The 1967 MVP and Triple Crown Winner, Carl Yastrzemski!

Carl Yastrzemski Photo Gallery
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While I’m on the subject of Most Valuable Player Awards…

How About Carl Yastrzemski , 1967?

Yesterday’s post about MVP Hank Aaron got me thinking about another great Hall-of-Famer. Today is the 49^th anniversary of Carl Yastrzemski’s selection as the 1967 American League MVP.  The 1967 Triple Crown winner (.326, 44, 121), Yaz received 19 of 20 first place votes. With one unknown writer putting the light-hitting infielder Cesar Tovar of the Twins on top of his ballot, the 28 year-old outfielder is denied being the unanimous choice for the award.

Carl Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Red Sox (1961–1983), primarily as a left fielder. Over his career, Yaz hit .285 with 3,419 hits, 452 home runs, 1844 RBIs, 646 doubles, 59 triples, .379 OBP, .462 slugging, and 5539 total bases. Yastrzemski was an 18-time All-Star, the winner of seven Gold Gloves, a member of the 3000 hit club, and the first American League player in that club to also hit over 400 home runs. He is second on the all-time list for games played (3,308), and third for total at-bats (11,988). Yaz is the Red Sox’ all-time leader in career RBIs, runs, hits, singles, doubles, total bases, and games played, and is third on the team’s list for home runs behind Ted Williams and David Ortiz.

Carl Yastrzemski’s 1967 Triple Crown Season and World Series:

In 1967, Yastrzemski had one of the best offensive years in baseball history, leading the Red Sox to the American League pennant. That year he was voted the American League MVP, and became the last Triple Crown winner in the major leagues until Miguel Cabrera in 2012. 

1967 was the season of the “Impossible Dream” for the Red Sox, rebounding from a ninth-place finish a year before to win the American League pennant, their first since 1946, on the last day of the season. With the Red Sox battling as part of a four-team pennant race, Yastrzemski hit .513 (23 hits in 44 at-bats) with five home runs and 16 RBIs over the last two weeks of the season, as the Red Sox finished a mere one game ahead of the Tigers and Twins. 

They went into the final two games of the season trailing the Twins by one game and leading the Tigers by 1/2 game. Their final two games were against the Twins with the pennant and home run title (and hence, the Triple Crown) on the line. In the Saturday game, Yaz went 3 for 4 with a home run and 4 RBI. Killebrew also homered, but the Red Sox won, 6-4. Thus, the teams went into the final game tied for 1st place, and Yaz and Killebrew were tied with 44 home runs apiece. In the final game, neither player homered, but Yaz went 4 for 4 with 2 RBI in the Red Sox 5-3 win. So in the two games with the pennant on the line, Yastrzemski was 7 for 8 with 6 RBI

The Red Sox lost the World Series four games to three to the St. Louis Cardinals, losing three times to a dominating Bob Gibson. Yaz batted .400 with 3 home runs and 5 RBI in the series. In an article he co-wrote for the November 1967 issue of SPORT Magazine, Yastrzemski credited Boston’s remarkable season to manager Dick Williams and an infusion of youth, including Rico Petrocelli and Tony Conigliaro. Referring to Williams, Yastrzemski wrote: “He got rid of all the individuality, made us into a team, gave us an incentive, and made us want to win.”

Carl Yastrzemski was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1989. As of the 2014, on the major league all-time lists Yastrzemski ranks #1 for games played for one team, #2 for total games played, #3 for at-bats, #6 for bases on balls, #8 for hits, #8 for total bases, #8 for doubles, and #13 for RBIs. His Number 8 has been retired by the Red Sox.

-Gary Livacari

Photo Credits: Classic Baseball, The Photographs of Walter Iooss, Jr., article on the National Pastime Museum web page by Mike Lynch: http://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/my-favorite-player-carl-yastrzemski; and from Google search

Information: Excerpts edited from the Carl Yastrzemski Wikipedia page, and above article by Mike Lynch

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