldn't do. What he did on the field, I believe, will always stand true to his achievements and what he's accomplished in baseball."

Youngblood finished his career with 969 hits, some 3,287 less than Rose.

His baseball memories, however, are unquantifiable, and happily include a Cougars cameo that amounts to far more than "a stadium with trees and lots of land."

"I was totally impressed with the fan following of a young franchise," said Youngblood, who now lives in Arizona. "Oh, it has tremendous promise for a baseball community. No question."