Carl Yastrzemski

Carl Yastrzemski, the greatest career-long Red Sox player not named Ted Williams, grew up a Yankees fan on Long Island, where he was born in Southhampton, on August 22, 1939, a week before the outbreak of the Second World War. His father, Carl Sr., a potato farmer back in the days when Long Island real estate was very cheap and supported many farms, loved to play baseball and was good enough to play semi-pro ball. (In his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, Carl Jr. would pay tribute to his father, saying he had the talent to be a major leaguer, but had to defer his dream during the Great Depression in order to support his family. He also mentioned his mother, the former Hattie Skonieczny, for all her love and support and sacrifice that had helped him realize his dream.) Young Carl grew up in Bridgehampton, Long Island, graduating from Bridgehampton High School (Class of 1957), where he set records in multiple sports. He was a career .512 hitter for Bridgehampton High and set the conferen