ALL THAT YAZ
Giants rookie makes own memories at ballpark where grandfather starred
BOSTON >> For 52 years, nothing rivaled the emotions of winning the Triple Crown, the MVP and a Gold Glove all while leading the Boston Red Sox to an American League pennant for Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski.
Yaz’s 1967 dream season has finally met its match.
“The name Yastrzemski hasn’t been announced here since ’83,” Carl said.
When the Giants opened a three-game series on Tuesday evening in Boston, Carl’s grandson, Mike, heard his name called over the Fenway Park public address system.
“The only thing I can compare it to anything would be if I compared it to the ’67 season, him being here,” Carl said. “That’s what it means to me.”
Mike, a 29-year-old rookie outfielder for the Giants, is not the sentimental type. But he planned to make an exception on Tuesday and soak in the rare ovation expected for a visiting player.
Red Sox fans didn’t disappoint as they stood and cheered when Yastrzemski stepped into the left-handed batter’s box in the top of the first. They were louder — much louder — when Yastrzemski launched his 20th home run of the season to dead center field in the top of the fourth inning.
“It’s not just special for me, but for everyone who had ever seen my grandfather play and has been a Red Sox fan over history,” Mike said. “They have some tie to him because of his historic value to the organization. I think while it is special for me, I need
to let it be special for everybody else as well.”
After Dave Kingman slugged 29 home runs for the Giants in 1972, no San Francisco rookie had hit 20 in a single season until Yastrzemski reached that total with his 401-foot blast to dead center field on Tuesday.
Reaching the major leagues was far from a lock for Mike, who spent parts of seven seasons buried in the Baltimore Orioles’ farm system. The Andover, Massachusetts native never hit more than 15 home runs in a minor league season and never earned a spot on the Orioles’ 40-man roster.
When Mike was traded from Baltimore to San Francisco in a minor league deal this March, the only factor that gave the transaction even a small amount of intrigue was Yastrzemski’s last name. Six months after the Orioles discarded Mike, grandfather and grandson walked along the outfield grass at Fenway Park and shared a conversation, as they have so often through Mike’s baseball career.
This one just happened to be in front of the Green Monster.
“He played 700-something games in the minors and always kept telling me he would make it some day and it’s finally come true for him,” Carl said.
By the time Carl was 29, he was a five-time All-Star, an MVP and one of the premier players in all of baseball. Two weeks after turning 29, Mike has fewer than 100 major league games under his belt, but a perspective he’s grown to appreciate.
“Through the long journey that I’ve had to get here, I’ve started to understand which things are important and which aren’t so I can keep focused on those things that have really grown to matter,” Mike said.
Mike Yastrzemski’s Fenway Park debut matters.
It matters to Red Sox fans who watched Carl take the field for 23 seasons from 1961-83 and to those that didn’t, but walk by his statue on their way into Fenway Park.
“It’s not just special for me, but for everyone who had ever seen my grandfather play and has been a Red Sox fan over history,” Mike said. “They have some tie to him because of his historic value to the organization.”
It matters to Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who admitted feeling nostalgic while writing out the lineup card on Tuesday. Bochy, at the end of his 25th and final season as a manager, idolized Carl Yastrzemski and purposefully played Mike in left field Tuesday to conjure up memories for those who watched Carl roam the same patch of outfield grass.
“It’s going to be a great reminder of all the things his grandfather did and will bring some really special memories into their minds,” Bochy said.
Of the hundreds of family members and close friends expected in the ballpark on Tuesday, the moment might matter most to Mike’s mother, Anne Marie. A regular at games throughout Mike’s rookie season, Anne Marie, was solely responsible for raising Mike after his father and hitting coach, Carl Michael, died of a heart attack in 2004.
“She’s watched me more than anyone,” Mike said. “She’s been my No. 1 one supporter the entire way. I’m assuming it’ll be emotional for her but I think she’ll hold herself together pretty well.”
Mike Yastrzemski’s career will not unfold like Carl’s. He won’t spend 23 seasons in the major leagues and may never win a Gold Glove, make an All-Star team or receive a MVP vote.
There may not be a statue of Mike outside a ballpark or a jersey number hanging inside a stadium one day, but there will always be the indelible moment he created simply by making it to Fenway Park as a big leaguer.
“It’s like a dream come true,” Carl said.