Yaz!

Baseball Quest

2008-09-30T12:52:00.002-04:00

Baseball players battling each other with magic? You got to be kidding!

And Yaz is one of the guys you have to defeat to win!

Cecil Cooper

2008-08-20T16:09:00.002-04:00

Coop comments.

MILWAUKEE -- The news that Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski underwent triple bypass surgery Tuesday night was a shock to baseball figures around the country, including Astros manager Cecil Cooper, who played with "Yaz" in Boston for six years from 1971-76 ...

"Tremendous competitor," Cooper said of Yastrzemski. "I liken that to a [Craig] Biggio kind of character. He played hard every day -- was very, very competitive. He'd dial up the intensity when he needed to. And a good guy -- you hate for him to be going through what he's going through."

Triple Bypass

2008-08-20T16:05:00.001-04:00

Yaz starting down the road to recovery.

BALTIMORE - One day after being taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with pain and tightness in his chest, Red Sox [team stats] great Carl Yastrzemski underwent successful triple bypass surgery last night, the player’s longtime spokesman said.

According to Dick Gordon, Yastrzemski, who turns 69 Friday, made it through the estimated six-hour procedure -- with two hours of prep time -- without any apparent difficulty and completed surgery shortly after 8 p.m. Gordon did not provide a timetable for Yastrzemski’s recovery, but expressed relief and thanks on behalf of the slugger’s family for the prayers and support.

“Everything’s fine. He had a triple bypass and he’s fine,” Gordon said. “He’s in recovery right now. ”

“He didn’t have a heart attack,” Gordon continued. “He came here (Monday) and, after some tests and some evaluations, it was determined he needed bypass surgery.”

Yaz in Hospital

2008-08-19T15:37:00.001-04:00

Get better soon.

BOSTON (AP) — Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, the last player to hit for the Triple Crown, was hospitalized for tests Tuesday after experiencing chest pains. The Boston Red Sox confirmed the 68-year-old Yastrzemski was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital and was undergoing evaluation and testing. The team said no further information was immediately available on its longtime great.

Asked whether it was serious, Yastrzemski spokesman Dick Gordon said: "Any time you are in the hospital, it's got to be pretty serious."

A Thought for the Day from Yaz

2008-06-05T11:35:00.001-04:00

"I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning. I think about it all day and I dream about it at night. The only time I don't think about it is when I'm playing it."

Triple Crown Threats

2008-06-03T13:43:00.001-04:00

My money's on Big Brown.

It's pretty much a three-horse race: Josh Hamilton, Lance Berkman and Big Brown.

Both Hamilton (Rangers) and Berkman (Astros) have more than piqued our interest, although there's still a lot of baseball to play.

Can one of them, please, put a merciful end to major-league baseball's four-decade Triple Crown drought?

The last player to lead his league in batting average, home runs and RBI is now pushing 70. Carl Yastrzemski capped Boston's "Impossible Dream" season of 1967 with baseball's elusive trifecta.

Hamilton -- current Sports Illustrated cover boy -- ranks first in RBI, first in HRs and second in batting average among American League hitters. Houston's Berkman, meanwhile, is tattooing NL pitching at the tune of second in home runs, second in batting average and third in RBI. Big Brown has the easier trip. He needs only to win Saturday's Belmont Stakes to become thoroughbred racing's first Triple Crown winner in 30 years.

Carroll Hardy

2008-06-02T11:07:00.000-04:00

In 1961, batting for LF Carl Yastrzemski, Red Sox pinch hitter Carroll Hardy bunted for a single in the eighth inning of a 7-6 loss to the Yankees. Hardy would be the only player to pinch-hit for both Captain Carl and Ted Williams.

Spelling Lesson

2008-05-28T11:55:00.002-04:00

From the always entertaining Surviving Grady.

(Hey Red and Denton, when do I get my link?)

Monbo

2008-05-27T11:33:00.004-04:00

Nice story from the Boston Globe on sixties Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette who is battling leukemia.

