Every major league baseball team has their own Mount
Rushmore; their most iconic players from respective franchise histories. The
Boston Red Sox are no exception, and having been in existence for more than a
century, have as impressive a group as anyone. This include Hall-of-Fame
outfielder Carl
Yastrzemski, better known to fans simply as “Yaz.” Although his career has
been much discussed, here are some things that you may not know.
-Best remembered for playing left field in front of the
famous Green Monster for most of his career, Yastrzemski also played the other
outfield positions and some first base (especially at the end of his career).
What many may not recall is that he also played a little third base, appearing
in 33 career games at the hot corner. 31 of those came in 1973 when he was 33
years old and filling
in for injured teammate Rico
Petrocelli. His 12 errors were convincing proof that it was an experiment
not worth extending.
-A career .285 hitter with an .847 OPS over 23 seasons, the
left-handed hitter had significant platoon splits during his career. He tuned
up right-handed pitching with a .299 batting average and .891 OPS, while
posting a rather pedestrian .244/.692 split versus southpaws.
-His first major league hit was a single
to right field off the Kansas City Athletics’ Ray Herbert.
He quickly negated that thrill by getting thrown out trying to steal second
base, thus ending the inning.
-His final major league hit was an infield
single down the third base line against Bud Anderson
and the Cleveland Indians on October 2, 1983.
-His first
major league home run was a two-run blast to the opposite field on May 9,
1961 against Jerry Casale
and the Los Angeles Angels.
-His 452nd and final
home run was a two-run job off Rick
Sutcliffe and the Indians on September 10, 1983.
-Playing for so long meant spanning multiple generations.
When Yaz first broke in, his oldest teammate was first baseman Vic Wertz,
who had debuted in the majors in 1947. During Yaz’s last season in 1983,
one of his teammates was Wade Boggs,
who went on to play until 1999.
-The most home runs Yaz hit against any one pitcher were the
seven each he parked against Mickey
Lolich, Joe Coleman
and Pat
Dobson.
- With the three pitchers mentioned in the previous
paragraph all spending at least a portion of their career with the Detroit
Tigers, it’s not surprising that the team Yaz took deep the most was… the
Tigers! His 65 homers against them and their formerly inviting right field
porch were 13 more than he hit against the New York Yankees.
-Yaz wore out plenty of pitchers over the years but there
were a few hurlers who got the best of him. The one who faced in more at bats
without giving up a hit was right-hander Roger Nelson,
who yielded but a solitary walk in the 17 times he faced off against the
Hall-of Famer.
-The Red Sox had winning seasons in 16 of Yastrzemski’s 23
years as a player.
-Only four players (Pete Rose,
Barry
Bonds, Ty
Cobb and Rickey
Henderson) reached base more often than the 5,304 times Yaz did in his
career
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Andrew, I read your recent, wonderful article on Yaz. When he hit his first homer in 1961 vs. the Angels, they were known as the Los Angeles Angels, not the California Angels.
ReplyDeleteRight you are! Thanks for reading!
DeleteDid you know that Yaz was the only player in American League history to lead the league in hits and walks in the same season (1963)?
ReplyDelete