SAN FRANCISCO – For the first time since his rookie season, Mike Yastrzemski will get to play on the same field that his grandfather did for 23 seasons.
Yastrzemski, 33, last played in Fenway Park in 2019. With the Giants heading to Boston for a three-game series against the Red Sox starting on Tuesday, he’ll have another chance to play in front of fans who have idolized his last name for generations.
“Excited to get back,” Yastrzemski said Sunday morning at his locker. “Any time you play in Fenway, regardless of whoever you are, it’s always a great atmosphere. It’s always special. Just looking forward to get back, see some family I don’t get to see most years.”
In his Fenway Park debut, Yastrzemski played left field, the spot Carl manned for two decades, and homered to center.
“It’s definitely up there,” Yastrzemski said when asked where that home run ranks for him. “It’s hard to beat, like, walk-offs, but that one was pretty special.”
The next day, he caught the ceremonial first pitch from his grandfather — the greatest living Red Sox player whose statue stands outside the ballpark.
The two hugged on the infield grass, creating the type of special moment only possible in baseball — the Americana pastime rooted in nostalgia as much as its storied history (Yastrzemski’s rookie season of 1961 was before the first Super Bowl and well before the NBA became popular).
Yastrzemski’s upcoming series in Boston won’t top that. But a homecoming is always welcome. Since the Giants flew to Boston after Sunday’s day game, the Andover, Mass. native will get a full day to spend time with family members who he normally doesn’t get to visit during the season on the Monday day off.
Yastrzemski said he’s unsure if his grandfather will attend the games like he did last time. They haven’t connected much since late March, when Mike and his wife, Paige, welcomed their second child into the world.
“I would assume no, because he just likes to watch the games at home anyway,” Mike said. “So that’d be my guess.”
But Mike said he thinks the 84-year-old Carl is back in town (he spends winters in Florida), so a surprise appearance is possible.
Mike homered against the Pirates on Sunday and has batted over .300 for the past three weeks after a 1-for-20 start to the year. Carrying that momentum into Fenway, in front of his friends and family, would certainly be nice.
“He’s heating up now to where he’s swinging the bat really well,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “We have a good feeling every time he’s up there.”
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Carl played 23 seasons for the Red Sox in the shadow of the green monster, hitting 452 home runs in his inner-circle Hall of Fame career. He took on the torch from the legendary Ted Williams, whose famed red seat will loom above Mike in right field.
The red seat — denoting Williams’ longest blast of his career — has been the subject of skepticism in recent years. David Ortiz once expressed belief and reportedly failed to reach the 502-foot seat with an aluminum bat during a batting practice session. Current Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas suggested that the red seat is looking more and more like a “myth.”
But Yastrzemski isn’t a red-seat truther.
“I mean, you look at how far it is, it’s hard to believe,” Yastrzemski said. “But (Williams) is one of the best hitters of all time, I’d probably believe just about anything that came from him.”
