Who is the man: Carl Yastrzemski was coming off his last great powerful season when this card was issued. He hit at least 40 home runs for the third and final time in his career and led the league in runs, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS and total bases.
Can ya dig it: This is possibly the tightest shot on Yastrzemski of all of his Topps flagship cards. He looks pretty regal with the Yankee Stadium stands as a backdrop.
Right on: Still not over Yastrzemski popping up to third base for the final out of the one-game playoff against the Yankees in 1978.
You see that cat Yastrzemski is a bad mother: For a good portion of my life, Yastrzemski was "the last player to hit for the Triple Crown," which he was for 45 years.
Shut your mouth: Yaz grew up on Long Island and was a top high school player. The Yankees made overtures toward him and in Yastrzemski's autobiography, he says that a Yankee scout once came to the house and exchanged bonus signing numbers with Yaz's dad. The scout was so shocked by Yastzremski's dad's figure of $100,000, he said the Yankees would never pay that and flipped his pencil in the air. Yastrzemski's dad told the scout, "Nobody throws a pencil in my house. Get the hell out and never come back."
No one understands him but his woman: For a year, Yastrzemski held the major league record for most games played with 3,308. Pete Rose broke it the following season.
(A word about the back): As discussed earlier, Yastrzemski missed out on the 1970 batting title by .0003 to the Angels' Alex Johnson.
Often forgotten is the fact that Yaz TIED for the AL lead in homeruns with Harmon Killebrew in 1967, so it wasn't a "clean" triple crown, as Frank Robinson had won the year before.
ReplyDeleteI like the ebb and flow of Yaz's career, starting out he good, later graduate to great, then become the dominant AL hitter. The card represents a start of 2 year downturn as offensive force. He is OK by standards of the time but for him it is a major drop in power and BA. Yaz snaps out of it in 1973 and has several excellent seasons. His performance doesn't exceed his golden era. It's one of most perfect MLB careers ever, maybe only eclipsed by his predecessor, Ted Williams.
ReplyDeleteHOF #8 Yaz.....My Favorite Red Sox of All Time. What a Great Player and Great Guy.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite all time player !
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