Carl Yastrzemski Stats

1 - Carl Yastrzemski won an American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1967, after finishing the season with league leading totals in batting average (.326), on base percentage (.418), slugging average (.622), on base plus slugging (1.040), runs scored (112), hits (189), home runs (44), RBI (121), and even WAR (12.5). It was the only MVP Yaz won, and remarkably, it was not unanimous. One writer gave his first place vote to the seventh place finisher, who led the league in games played (164) and at-bats (649). Who was that player? [Answer]

3 - Carl Yastrzemski won three batting titles (1963, 1967, 1968) in his career and when Yaz won in 1968, he "only" hit .301, however, he was also the only American League hitter that year to break the .300 mark finishing well ahead of the runner-up, Danny Cater, with a .290 batting average (Top 25).

8 - Carl Yastrzemski won eight Gold Gloves in the Outfield, the most by a Red Sox player, tied eventually by Dwight Evans (won his 8th in 1985), and well ahead of third place Fred Lynn (4x).

21 - Carl Yastrzemski had a son, Mike Yastrzemski, who was drafted in 1983 by the Texas Rangers, and again in 1984, by the Atlanta Braves. He played in the minor leagues from 1984 through 1988. Mike had a son, Mike Yastrzemski as well, who was drafted in 2013, and when he made his big league debut in 2019, Carl & Mike (Jr) became the twenty-first Grandfather & Grandson duo to play in the majors!

23 - Carl Yastrzemski spent all 23 years of his big league career with one team, the Boston Red Sox. Only one other player in baseball history is in that "club" and his name is Brooks Robinson (23 years with the Baltimore Orioles).

40 - Carl Yastrzemski hit 40 home runs in 1970, his third and final forty-home run campaign. That same year, Yaz also stole 23 bases showing both speed & power and becoming just the second Sox player with a 20 HR / 20 SB season—Jackie Jensen was the first (1954, and again in 1959).

44 - Carl Yastrzemski hit a career high 44 home runs in 1967, winning the home run championship (tied with Harmon Killebrew). Teammate George Scott said, "Yaz hit 44 homers that year, and 43 of them meant something big for the team." For his efforts, Yaz won the Most Valuable Player Award and was exactly one vote shy of winning it unanimously, the seventh place finisher Cesar Tovar was given one first-place vote by one writer.

72 - Carl Yastrzemski was ranked the seventy-second greatest player in baseball history by The Sporting News when they released their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players in the history of baseball!

94.63 - Carl Yastrzemski was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989, his first year on the ballot. The 94% total was the highest in Hall of Fame history at that point ever given to a left-fielder, surpassing Ted Williams total of 93.38% received in 1966.

400/3000 - Carl Yastrzemski ended his career with 452 home runs and 3,419 hits, the first American League player to reach those plateaus (400/3000), without ever appearing in a National League game. Do you know what junior circuit player joined the "club" after Yaz? [Answer]

1958 - Carl Yastrzemski was signed by the Boston Red Sox for $108,000 while he was playing on the freshman basketball team at Notre Dame. After he signed, Yaz's dad raised his weekly allowance from $5 to $7.50 a week, made him finish the semester at school, and arranged a meeting with the Red Sox General Manager (Joe Cronin), who said after meeting Yaz (relatively small in terms of ballplayers), "We're paying this kind of money for this guy?"

3308 - Carl Yastrzemski played in 3,308 regular season games—a Major League record when he hung up his cleats in 1983. He is now #2 in the Top 1,000, 254 games behind Pete Rose.

11988 - Carl Yastrzemski finished his career with 11,988 ABs, a still-standing American League record for most career at-bats. Who held the junior circuit record before Yaz? [Answer]