Word: yaz
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...summer of '75 is full of such indignities for the Dodger fan in Boston. While the Red Sox maraude through the American League East, the Dodgers limp through the National League West. Everyone in Boston these days wants to talk about Lynn, Rice, Doyle, Wise, even Yaz. Nobody wants to hear about Messersmith, Sutton, Cey, Garvey, even Marshall. Nobody cares that last year Davey Lopes hit three homes runs in one game against the Cubs, or that latter that week he stole five bases in one game--a game you saw, in person. Or that Dodger left fielder Bill Buckner...
Carl Yastrzemski: Any roster must begin with Yaz, for while his statistical contribution to the team is often negligible, his symbolic value is impossible to assess--he is the real prism of the Red Sox, the central figure in almost every way. To understand Yaz is to understand the intricate relationship between the Sox and their fans and the Sox and themselves. It's all love and hate. When Yaz steps up to the dugout side of the plate and kicks at the dirt like a racehorse, as he has for fifteen years, his third spot in the line...
...Southie too there's nothing Yaz...
That year Yastrzemski also became the highest paid player in baseball. Catfish Hunter could claim that honor now, but Yaz's salary certainly hasn't shrunk, and since 1967 the money, the batting order, the hype, his longevity as the Sox's oldest veteran, the team leadership he has always displayed (sometimes challenged by the younger players on a club that has had its share of dissension), and the memories--these combine to put an incredible amount of pressure on him, the man who replaced Ted Williams. And since '67 he has flirted with the hopes of the people dangerously...
...leading off the order and playing right. Dwight Evans, another young right fielder, has plumped lately, but has an excellent arm and hits well for power when he's on top of things. Center fielder Rick Miller, also a striping, would be a starter on virtually any other club: Yaz is available to play left in a pinch. Depth like this puts splinters in the trousers of young ambitious players and some have mumbled to reporters that they'd just as soon be put out to fairer pastures in another city. And a trade or two, for reasons we shall...