Milford —
FORT MYERS - He walks into rooms now as the greatest living Red Sox player, the throne passed to him by Ted Williams, the same man he replaced on the field. But then you remember that Carl Yastrzemski is a man like any other man, someone who has had to endure perhaps that worst of all things, the death of one of his children.
``I still don't talk about it. It's just very difficult," Yastrzemski said yesterday at the Red Sox minor league training complex, where he is making his annual contribution as an instructor. ``Life will never be the same for me. It's that simple."
Yastrzemski lowers his head and the room goes silent, and that is when you see the man everyone has described. That is when you begin to understand he is intensely private. That is when you recognize he will not discuss the subject further. That is when you realize that aside from being a lifelong member of the Red Sox and an inductee of the Hall of Fame, he is a father who is still mourning the death of his son.
Last September, with the Red Sox in the midst of their extraordinary run to the world title, Yastrzemski's son, Michael, underwent hip surgery. He was still in the hospital, recovering from the procedure, when a blood clot shockingly claimed his life at the age of 44.
At the time, Carl Yastrzemski was one month removed from his 65th birthday. The Red Sox subsequently made the most remarkable comeback in the history of team sports en route to their first World Series championship in 86 years, a win they have since dedicated to all of the players who have ever worn the Boston uniform. And then you remember that in October 2004, Carl Yastrzemski might not have been as focused on baseball as everyone else.
``I wasn't celebrating about anything at that time," Yastrzemski said.
Abruptly, again, the room goes silent and there is an awkward pause.
``But anyway, what else?" said one of the greatest players in the history of baseball. ``How's (Matt) Clement been throwing?"
Dedicated farmer
Yastrzemski spends three weeks every spring at the Red Sox' minor league complex, where he serves as an instructor with, among others, Dwight Evans. Red Sox officials rave about the manner in which Yastrzemski works with minor leaguers, many of whom had yet to be born when Yastrzemski retired at the end of the 1983 season following an accomplished 23-year career.
``I enjoy watching young kids," Yastrzemski said. ``I enjoy watching them develop, that desire to get to the big leagues, the work and determination they put into it."
There is energy in Yastrzemski's voice when he talks about baseball, about the minor leagues in particular. Yastrzemski's spring training visits have been going on for years, but you can sense that he feels more a part of the Red Sox now than he has in some time.
Yastrzemski knows, for instance, that the Red Sox have six selections in the first 59 picks of the June draft. He describes the new ownership and administration as ``first class" and he fully believes they will restore a player development system that was once one of the most respected in baseball.
In some ways, they already have.
``The enthusiasm is much higher now," Yastrzemski said. ``These people are dedicated to rebuilding the minor league system. We've still got a couple of more years to go, but we're getting better, I'll tell you that.
``The depressing part was the last few years when (Dan) Duquette was the general manager," Yastrzemski continued. ``All of the prospects were getting traded away and you'd come down here and you'd look around, and 99 and nine-tenths (of the players) - you'd release them. That was difficult. It wasn't fun."
The big league team? Yastrzemski said he enjoys watching every game on television from his home on the east coast of Florida. He knows Jason Varitek is now the team captain - ``I'm glad they re-signed him," Yastrzemski said - and he expressed hope that former teammates Jim Rice, Luis Tiant and Evans all will end up in the Hall of Fame.
Then Yastrzemski is asked about baseball's ongoing steroids scandal and he acknowledges that, in many ways, the game today is not the game he knew.
``I was talking about it the other day with Evans," Yastrzemski said. ``He said he was 28th on the all-time (homer) list and it took him years and years and years to get to 28th. And now he's like 50-something in a matter of a few years. I was telling him, the year I hit 44 home runs, thinking back on it, could I have had 50? Maybe if I was in Detroit or New York (parks that favored left-handed hitters like Yastrzemski), but who knows? But then to even possibly think of 60, that would be unbelievable. Seventy? Holy Christ."
Continued Yastrzemski, who finished with 452 career home runs and ranks 27th all-time: ``Stats, that was the great thing about baseball - you could always argue this guy vs. that guy. Now stats don't mean (expletive). The number of home runs people are hitting - it's just incredible. And the distance. It's hard to believe. I played with Rice in his prime and I've seen him hit some boomers and never go that kind of distance. Never."
Ring of truth
There are seemingly few people who know Yastrzemski well, and those who know him at all believe the routine of spring training is helping him cope with his son's death. Yastrzemski has been able to spend some time with his grandchildren this spring. And always, be it here or at his home across the state, he goes fishing every day, another similarity he shares with his Red Sox forefather, Williams.
Next month, when the Red Sox play their 2005 home opener against the New York Yankees, Yastrzemski will be among those in attendance. Yastrzemski will be among the many to receive World Series championship rings from an extremely generous Red Sox ownership that has been sure to remember all of those who came before them.
``I had the feeling they were just going to steamroll over the Cardinals," Yastrzemski said, recalling the World Series. ``The Cardinals had to score 10-15 runs a game to win, and even that might not have been enough the way the Red Sox were going."
And so did the victory mean something to him?
``I've been with the Red Sox so long," Yastrzemski said, nodding. ``It was a big part of me."
And then it occurs to you, again, that baseball is just baseball, be it in Boston or Bogota.
And that Carl Yastrzemski, before he was a Hall of Famer, was a father first.
