Yaz!

Celebrating Boston Red Sox baseball great Carl Yastrzemski.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Bosox After 40

Yaz is far from the only player to don a Red Sox uniform after his fortieth birthday - although he may be the most prolific. 28 forty-somethings have taken the field for the Old Towne team over the years. Oldest ever was player-manager Deacon McGuire aged 44 years and five months back in Ought Eight.

According to the Worchester Telegram ...
Many of the 40-somethings have been experiments, or players getting a parting gift for a fine career like Ellis Burks in 2004, Gary Gaetti in 2000 and even Eckersley to a large extent in ’98, when he spent two months on the DL. Seaver turned out to be a novelty act because he got injured, and Dawson was only a month past 40 when his Sox career ended.

Ted Williams and Cy Young had the most notable post-40 achievements. In 1908, at 41, Young went 21-11 with two saves and pitched 299 innings. A year earlier, at 40, he won 22 games and hit a home run.

Williams won a batting title in 1958, having turned 40 on Aug. 30 of that year and two years later batted .316 with 29 home runs and a stolen base. He hit 44 home runs after his 40th birthday.

Yastrzemski was remarkable for how long he was able to play at a high level, even if it was not quite the level of his prime. He played 376 games in his 40s and hit 49 home runs.

I was kind of surprised to find that Yaz had out-homered The Kid post-Forty!

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