I dedicate my season ranking to....
In the tradition begun by Jimmy Curran of Baseball, The Yankees and Life, I would like to dedicate my #4 ranking on the Latest Leader's List for the 2009 Regular Baseball Season to a great Red Sox player. But since it was a ranking for the whole season, I wanted to do a very special dedication. And in my mind, there is no one else I should dedicate my ranking to then my all time favorite Red Sox player...
Carl Yaztrzemski
The 1967 Boston Red Sox!
Carl Yaztrzemski
And hey - he wore #8 and 4 x 2 = 8! Yaz made his debut with the Red Sox on April 11, 1961 and played his entire 23-year career in Boston.
Yaz had the good "fortune" to follow Ted Williams in left field. And when he arrived, the Fenway faithful were none to kind. They thought of him as a "workaholic blue-collar player" who would never measure up to the mighty Teddy Ballgame. And then came the "The Impossible Dream"
http://www.fenwayoutlet.com/
Yaz had the good "fortune" to follow Ted Williams in left field. And when he arrived, the Fenway faithful were none to kind. They thought of him as a "workaholic blue-collar player" who would never measure up to the mighty Teddy Ballgame. And then came the "The Impossible Dream"
http://www.fenwayoutlet.com/
The 1967 Boston Red Sox!
That year Yaz won a place forever in the hearts of all Red Sox fans. Not only did he win the Triple Crown (only the third man to do it since Ted Williams - who did it twice) and the AL MVP award, but his performance down the stretch of the regular season was what made him a baseball legend. Over the last twelve games of the season - when 4 teams were still in the pennant race - he helped the Red Sox win 8 of those games by hitting 5 homeruns, 16 RBIs and his batting average over those games? An unbelievable .523! No, the Red Sox did not win the World Series that year, but we had found a left-fielder we could believe in.
In 1968 Yaz again won the batting title - hitting .301. What you ask? How could someone win the batting title hitting only .301? Well 1968 was the "Year of the Pitcher" - the pitching mound had yet to be lowered - and he was the ONLY batter it hit for over .300 take season. He also lead the league in on-base percentage and walks.
In 1969 he had his first of two straight 40 HR seasons. In 1970 he got four hits and won the MVP award at the All-Star Game and he had a career high .329 BA but he lost out on the batting title to Alex Johnson by less than .001! Yaz did lead the league in slugging and on-base percentage and he finished third in home runs.
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org
In 1969 he had his first of two straight 40 HR seasons. In 1970 he got four hits and won the MVP award at the All-Star Game and he had a career high .329 BA but he lost out on the batting title to Alex Johnson by less than .001! Yaz did lead the league in slugging and on-base percentage and he finished third in home runs.
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org
In the 1975 World Series against the "Big Red Machine" Yaz did make the last out in game 7, however earlier in the game, he began the scoring with a home run off left-handed pitcher Ron Guidry - the only homer the Cy Young winner allowed to a left-handed hitter the whole season. Yaz's career continued until 1983 - but when Jim Rice joined the team in 1974, Yaz realized that Rice was too valuable to have sitting on the bench, so Yaz went to management and said he would play first base so Rice could take over at left-field. Can you imagine a player doing that today?
So just how good was Carl Yastrzemski? At the time of his retirement, Yaz was the all-time American League leader in games played (3,308 - now second all time) and was the only American League player to amass 3,000 hits and 400 home runs (finishing with 3,419 and 452 respectively) and he had 1,844 RBIs. A seven-time Gold Glove winner, Yaz earned the honor of 18 All-Star Game appearances, and is generally considered one of the finest defensive left fielders of all-time. He is also the last player in the majors to win the triple crown. In 1989, with 94.63% of the vote, Yaz was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
So just how good was Carl Yastrzemski? At the time of his retirement, Yaz was the all-time American League leader in games played (3,308 - now second all time) and was the only American League player to amass 3,000 hits and 400 home runs (finishing with 3,419 and 452 respectively) and he had 1,844 RBIs. A seven-time Gold Glove winner, Yaz earned the honor of 18 All-Star Game appearances, and is generally considered one of the finest defensive left fielders of all-time. He is also the last player in the majors to win the triple crown. In 1989, with 94.63% of the vote, Yaz was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
I hope you have enjoyed my trip down memory lane. It is by learning about the great players of the past that we all become better fans.
Thank you again for stopping by, for reading and for commenting. What a great community we have here at MLBlogs!
Thank you again for stopping by, for reading and for commenting. What a great community we have here at MLBlogs!
great post! Thank you
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Great dedication to an equally great player who will never be forgotten in the annexes of Red Sox history. I can't help but think of the uncertainty that now plagues the present day Fenway left field, with Bay's contract still a no-go and the talent pool pretty shallow. Don't you wish we had a Rice, Yaz or Williams coming up through our ranks? I sure do.
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Excellent choice! Great post!
Ginny
http://watercooler.mlblogs.com
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Ted Williams has always been my favorite all-time Red Sox player and after Jim Rice got into the hall of fame he was #2. However that post really made me "understand" how important Yaz is to Red Sox Nation, thank you.
Bob, http://bostonsports.mlblogs.com
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Bob - those of us "of a certain age" who had the privilege to watch Yaz play know why he is considered one of the best! Yaz has been my favorite since I was a child and it didn't take a trip to the HOF to make him that. Look up his stats - you'll see that he is more then worthy of being a Red Sox - and baseball - legend.
Julia
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Congrats Julia! Thank you for sharing your wonderful post and GREAT dedication.
http://hyunyoung.mlblogs.com
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Congrats on your #4 ranking, and great post! I enjoy reading your history posts and learning about some of the great players.
~AZ
http://azinneck.mlblogs.com
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Yep. I'd say that Yaz was a pretty decent player. And by decent I mean "Legendary".
--Jeff
http://redstatebluestate.mlblogs.com/
http://mtrredstatebluestate.com
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My buddy Dick Williams skippered that '67 squad, he still talks about him today! I had the great opportunity of watching Yaz in Oakland (1972). He was without question one of the great players to grace the diamond.
Buz - http://buzblog.mlblogs.com/
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Julia,
Congrats on your #4 ranking! You do a wonderful job. I still say you got mice working for you.
.
I really appreciate you stopping by and thinking of me during a time when like Jeff, I wanted to crawl under a rock. Yes, I had wonderful times at Dodger Stadium this year. I am already looking forward to next year and planning a trip to Fenway Park with friends! More of our friends want to join us in AZ & SD next year.
.
I am enjoying the book (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) Julia. One of my friends at the stadium was reading it and since I told her the original was one of my favorites, she brought it to me once she finished. It follows the same story as the orignial P&P with the twist of the zombies. I do go ewwwww at some parts.
.
I am curious about this particular person in the book that is going thru the transformation little by little after being bitten by one of the "unmentionables", like they call the zombies in the book. Elizabeth and her sisters are highly skilled at combatting these unmentionables.
Emma
http://crzblue.mlblogs.com/
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Hey, Julia, great post. I wish I could have seen more of Yaz' career (Birth years are funny hurdles, though!). It would have been cool to have seen Yaz win the Triple Crown--I only saw the tail end of his career, when Jim Rice had already moved to LF. A highlight of the 07 WS, though, was Yaz' appearance with the 67 team before Game 1. TOO COOL!
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Great dedication and congrats on the ranking! It's getting harder and harder to come up with something for #4, huh? :)
http://kaybee.mlblogs.com
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Julia, I'm late commenting about this (no surprise there, considering how little time I've had to spend at my own blog, much less anyone else's lately)...but congratulations on that #4 season ranking! Well done!
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