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FORT MYERS - He walks into rooms now as the greatest living Red Sox player, the throne passed to him by Ted Williams, the same man he replaced on the field. But then you remember that Carl Yastrzemski is a man like any other man, someone who has had to endure perhaps that worst of all things, the death of one of his children.
``I still don't talk about it. It's just very difficult," Yastrzemski said yesterday at the Red Sox minor league training complex, where he is making his annual contribution as an instructor. ``Life will never be the same for me. It's that simple."
Yastrzemski lowers his head and the room goes silent, and that is when you see the man everyone has described. That is when you begin to understand he is intensely private. That is when you recognize he will not discuss the subject further. That is when you realize that aside from being a lifelong member of the Red Sox and an inductee of the Hall of Fame, he is a father who is still mourning the death of his son.
Last September, with the Red Sox in the midst of their extraordinary run to the world title, Yastrzemski's son, Michael, underwent hip surgery. He was still in the hospital, recovering from the procedure, when a blood clot shockingly claimed his life at the age of 44.
At the time, Carl Yastrzemski was one month removed from his 65th birthday. The Red Sox subsequently made the most remarkable comeback in the history of team sports en route to their first World Series championship in 86 years, a win they have since dedicated to all of the players who have ever worn the Boston uniform. And then you remember that in October 2004, Carl Yastrzemski might not have been as focused on baseball as everyone else.
``I wasn't celebrating about anything at that time," Yastrzemski said.
Abruptly, again, the room goes silent and there is an awkward pause.
``But anyway, what else?" said one of the greatest players in the history of baseball. ``How's (Matt) Clement been throwing?"
Dedicated farmer
Yastrzemski spends three weeks every spring at the Red Sox' minor league complex, where he serves as an instructor with, among others, Dwight Evans. Red Sox officials rave about the manner in which Yastrzemski works with minor leaguers, many of whom had yet to be born when Yastrzemski retired at the end of the 1983 season following an accomplished 23-year career.
``I enjoy watching young kids," Yastrzemski said. ``I enjoy watching them develop, that desire to get to the big leagues, the work and determination they put into it."
There is energy in Yastrzemski's voice when he talks about baseball, about the minor leagues in particular. Yastrzemski's spring training visits have been going on for years, but you can sense that he feels more a part of the Red Sox now than he has in some time.
Yastrzemski knows, for instance, that the Red Sox have six selections in the first 59 picks of the June draft. He describes the new ownership and administration as ``first class" and he fully believes they will restore a player development system that was once one of the most respected in baseball.
In some ways, they already have.
``The enthusiasm is much higher now," Yastrzemski said. ``These people are dedicated to rebuilding the minor league system. We've still got a couple of more years to go, but we're getting better, I'll tell you that.
``The depressing part was the last few years when (Dan) Duquette was the general manager," Yastrzemski continued. ``All of the prospects were getting traded away and you'd come down here and you'd look around, and 99 and nine-tenths (of the players) - you'd release them. That was difficult. It wasn't fun."
The big league team? Yastrzemski said he enjoys watching every game on television from his home on the east coast of Florida. He knows Jason Varitek is now the team captain - ``I'm glad they re-signed him," Yastrzemski said - and he expressed hope that former teammates Jim Rice, Luis Tiant and Evans all will end up in the Hall of Fame.
Then Yastrzemski is asked about baseball's ongoing steroids scandal and he acknowledges that, in many ways, the game today is not the game he knew.
``I was talking about it the other day with Evans," Yastrzemski said. ``He said he was 28th on the all-time (homer) list and it took him years and years and years to get to 28th. And now he's like 50-something in a matter of a few years. I was telling him, the year I hit 44 home runs, thinking back on it, could I have had 50? Maybe if I was in Detroit or New York (parks that favored left-handed hitters like Yastrzemski), but who knows? But then to even possibly think of 60, that would be unbelievable. Seventy? Holy Christ."
Continued Yastrzemski, who finished with 452 career home runs and ranks 27th all-time: ``Stats, that was the great thing about baseball - you could always argue this guy vs. that guy. Now stats don't mean (expletive). The number of home runs people are hitting - it's just incredible. And the distance. It's hard to believe. I played with Rice in his prime and I've seen him hit some boomers and never go that kind of distance. Never."
Ring of truth
There are seemingly few people who know Yastrzemski well, and those who know him at all believe the routine of spring training is helping him cope with his son's death. Yastrzemski has been able to spend some time with his grandchildren this spring. And always, be it here or at his home across the state, he goes fishing every day, another similarity he shares with his Red Sox forefather, Williams.
Next month, when the Red Sox play their 2005 home opener against the New York Yankees, Yastrzemski will be among those in attendance. Yastrzemski will be among the many to receive World Series championship rings from an extremely generous Red Sox ownership that has been sure to remember all of those who came before them.
``I had the feeling they were just going to steamroll over the Cardinals," Yastrzemski said, recalling the World Series. ``The Cardinals had to score 10-15 runs a game to win, and even that might not have been enough the way the Red Sox were going."
And so did the victory mean something to him?
``I've been with the Red Sox so long," Yastrzemski said, nodding. ``It was a big part of me."
And then it occurs to you, again, that baseball is just baseball, be it in Boston or Bogota.
And that Carl Yastrzemski, before he was a Hall of Famer, was a father first.
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