Red Sox Hall of Fame Legend Carl Yastrzemski

How hard is it to succeed a legend? How do you follow in the footsteps of Mozart, or Michelangelo, or Shakespeare? In sports, one of the hardest things to do is to replace a legend, especially one whose deeds are embedded in the lore of your team. In Boston, Carl Yastrzemski had the task of succeeding the greatest Red Sox player who ever lived, Ted Williams.

As Bill Nowlin writes at the top of his SABR Bio about the Splendid Splinter, “any argument as to the greatest hitter of all time always involves Ted Williams. It’s an argument that can never be definitively answered, but that it always involves Williams says a lot.”

From 1939-1960, interrupted twice by his military service, Williams delighted Red Sox fans with his hitting ability that spoke to genius. Despite losing three prime years to World War II and another in 1952 due to the Korean War, Williams hit 521 home runs while posting a slash line of a .344 BA, .482 OBP (best ever in MLB), and .634 SLG.

This is the legend that Carl Yastrzemski had to replace. On September 28th, 1960, in his final MLB at bat, Ted Williams hit a home run. Six months later, the 21-year-old rookie Yastrzemski was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the Sox’ Opening Day starter in left field.

“It is inevitable that Yastrzemski will be compared to Williams. Where Williams wore No. 9 for two decades, the Boston management has pointedly given Yastrzemski No. 8.” 

— Walter Bingham, Sports Illustrated  (April 3, 1961)

Yaz, like Williams, was a left-handed hitter who threw the ball right-handed. Like Williams, he spent his entire career in Boston, most of it in left field in front of the Green Monster. And like Williams, he was a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee six years after he retired.

Cooperstown Cred: Carl Yastrzemki (LF)

• Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989 (94.6% of the vote)
• Boston Red Sox (1961-83)
• Career: .285 BA, 452 HR, 1844 RBI, 1816 Runs
• Career: 130 OPS+, 96.5 WAR (Wins Above Replacement)
• Career: 3,419 hits (9th most in MLB history), 646 doubles (9th most)
• Career: 1,845 walks (6th most all-time)
• 18-time All-Star
• 7-time AL Gold Glove Award winner
• Won the 1967 MVP and Triple Crown (.326 BA, 44 HR, 121 RBI)
• 1967: 12.5 WAR (3rd highest single-season total in baseball history for position players)

(cover photo: si.com, from April 3, 1961)

1961-66: Replacing a Legend

Carl Michael Yastrzemski was born on August 22, 1939, in Southampton, NY (East Long Island, near Shinnecock Hills, where the U.S. Open was played last year). Today is Yastrzemski’s 80th birthday.

A scout for the New York Yankees made the mistake of insulting Carl’s father and was kicked out of the house. After completing his freshman year at Notre Dame, Yaz signed with the Boston Red Sox in November 1958.

After two superb years in the minor leagues, Yaz became the successor to Ted Williams in Boston. Red Sox Nation in the early 1960s was nothing like it is today. In all of Yaz’s first six seasons, the Sox failed to draw one million fans, something that has never happened again in the 52 years since.

Even in a mostly empty Fenway Park, Yaz became an All-Star in 1963, leading the AL in batting, hits, doubles, and walks while leading all of MLB with a .418 on-base%. He also won the first of his 7 Gold Gloves. After missing the Mid-Summer Classic in 1964, Yaz made every single All-Star squad from 1965 to 1979, adding two more berths in the final two years of his career.

After a solid but less stellar 1964 campaign, the Red Sox left fielder had a superb 1965, slashing .312/.395/.536 to go with 20 HR and 45 doubles, the most in baseball. His OPS+ (156) was also the best in the majors.

1967: Triple Crown and World Series

1967, of course, was the signature year of Yastrzemski’s career. After a down year in ’66, Yaz won the AL MVP and Triple Crown in ’67 while leading the Red Sox to their first World Series appearance since 1946. In the second to last game of the season, Yaz’s 44th home run helped the Sox beat the Minnesota Twins to tie for the AL lead with one game to go (the Sox would win the next day to clinch the pennant).

