Word: yaz
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Yaz abandoned seven Gold Gloves fielding awards out in left-field when he began moving over to first base seven or eight years ago, and now he is almost exclusively a designated hitter (a tenth man who only hits, an American League aberration). He is platooned with Rose's old comrade, 40-year-old Tony Perez, who takes the lefthanded pitchers, while Yaz gets the righthanders. "Pete is a hitting machine; Yaz is a hard-working hitter," says Perez, who collected his own 2,500th hit the other day. Yastrzemski's career batting average (.286) is the lowest...
...batted flat against the tile walls by a semidiscarded old ballplayer working to keep his eye, even as the defensive halves of the innings go on without him. "Making a great play in the field always meant as much to me as a hit. I miss that," says Yaz, taking a deliberate drag from an omnipresent cigarette (he claims he never inhales). "I miss The Wall at Fenway [the 37-ft.-high leftfield monster]. I could play it in my sleep, and I do. Of course, they resurfaced it five or six years ago and ruined it. The rivets: they...
Everyone sees how hard Rose has worked. He shows you the yellow buildup of calluses on his palms, and muses: "When a player reaches 35 or 36 and says, 'Hey, I better start taking care of myself,' it's too late." Besides Yaz, Rose and Perez, the only other over-40s enjoying extra innings are Pittsburgh's Pop, Willie Stargell, 41, and Pitchers Jim Kaat, 43, of St. Louis, Woodie Fryman, 42, of Montreal, Phil Niekro, 43, of Atlanta, and Gaylord Perry, 43, of Seattle. In the offseason, tennis fortifies Rose. Yaz, because of his chronically...
...Before Yaz became venerable, back when he was vulnerable, everything he had was not always enough. "When you have been told at 20 that you will replace Ted Williams, nothing after that is pressure," he says jauntily, but his bony-nosed profile is drawn tight. Rose has been booed everywhere, except at home. It is worse at home. "They booed me," Yaz says softly of the Boston fans, "but they didn't really mean...
...seasons must be attributed in the largest part to the Major, the tough tobacco-y Manager Ralph Houk. About the time that Mercenaries Fred Lynn, Carlton Fisk and Rick Burleson shipped out, Houk shipped on. "When everyone was saying we'd finish last a year ago," says Yaz, "Houk was saying, 'Let's show them.' " Boston lost the second half of the strike-torn season by l l/2 games. "In Yaz," says Houk, sitting cross-legged by himself in the dugout, "I see the same thing Al Kaline had in Detroit: an unbelievable love...