[Monbouquette] also motivated an immature, young Yaz, who wasn't running out ground balls and was pouting in the outfield. "He made the comment that 'if that ball goes in the corner, I'm not going to hustle after it.' I said, 'If you don't hustle, you better make sure you have your head up when you come in after the inning's over.' I chased him down and said to him, 'Let me tell you something, pal, they've run better players than you out of this town.' I was the senior guy there. I felt it was my duty to do that. He was mad for a while . . . but, boy, in '67, he couldn't do anything wrong. "

Get well, Monbo!

American Icons

2008-03-06T13:05:00.001-05:00

Carl Yastrzemski has just taken a mighty swing, and he is peering skyward and forward, willing the ball to remain airborne until it sails over the right field fence. His long legs are twisted almost beyond the laws of physics, his red-and-white socks matching the patriotic bunting on the railing behind him.

The image of Boston's beloved Yaz is not a commemorative photo from one of his finest games, but a painting by Lance Richbourg, a veteran painter who combines a well-honed artistic vision with a legacy as the son of a major leaguer.

The painting is featured in Richbourg's show "American Icons," on exhibit through April 12 at the New England College Gallery in Henniker - perfectly timed for those who find themselves mildly obsessed even with news from spring training and its promise of Opening Day and an end to an endless winter.

The Most Underrated Player of the Seventies

2008-03-03T14:08:00.005-05:00

Cardboard Gods thinks it might be Reggie Smith.

He was my favorite Red Sox after Yaz! I was not happy at all when he got dealt to the Cardinals.

1. He was an outstanding hitter. He hit for power and average and drew a lot of walks, posting lifetime batting/on-base/slugging averages of .287/.366/.489, strong numbers that are even stronger when you consider that he spent the prime of his career in pitcher’s ballparks, and all of his career during a pitcher-friendly era. His lifetime OPS+ was 137, better than the career marks not only of Singleton, Simmons, and Murcer, but also of Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, and Carl Yastrzemski, to name four Hall of Famers from Reggie Smith's era.

2. He was an outstanding fielder. Murcer also gets points in this area, and though Simmons wasn’t considered a strong defensive catcher he rates special mention for manning that demanding and vital defensive position while still anchoring his team’s offense. The slow-footed Singleton, on the other hand, could not compare to Smith as a fielder. Smith was a Gold Glove-winning centerfielder early in his career, and was an excellent rightfielder throughout his prime. Singleton is very close to Smith as a hitter, and you could argue that he has an edge in offensive contribution to his team simply because he was able to appear in more of his team’s games than Smith, who often struggled with injuries. But Smith’s fielding, in my mind, at least brings him even with Singleton as a player.

Keen Eye

2008-02-28T14:40:00.002-05:00

For much of last season, the left-handed hitting Varitek and the right-handed hitting Varitek were separate entities. It wasn’t out of the ordinary, but simply the all-too-typical world of a switch hitter.

“I was coming close, but mirror images aren’t necessarily realistic,” the Red Sox [team stats] captain said yesterday before taking the field for the team’s final spring training workout at the minor league facility. “I have to treat them like two different human beings. You can talk to one one way, and you can’t talk to the other the same way.”

The problem for Varitek is that for much of last year the two sides weren’t on speaking terms. From the right side he hit .264, compared to .252 from the left. For his career he is 24 points better from the right side.

...

The realization that exact approaches from both sides might not be a possibility first came up early in his career under former Sox hitting coach Rick Down. It was reinforced through the talks and tutelage from ex-Sox third base coach Dale Sveum.

But last year, starting in spring training, the two sides had grown increasingly apart.

“(Carl Yastrzemski) said to me last spring, ‘What’s wrong with your swing, you look like a robot?’ ” Varitek said. “There’s not much more of a keener eye than Yaz, so there must have been something.

The Bargain of 1971

2008-02-17T17:55:00.004-05:00

Yaz made in a year about what A-Rod makes in a week. Rip off!

Carl Yastrzemski became the highest-paid player in baseball history on this date in 1971. With AL-leading totals in runs, total bases, on-base and slugging in 1970, Yaz inked a three-year deal worth a total of $500,000.

The minimum MLB salary for the 2008 season, it should be noted, is $390,000.

Yaz at Flagler College

2008-01-31T13:16:00.000-05:00

Q&A courtesy of the Florida Times-Union.

Q: What has [Red Sox manager] Terry Francona done to make the difference with the team the past four years?