For the season, besides leading the league in the Triple Crown categories (HR, RBI, BA), Yaz also led the league in OBP, SLG, Runs, Hits, and the modern metrics of OPS+ (193) and WAR (12.5). In addition, his 12.5 Wins Above Replacement to this day is the third-highest single-season total in the history of baseball, behind only Babe Ruth‘s 1921 and ’23 campaigns.

In a 7-game losing effort to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, Yaz hit .400 with 3 home runs, 5 RBI, and a 1.340 OPS. His 4th-inning home run in Game 6 helped spark the Sox to a 8-4 win, forcing the deciding 7th game.

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1967-70: Best All-Around Player in Baseball?

Yastrzemski followed up his brilliant 1967 campaign with two more seasons in 1968 and 1970 that can also be classified as all-time great seasons in baseball history. In 1968, the “year of the pitcher,” Yaz led the A.L. with a .301 batting average; he also led the league in walks (119), leading to a ML-best .426 on-base%. Again, he was tops in the Junior Circuit in the modern metrics OPS+ (171) and WAR (10.5).

After an “off” season by his standards in 1969 (40 HR, 111 RBI, but a .255 BA), Yaz had another all-time great campaign in 1970: while hitting 40 taters and driving in 102 runs, the Red Sox left fielder led the A.L. in OBP (.452), SLG (.592), Runs (125), OPS+ (177) and WAR (9.5).

All told, from 1967-70, Carl Yastrzemski was arguably the best all-around player in baseball, this in an era of some of baseball’s all-time legends:

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Over a longer period (8 years, from 1963-70), Yastrzemski’s 58.9 WAR ranks 3rd behind only Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.

1971-74: Slowing Down and a Move to First Base

The brilliant run of Carl Yastrzemski came to an end in 1971. Yaz slumped to a career-low .254 BA (with a 113 OPS+), while his power numbers dipped to 15 HR and 70 RBI. 1972 was much similar (.264 BA, 12 HR, 68 RBI, 118 OPS+). The season’s disappointment culminated when the Sox finished one-half game behind the Detroit Tigers in the A.L. East.

The Red Sox had acquired speedster Tommy Harper to play center field before the ’72 season. Center fielder Reggie Smith, arguably the team’s second-biggest star next to Yaz, was moved to right. It turned out to be an ill-conceived move. Harper, who had not played much center field in his career, was mediocre defensively.

In 1973, the Sox had a 21-year old rookie with a cannon of an arm (Dwight Evans) to play right field. Smith was moved back to center field. So, having previously traded first baseman George Scott to get Harper, the Sox were weak at first base. The solution was that Yastrzemski was moved there, with Harper now in left field, where he flourished. Yaz returned to star form in ’73 (.296 BA, 19 HR, 95 RBI, 139 OPS+). The team won 89 games, but that was 8 fewer than the division-winning Baltimore Orioles.

Yaz had another solid campaign in 1974 (.301 BA, 15 HR, 79 RBI, 140 OPS+); the Sox finished in 3rd place in the A.L. East.

1975: Return to October Baseball

Yastrzemski and the Red Sox returned to the Fall Classic in 1975. The team had two dynamic rookie outfielders, with Fred Lynn in center field and slugger Jim Rice in left. Lynn was the league MVP (Rice finished 3rd), and the pair finished first and second in the Rookie of the Year vote. With Evans playing superbly in Fenway Park’s cavernous right field, the Red Sox had the best outfield in baseball, even with their future Hall of Fame left fielder (Yaz) playing at first.

Throw in a return from knee surgery by All-Star catcher Carlton Fisk, a superb backup outfielder in Bernie Carbo, and a solid DH in Cecil Cooper, the 35-year old Yastrzemski (.269 BA, 14 HR, 60 RBI, 112 OPS+) wasn’t even one of the five best hitters on this loaded team.

Although in the World Series, the Sox would fall again in 7 games (this time to the Cincinnati Reds), Yaz hit .350 in 10 post-season tilts (including the ALCS). As an 8-year old, I became a Red Sox fan during the ’75 post-season. For me personally, it’s a bit of a shame that my first vivid memory of Carl Yastrzemski was of him flying out to Cesar Geronimo in center field for the last out of the classic ’75 World Series.

1976-78: Falling Short to the Yankees

Compared to what they had achieved in 1975, the entire Red Sox lineup (except, ironically, for Yaz) regressed in 1976. Yaz, now 36, was second on the Sox with 21 homers and led the squad with 102 RBI. The team won 83 games, finishing 14 games behind the New York Yankees.

