Boston Red Sox’s great Carl Yastrzemski turns 73 today.

10 notes about Carl Yastrzemski

1. He was a left handed hitter. He threw right handed.He held his bat high up in the air. You would think that would have slowed his swing up but it didn’t. He had a quick bat. The only other player I can remember off the top of my head that had a stance like that was Milt May, who was a catcher in the 70’s for the Pirates and a couple other clubs.

2. Imagine this. Left field for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 until the mid 80’s [ except when Ted Williams was away at war} Ted Williams. Ted Williams retires and is replaced by Yaz. Late in his career Yaz moves to first base and is replaced by Jim Rice who is the left fielder until the mid-80’s. All 3 men are in the Hall of Fame. All 3 players only played with the Red Sox. Yaz was the best fielder. Ted the best hitter.

3. Yaz was the last player to win the Triple Crown in hitting. 1967- The Impossible Dream season for the Red Sox. Yaz carried the Red Sox in September and into the World Series where the Red Sox would lose to the Cardinals in 7 games.

4. In the 1978 playoff game with the Yankees. The Red Sox were 14 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees in mid-July. The Yankees got red hot. They caught the Red Sox. Tie for first at the end of the regular season. A one game playoff game at Fenway. This is the infamous Bucky F. Dent hits what looks like a routine fly ball….that sails over Yaz’s head and over the Green Monster game. Yaz would make the last out- a pop-up to third.

5. Yaz wasn’t a big man. 5.11.175 pounds. He ended his career with 452 home runs, 1844 RBI’s.  3419 career hits, and a lifetime average of .285. He won 3 batting titles in his career.

6. The longest tenured player in baseball history is Carl Yastrzemski- 23 years with the Boston Red Sox. His first season was at age 21 in 1961. His last season was 1983

7. Yaz grew up in Southhampton, New York. On Long Island. His father was a potato farmer. He played sandlot ball with his father and he always said his father was a better athlete than he was.

8. Yaz won 7 Gold Glove Awards and was an 18 time All-Star. He was the AL MVP in 1967 and the All-Star Game MVP in 1970.

9. Yaz played in the greatest World Series and the greatest baseball game I’ve ever seen. The World Series was the 1975 World Series where the Cincinnati Reds beat the Red Sox in 7 games. The series is out on DVD if you are too young to have seen it, find the DVD and watch the entire series. The greatest game I’ve ever seen was Game 6, the famous Carlton Fisk home run game which had so many plots and turns in it. In the two World Series Yaz played in-in 1967 and 1975 he played in 14 games, had 3 home runs, 9 rbi and a .352 average.

10. After Carl Yastrzemski’s last game, his ten record 3308th game. He ran around Fenway Park slapping hands with everyone in the front row. After 23 seasons he still didn’t want it to end. I think you could say that Carl Yastrzemski left it all on the field. He got everything out of his god given ability.