Hamptons Baseball Legend Has Company in Detroit

Dan’s Papers was but 17 years old when Southampton-born, Bridgehampton-bred Carl Yastrzemski won the Triple Crown with the Boston Red Sox in 1967, leading the American League in bating average, home runs and runs batted in.

No baseball player had matched that feat until, with the 2012 regular season a wrap, Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers saw his league-best 44 home runs, 139 RBIs and .331 put him in the company of Yaz, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle and Frank Robinson in one of baseball’s most exclusive clubs. Both Cabrera and Yaztrzemski found the home run category to be the closest race: Cabrera smashed No. 44 on Saturday to top Texas Rangers’ slugger Josh Hamilton, and Yaz finished tied at 44 with Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins.

Though Cabrera left Kansas City to a standing ovation last night, after weeks of speculation as to whether he would win the Crown, Yaz’s feat—which he accomplished with a .326 average, 44 home runs and 121 RBIs—went largely unnoticed in his day. Said Yaz of the accomplishment, as reported on foxsportsdetroit.com: “In ’67, the Triple Crown wasn’t even mentioned once. We were so involved in the pennant race, I didn’t know I won the Triple Crown until the next day when we read it in the paper.”  Dan’s Papers, we assume.