Born: August 22, 1939, Southhampton, New York, USA
Early days. Father, a potato farmer- Carl Yastrzemski, Sr., mother- Hattie nee Skonieczny. Both his parents were of a Polish background, and young Carl was bilingual from an early age. He attended Bridgehampton High School, where he set numerous records in basketball, football and baseball. As a basketball player, he set the all-time individual conference scoring record of 628 points. As a baseball player, Yastrzemski hit .512 for his career at Bridgehampton High.
After graduating from high school in 1957, Yastrzemski went on to attend Notre Dame University with a scholarship to play both baseball and basketball. While still in his first year at Notre Dame, his seemingly limitless potential on the ballfield led him to sign a baseball contract with the Boston Red Sox.
Beginning of baseball career. He embarked on his baseball career, signing with the Red Sox organization, which sent him to the minor-league Raleigh Capitals in 1959, where he led the league with a .377 batting average, then moved him to the Minneapolis Millers for the post-season and the 1960 season.
Major League career. He began his major-league career in 1961. From the beginning, there was tremendous pressure on him to perform, as he succeeded to the position of Sox legend Ted Williams. He would prove to be a worthy successor at the plate, and a far superior defensive player. While his first two years were viewed as solid but unspectacular, he emerged as a rising star in 1963, winning the American League batting championship with a batting average of .321, and also leading the league in doubles and walks, finishing sixth in the Most Valuable Player voting. Yastrzemski enjoyed his best season in 1967, when he won the American League Triple Crown with a .326 batting average, 44 home runs and 121 RBI. He is the last hitter to have won the Triple Crown as of the 2006 season. He was voted Most Valuable Player almost unanimously. 1967 was the season of the "Impossible Dream" for the Red Sox, who rebounded from a ninth-place finish a year before to win the American League pennant on the last day of the season. With the Red Sox battling as part of a four-team pennant race, Yastrzemski collected 13 hits in 21 at bats over the last six games of the season, and finished a mere one game ahead of the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins. The Red Sox lost the World Series four games to three to the St. Louis Cardinals, losing three times to Bob Gibson. In that season, Yastrzemski also won the Hickock Belt as top professional athlete of the year and Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" Award. In 1968 Yastrzemski again won the batting championship. Because of the competitive advantages pitchers enjoyed between 1963 and 1968, Yastrzemski's .301 mark in "The Year of the Pitcher" is the lowest average of any batting champion in major league history; however, he was the only hitter in the American League to hit .300 for that season against such formidable pitching, as well as leading the league in on-base percentage and walks. He had many more strong seasons, consistently finishing in the top ten in the league in many statistical categories. In 1969, he hit the first of 2 straight 40 home run seasons as he led the Red Sox to third-place finishes that year and the next. Yaz got four hits and won the All-Star Game MVP in 1970, although the American League lost. His .329 batting average that season was his career high, but finished behind Alex Johnson for the 1970. In 1970 he led the league in slugging and on-base percentage, finishing third in home runs. He finished in the top 10 in batting, and top three in on base percentage and walks in 1973 and 1974, and led the league in runs scored in 1974. Yastrzemski and the Boston Red Sox would suffer another World Series loss in 1975, losing four games to three to the Cincinnati Reds. Yaz made the final out in Game 7 on a fly out to center, trailing by one run. Coincidentally, he also made the final out of the 1978 American League East division one-game playoff with a foul pop to third base. Earlier in the game, however, Yastrzemski began the scoring with a home run off left handed pitcher Ron Guidry, who was having a career year. It was the only homer the Cy Young Award winner allowed to a left-hander all season. In 1978 Yastrzemski was the second oldest player in baseball. 9/12/1983: Carl Yastrzemski hit a home run off Jim Palmer with one on and two out in the first inning of a game at Fenway Park. The game was rained out in the third inning. It would have been Yaz's 453rd and the last in his career.
Retirement. Yastrzemski retired in 1983. No player has had a longer career with only one team, 23 seasons. His final career statistics include 3,308 games played (second all-time), 646 doubles (seventh all-time), 452 home runs, 1,844 RBI (12th all-time), and a batting average of .285. He had 1,845 walks in his career, sixth all-time, and 1,157 extra base hits (ninth all-time). Yaz was the first player to ever collect over 3,000 hits and 400 home runs solely in the American League. Yaz was well-known for his batting stance, holding his bat exceptionally high, giving his swing a large, dramatic arc, and more power at the plate. However, in his later years, he adjusted his stance and held the bat lower. He was also known for modifying his batting helmets by enlarging the right ear hole (for comfort) and removing part of the right ear flap (for better vision of the ball as it was being pitched). An eighteen-time All-Star, Yastrzemski was an outstanding defensive player. He mastered the art of playing the tricky bounces that result from line drives hitting Fenway's Green Monster, and won seven Gold Glove Awards in his career. As one of the top players of his era, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, with the support of 94% of voters.In 1999, Yastrzemski ranked number 72 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. That same season, he was named a finalist to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. A record album of the Red Sox's 1967 season, aptly titled "The Impossible Dream", featured a song of praise for "The man they call Yaz", which included the line "Although 'Yastrzemski' is a lengthy name / It fits quite nicely in our Hall of Fame." The song can be heard, and the album cover can be seen, in the apartment of Ben Wrightman in the 2005 film Fever Pitch. Earlier in the film, Ben's girlfriend, Lindsay Meeks, not yet familiar with the triumphs and tribulations of the Red Sox, is unable to properly pronounce Yaz's name, and has to be corrected by the surrounding fans: "Ya-STREM-ski!" In his career with the Red Sox, he wore uniform number 8 from start to finish. The Red Sox retired this number after Yaz was elected to the Hall of Fame. He is currently a roving instructor with the Red Sox.
Source:
This article uses in 99% material from the Wikipedia article "Carl Yastrzemski" licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
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Yastrzemski's official website
Filmography
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