In 1977, the Red Sox mashed again. Yaz was moved back to left field to make room for 8-time Gold Glove first baseman George Scott, a member of the ’67 World Series team who was reacquired from the Milwaukee Brewers. Rice became the team’s DH and mashed. Meanwhile, Yastrzemski flourished in this, his age 37 season. He hit .296 with 28 HR, 102 RBI, with a 125 OPS+ and 5.2 WAR, his best mark since 1973. But, alas, for Red Sox fans nationwide, the team’s 97 wins were three shy of New York’s 100.

In the first half of the 1978 season, the Red Sox looked like a team that would go on to win the World Series. After a win on July 19th, the Sox were up by 9 games in the A.L. East with a 62-28 record. Rice was posting a MVP season, and the 38-year old Yaz was hitting .311 with a .406 OBP, 10 HR, and 54 RBI.

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Down the stretch, the team cratered, losing 33 out of 61 games while the Yankees stormed from 14 games behind to take over the division lead. The Sox had to win their final 8 games to force a one-game playoff with the Yankees, with each team finishing with 100 victories. Yaz, who turned 39 during Boston’s downfall, slumped badly in his final 57 games, hitting just .223 with 6 HR and 25 RBI.

The 1978 Tie-Breaker Game

The last really big game Carl Yastrzemski played during his 23-year career was the 1978 AL East tie-breaker against the New York Yankees; it was a mixed bag for the future Cooperstown inductee. First, Yaz homered off Cy Young Award winner Ron Guidry to give the Sox a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning. Then, in the bottom of the 8th, after home runs by Bucky Dent and Reggie Jackson gave the Bronx Bombers a 5-2 lead, Yaz was part of a two-run rally against Goose Gossage with a RBI single. But, unfortunately, this great Hall of Famer once again made the final out in a big game, fouling out to third baseman Graig Nettles with the tying run on third base.

Although he made two key final outs in 1975 and 1978, Hall of Fame writer Peter Gammons noted that, in what he deemed the 24 biggest games of Yastrzemski’s career, Yaz hit. 417 with 6 HR and 19 RBI with 4 assists from the outfield.

1979-1983: Last Hurrah

Starting in 1979, his age 39 season, Yastrzemski was mostly the team’s designated hitter. The team, which allowed stars Fisk and Lynn to depart, never seriously competed for the postseason again. Yaz averaged 119 games played from 1979-83, hitting .267 with a 108 OPS+.

Yastrzemski’s final year was 1983, at the age of 43. It was a nice tribute that he and retiring Reds’ catcher Johnny Bench were added to the All-Star rosters, giving the two legends a final chance to tip their caps to the national TV audience. Six years after his retirement, Yaz was inducted (with Bench) into the Hall of Fame.

Carl Yastrzemski never became the hitter that Ted Williams was. Considering that Yaz had 765 more career hits, that’s quite a statement, but Yaz didn’t miss four seasons of his career due to military service. What Yaz did better than any other player in Red Sox history was play left field brilliantly. Yaz played Fenway Park’s 37-foot tall Green Monster like a violin. He had 177 career assists, 6th most for left fielders in baseball history, and the most for anyone since World War II.

When Yaz was a rookie with the Boston Red Sox in 1961, he was following in the footsteps of the greatest left fielder in baseball history. At the end of his 23-year career, Yastrzemski was unquestionably the second-best left fielder in the game’s history. Ted Williams was one of the toughest acts any player could ever follow, and Carl Yastrzemski followed him pretty darned well.

Carl Yastrzemski Links

• SABR Bio (by Herb Crehan and Bill Nowlin)
• Baseball Hall of Fame Page
• Carl Yastrzemski is the Toughest Player I Ever Covered (by Peter Gammons)
• In Left Field for Boston (by Walter Bingham, Sports Illustrated, April 3, 1961)
• Part One: Carl Yastrzemski looks back on the 1967 Season
• Part Two: Yastrzemski looks back on the 1967 Season
• Carl Yastrzemski Hall of Fame Speech
• SportsCentury: Carl Yastrzemski (ESPN Classic, produced by Eric Smith)

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