Up on the blog this fine day, my "missing" 1969 Nabisco Team Flakes card for Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski, part of a custom release I plan on producing later this year as a full-sized cereal box with cut-out cards:
This
should be a really fun set to add to theWTHBALLS stable, recreating the
original cereal issue of my birth year with card panel on back that
kids could cut and trade one of 24 different players.
I go an add eight more players, all whom would go on to the Hall of Fame later on, such as the great "Yaz" in today's post.
The
man was at his height at the time this card would have seen the light
of day, already a three-time batting champion, Triple Crown winner in
1967, and five-time Gold Glove winner.
As someone who grew up in New York City during the second half of his
career, it's really easy to forget that Yastrzemski was a Long Island,
New York boy before he went on to become a New England legend.
And how could he NOT become a legend, what with 23 years of Major
League ball, all with the Red Sox, turning in three batting titles, a
Triple Crown in 1967 along with an MVP Award, seven Gold Gloves, 18
all-star nods, and 25 league-leads in primary offensive
categories.
By the time he did the retirement tour in 1983, he scored 1816
runs, collected 3419 hits, 646 doubles, 452 homers, 1844 runs batted in
along with a .285 batting average.
He was just plain awesome…