He's a ballplayers' manager. He rolls with everything and never gets upset. I think he brings a lot of calmness to the team and has done a tremendous job. Two World Series [titles] in four years ... how can you do any better?

Q: What's the recent success by the Red Sox meant to the fans?

After the first one, they kind expect it. I expect another one next year.

Q: What's the most difficult part of winning a Triple Crown, especially in this era?

Putting all three together is very tough. Winning the home runs and RBI [titles], that kind of happens. Mixing in the batting average is the most difficult part.

Q: What's your take on the Mitchell Report and the issue of performance-enhancing substances in baseball?

I think we just have to wait and see. In the minor leagues, they've been testing for quite a while, and I work with minor-league hitters, and I don't see any evidence of that with the kids in the minors. The whole thing has been kind of surprising, but let's just wait and see.

Q: How much did you work out and what kind of supplements, if anything, did you take during your career?

I took vitamins, sure. ... It was a different era. I used to work out, take two weeks off, work out some more during the winter, and if you were lucky, you only put on about three or four pounds before spring training.

Q: Do your records and those of other players in your era mean more, now that it has been discovered that so many of the top hitters in the game in recent years used performance-enhancing drugs?

Records are funny. A good friend of mine, Dwight Evans, worked hard for 20 years, and retired 28th on the [career] home run list. He's now in oblivion. I can't comprehend hitting 70, or even 60 home runs. When I hit 44, that was tremendous. Maybe if I had played in Yankee Stadium, I could see myself hitting 50 or 55 home runs, but 60 or 70? I can't comprehend that.

Roof Shot!

2008-01-21T11:09:00.000-05:00

Occasionally you'll hear a conversation from the row behind you at Fenway Park that goes like this:

"Hey Sully, did anyone ever hit a ball over those retired numbers out on the face of the right field roof?"

"Aw, shu-wah, Sully II, Jodge Brett did it twice, and ah cahse, Teddy Bahlgame used to do it about every utha night, pal."

And you think to yourself, "nobody could ever reach that roof. If anyone ever had, surely we would have heard about it from some real source."

A few months ago, though, I read something on-line about Carl Yastrzemski once hitting the facade of the right field roof.

This dude, who claims to have been there, said:

the Sox tore into the Yankees to set a three game record of sixteen homeruns. Sixteen. Fan-tastic! One of them a Yaz bomb down the right field line off the facade. To this day it’s the highest home run I’ve ever seen. Ever.

And someone on this board said:

Carl Yastrzemski is the only person to ever hit the grandstand facade in RF - the ball was still going up when it hit. He just missed becoming the first to ever hit one out of Fenway to right.

The first guy says it was a high fly. The second guy says it was still going up, which would mean the ball would've probably gone at least 700 feet, so I tend to think that's bullshit. In fact, I didn't believe either person, as, again, how could this fact have avoided me? I asked some other big Sox fans who are older than I am, and they'd never heard of this either.

Solve the mystery of whether Yaz ever really did hit a ball off the roof of Fenway with "A Red Sox Fan in Pinstripe Territory".

Devereaux Meadows

2008-01-07T15:20:00.000-05:00

A northeast Raleigh land grab could lead to the development of offices and shops on a downtown tract that was once known for the development of baseball players.

The city paid Jack Parker Corp. of New York $11.9 million for 39 acres off Raleigh Boulevard, northeast of the intersection of U.S. 1 and Interstate 440.

The land would be instrumental in freeing up another piece of dirt: the former site of the Devereaux Meadow ballpark, where area college and minor league players such as Carl Yastrzemski stopped on the way to big-league stardom.

That narrow 16.8-acre site runs along the western edge of Capital Boulevard to the northern edge of Peace Street. It's a few blocks east of downtown's bustling Glenwood South entertainment district.

In 1980, years after the last pitch had been thrown at Devereaux Meadow, the city moved its fleet of garbage trucks to the site. The trucks are still there, along with street plows and a maintenance garage.

Yaz played at Devereaux Meadows with the Raleigh Capitals of the Carolina League. They say he hit a ball out of the park and into traffic on Downtown Blvd. The field was torn down in 1979.

Pot Pie with Pesky

2008-01-03T13:00:00.000-05:00

Johnny Pesky can still remember his favorite dish from the original New Hampshire Baseball Dinner in Manchester, a winter tradition started in 1947 by Leo Cloutier, former New Hampshire Sunday News sports editor.

