“I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning,” Yastrzemski would say, “I think about it all day and I dream about it all night. The only time I don’t think about it is when I’m playing it”. Retiring from baseball was one of the toughest decisions Yaz had to make in his life. Unfortunately, playing baseball forever was not possible. For Yaz, he would be a father of four children, Sue, Kara, Mary Ann and Mike. His only son Mike, would follow his father’s footsteps in playing baseball.

In the US at the time, the Vietnam and Cold wars were occurring. These two events were known to be infamous. For Vietnam being a war that should have never happened, and the Cold war being an arms race. Politically, when Yaz retired, the United States was in the Reagan administration.

Reagan would favor a very conservative approach to foreign policies and economics as well. Most of this was due to the recession during his first term from 1981 to 1982. However, his time in office was considered the ‘Reagan Revolution’. This was because he changed the way the USA viewed foreign policy and economics, which ended up leading us to the end of the Cold War. As Obama said “he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing”.

 

Carl Yastrzemski, in his retirement career, was not always out in the public. Many years after his retirement in 1983, he does not feel comfortable around the million-dollar ball players and chooses not to be in the spotlight for the fans. All he did and is currently doing is teaching young hitters here and there, and returns to fish and golf. Although he knows everyone in Boston loves him and misses him, he has moved on and does not want to think about it. As he said himself, “I don’t like to reminisce about when I played. I had my day in the sun and it’s over with”.

In 1989, Carl Yastrzemski would be inducted into the Hall of Fame with a first ballot of 94% support from voters. Shortly after he was inducted, the Boston Red Sox retired his no. 8 number, to recognize his legacy for the team. As for his role on the Red Sox, he would raise the 2004 championship banner over Fenway Park. He would also become a roving instructor for them, and, would throw out the first pitch in the first home game of the World Series in 2004, 2007, and 2013. Furthermore, to honor his greatness, the Red Sox would have a statue made outside Fenway Park on 2013.

Carl Yastrzemski moved on, but had a special place in baseball.