Best All-Time Left Fielders Carl Yastrzemski (#4)
"“I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning. I think about it all day and I dream about it all night. The only time I don’t think about it is when I’m playing it.”—Carl Yastrzemski"
The Boston Red Sox enjoyed an incredible run of talent at left field for nearly half a century. It started with Ted Williams in 1940. Williams came up to the big leagues in 1939, but played right field his first year. He moved to left in 1940 and held down that spot with excellence until 1960, only missing a few years for World War II and two more during the Korean War.
Carl Yastrzemski showed up in 1961 to take over for Williams. Except for a couple years at other positions, Yaz held that spot until 1972. Tommy Harper played left for two seasons in the early 1970s, then it was Jim Rice in front of the Green Monster for a dozen years.
For the most part, it was Williams, Yaz, and Rice in left field in Boston from 1940 to 1987. All three are in the Hall of Fame.
Taking over for Ted Williams in 1961 wasn’t easy for Yastrzemski and the young left fielder struggled, hitting .266/.324/.396 (87 wRC+). He found his footing in his second year and began a long stretch of impressive hitting. From 1962 to 1977, Yaz played 151 games per year while averaging 89 runs, 22 homers, 85 RBI and a .291/.390/.478 batting line.
In his career, he was an all-star 18 times, won seven Gold Glove Awards and received MVP votes in 14 seasons. He was a fixture on the Red Sox, the face of the franchise after Williams retired. Three times he led the AL in hitting, five times he led in on-base percentage and three times in slugging percentage.
The 1967 season by Yastrzemski is one of the best seasons anyone has ever had. He led the league in all three rate stat categories, as well as runs, hits, home runs, and RBI. He’s one of only 15 players to win the Triple Crown since 1901.
Not only are the numbers he put up very impressive, the context of the season added to his excellence. The Red Sox were battling for a pennant with the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, and Chicago White Sox. As they bounced between first, second and third place during September, Yastrzemski practically carried the team on his back, hitting .417/.504/.760 with 22 runs scored and 26 RBI in 27 September games.
He was even better over the last two weeks, hitting .523/.604/.955 with 14 runs scored and 16 RBI in 12 games. In must-win games against the Minnesota Twins to end the regular season, he was 3-for-4 with four RBI in the penultimate game of the season and 4-for-4 with two RBI in the final game. The Red Sox won the AL pennant by a single game over the Twins and Tigers.
He kept it up in the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, hitting .400/.500/.840. Unfortunately for Boston fans, the Red Sox fell to the Cardinals in seven games. They couldn’t overcome the incredible Bob Gibson, who started and won Games 1, 4 and 7 with three complete games and a 1.00 ERA.
That 1967 season was the best season of Yaz’s career, but he followed it up with an impressive encore. In 1968, he led the league in batting average, on-base percentage, and walks. He finished ninth in MVP voting despite having the highest WAR in the league by more than two wins (Baseball-Reference).
Like most players, Yastrzemski was at his best before the age of 30. He was no slouch after 30, though, as he continued to be a 3 to 5 WAR player into his late 30s. He finished his career with 3,419 hits, 452 home runs, and 1844 RBI. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989, his first year of eligibility. The Red Sox retired his number eight that same year.