"Chicken pot pie, and it was delicious," Pesky said. "I used to go up there every year with (former Boston infielder) Eddie Pellagrini, and we had a great time."

The 88-year-old Pesky -- just call him Mr. Red Sox -- is the latest name on the guest list for the 2008 Granite State Baseball Dinner, hosted by the New Hampshire Fisher Cats on Jan. 11.

Pesky will join Cy Young Award winners Chris Carpenter and Pat Hentgen, along with Jim Rice, Rico Petrocelli, Rich Gedman and many others at the Manchester National Guard Armory, site of the happening dinner a half-century ago.

"We used to have 1,000 people in there. Fans in New Hampshire always think you're the greatest thing since sliced bread," Pesky said.

More than 600 tickets have been sold at $60 apiece -- and plenty of tickets are still available. Proceeds benefit the Fisher Cats Foundation and the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth.

Pesky, a shortstop for the 1946 American League champs, remembers attending the famous baseball dinner with Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Willie Mays and other greats. Vida Blue, Bob Feller, Carlton Fisk, Jackie Robinson and Pete Rose are just some of the names.

"You need a book to remember some of the guys who've been there through the years," Pesky said. "Leo really started something. He did a hell of a job."

Eight

2008-01-02T12:09:00.000-05:00

The number "8" has a rich heritage. Many choose it as their favorite numeral. Perhaps it's the elegant shape of the thing.

Eight wears a lot of meanings, some of them conflicting. It's a lucky number in China, but if you're "behind the eight ball" here, you're in trouble.

Because the figure eight is a loop, the number is sometimes used as a code word for crazy, as in loopy, and a "Section 8" in the army is a discharge for being mentally unfit. However, in Tarot, card No. 8 means "strength," and when laid down on its side, the number 8 represents "infinity" in the world of physics. Chess, with its eight pawns and eight-by-eight squares on the board, is widely regarded as the ultimate game.

The numeral 8 was originally written in ancient India in the shape of an H, which happens to be the eighth letter of our alphabet.

The word for eight comes from the Greek and Latin root "octo," prompting one to ask why then is October the tenth month of the year? It used to be the eighth month in the Roman calendar, but got moved when we changed to the Gregorian calendar. The root is otherwise in tact: An octagon has eight sides and octopus eight tentacles. An octave is more complicated.

Some other random "8" facts:

--We recognize eight planets, after Pluto was removed from that status in 2006.

--Eight is the atomic number for oxygen.

--A cup contains eight fluid ounces, a gallon eight pints and a mile eight furlongs.

--Yogi Berra, Cal Ripken, Carl Yastrzemski and Kobe Bryant all wore it.

As for the past, all kinds of exciting things happened in '08 years:

The New Year's ball first dropped in Times Square exactly 100 years ago. In 1808, the United States banned the importation of slaves, even though their emancipation would not take place for another 55 years. In 1708, Queen Anne becomes the last English monarch to veto an Act of Parliament. In 1608, Jamestown burned to the ground, a year after its founding. In 1508, Michelangelo began painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Beyond that, reliable dates are a little sketchy.

Dick Williams To The Hall of Fame

2008-01-01T12:30:00.000-05:00

Dick Williams, manager of the 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox, was one of five people elected by the Veterans Committee to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in balloting results announced yesterday.

Williams took those Red Sox to the World Series and later won two championships with the A's in the early 1970s.

Williams was considered one of the game's toughest managers, and while his stern approach wouldn't go over well in today's game, he seemed perfectly suited for the young '67 Sox. Carl Yastrzemski, who won the Triple Crown under Williams in 1967 but was benched and fined by him in 1969 for not running out a tapper to the mound, congratulated Williams in a statement released by the team.

"It was an honor to play for him," said Yastrzemski.

Williams remembered his days in Boston fondly.

"I had managed their Triple A team for two years at the top level and I got to come up and manage the big league team on a one-year contract the next year," he said. "We were 100-to-1 odds to win it.

"I had a Hall of Fame left fielder, and he was the last Triple Crown winner. I had Jim Lonborg and a lot of good extra players.

