Boston Red Sox – Carl Yastrzemski (1967)
Recent history has been very good to the Boston Red Sox. Since ending the franchise’s 86-year World Series title drought in 2004, the Sox won two more World Championships and have been near-constant contenders in the AL East. From a team success standpoint, this is a new golden age for the club.
But during those 86 years of championship futility, several of the finest players in MLB history called Fenway Park home, including the last man to hit .400 in a season, Ted Williams. But the greatest individual season in Boston’s storied history belongs to Williams’ heir apparent, Carl Yastrzemski.
What Yaz did in 1967 was not only historic for the Red Sox franchise, but for the entire history of the game. In winning the triple crown and delivering an AL pennant, Yastrzemski led the league with a .326 batting average, 44 home runs, and 121 RBI, of course, but also topped the league with 189 hits, 112 runs scored, a .418 on-base percentage, a .622 slugging percentage, a 1.040 OPS, and a 193 OPS+.
Those stats equate to a 12.4 bWAR, which is not only the greatest individual season in BoSox history, but the fourth-highest mark in a single season ever in MLB. He followed it up in 1968 with a 10.5 bWAR that is tied for 30th all-time as well, and his total of 96.1 throughout a 23-year career is 24th all-time.
While Yastrzemski never led the Red Sox to that elusive World Series championship, he made 18 all-star appearances, won seven Gold Gloves, hit 452 home runs, drove in 1,844 runs, and is ninth all-time with 3,419 hits in his Hall of Fame career.
Next: Some guy named George.