"I'm sure I made some people mad. I demanded perfection and I might have stepped on some toes, but I'm sure none of them turned away their World Series checks."

Hot Potato

2007-11-08T15:03:00.000-05:00

Byron Winslow, 9, of Presque Isle holds a 3-pound Russet potato that grew in the shape of a baseball mitt. The Maine Potato News said the oddly shaped spud was grown on a Caribou farm near where Boston Red Sox legend and Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski once grew potatoes with his uncle. Winslow says he's been a Red Sox fan "since I was 4 or 5." Maine Potato News photo

Swinging Hard

2007-10-25T11:31:00.000-04:00

Yaz gets the 2007 World Series off to a successful start!

Yaz was joined last night by 1967 Sox manager Dick Williams and 21 other members of the Impossible Dream team: Mike Andrews, Gary Bell, Dennis Bennett, Darrell Brandon, Galen Cisco, Hank Fischer, Russ Gibson, Dalton Jones, Bill Landis, Jim Landis, Jim Lonborg, Dave Morehead, Jerry Moses, Rico Petrocelli, Bill Rohr, Jose Santiago, Norm Siebern, Lee Stange, Jerry Stephenson, George Thomas and Gary Walewski. Richie Conigliaro, the brother of the late Tony Conigliaro, also took part in the pregame ceremony.

Many members of the 1967 team were also at Fenway Park for the home opener to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their American League title, the franchise’s first in 21 years.

“Not only did it bring the franchise back to life,” Yaz said of the 1967 team, “but I think it changed the whole attitude in the Red Sox’s organization. I think the organization became winners. I think after ’67, you expected to go out and win.”

Yaz thought the Sox would become a dynasty, but Tony Conigliaro got beaned, Lonborg tore up his knee skiing and Santiago popped out his elbow early the next season.

“You don’t replace players like that,” Yaz said.

Yaz compared Lonborg favorably with Josh Beckett, who started Game 1 last night.

The 1975 World Series is among the most famous in baseball history — especially for Carlton Fisk waving his game-winning home run in Game 6 fair, but Yaz thinks the 1967 World Series was just as memorable.

“I’d like to have seen Lonborg with one more day’s rest,” he said. “What a matchup that would have been between him and (Bob) Gibson.”

Yaz also wonders what would have happened if Jim Rice wasn’t hurt for the ’75 World Series.

“A lot of people forget that Rice didn’t play,” Yaz said. “A lot of people forget Conigliaro didn’t play in ’67.”

...

“This guy gave everything,” said Dwight Evans, Yaz’s former Red Sox teammate. “He wasn’t a man of big stature, but he had tremendous heart, tremendous drive. I played with him for 11 years and learned a lot from his just by his example. If someone asked me who was the best player I ever played with — it was Carl Yastrzemski.”

“The athlete is just bigger nowadays,” Yaz said. “Look at the shortstops in the ’60s and early ’70s, they’ll all Luis Aparicio-sized, and then the bigger shortstop came in with (Cal) Ripken.”

So how did he hit 452 home runs with such a slight build?

“Swung hard,” he said simply.

First Pitch

2007-10-24T09:26:00.000-04:00

Yaz will be on the mound tonight! (Weather permitting)

Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, the 1967 Triple Crown winner, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch tonight. John Williams will lead the Boston Pops in the playing of the national anthem.

Red Sox Fan Test

2007-10-08T14:57:00.000-04:00

How about a little trivia while we wait for the Yankees and Indians to sort it out?

Yazcar

2007-09-14T16:24:00.000-04:00

Meet Yaz' nephew Jeff, a mechanic for Kevin Harvick, Inc.

Jeff Yastrzemski landed at KHI a little under two months ago from Braun Racing -- and immediately learned that his new employer was a Yankees fan.

"I wear my Red Sox hat around the shop all the time, so he gives me a little bit of grief," Yastrzemski said, referring to Harvick. "The last series the Red Sox and Yankees had, we made a bet with each other. If the Red Sox win the series, he had to wear a Red Sox hat for a week and if the Yankees won, I would wear a Yankees hat for a week."

Ugh. Find another driver, Jeff!

YazTube

2007-09-07T10:12:00.000-04:00

Check out the throw he makes to cut the runner down at home at 2:35. Goosebumps.