a700hitter

I'll have to go with the recollections of the players who played with Yaz that year. I believe that George Scott called it the greatest year by any player in any year. Reggie Smith said: Manager Dick Williams also maintained that he "never saw a player have a season like that." He said that Yaz was the perfect player that year. Williams played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950's and saw his share of greats as a player and manager. These guys maintained this opinion years after 67 was a distant memory. Also, Dick Williams and Yaz were far from personal friends or friendly acquaintances, yet Williams always maintained his high praise of Yaz's 1967 season. After Tony C went down that year, Yaz put that team on his shoulders and carried them to the finish. I'll also have to go with Bob Ryan and Peter Gammons with regard to the importance of 1967 in the history of the Red Sox franchise.

It's amusing that you are referencing my response to a serially banned poster who came back with the sole intent of baiting and causing problems. He didn't even last for the remainder of that day before getting banned again. I am happy to engage you when you are not acting like that guy. But maybe in your case I should implement a minimum IQ requirement before responding. My time is too valuable to waste on idiots.

I corrected your post^

Of course you explained that they did the smartest thing, because you are personally unimaginative, have no ideas of your own, and blindly support the FO at every turn. If you had asked me what I would have done, I would have been happy to share my ideas. but what would be the point when you already know what I think and what I would think in every situation. The fact that you think so is a perfect example of being asinine.

Yes, he does deserve credit for losing the 50 lbs. How did he do it? Was he on Dancing with the Horse-faced Stars?

Kershaw is another pipe dream for some Red Sox fans. The Dodgers will not let him sniff the open market.

You are right about that. Since we have had him, he has stunk everywhere.

I do remember the thread where Bud Light was being blamed for Lackey stinking.

I can't count how many times some over the hill player showed up in camp after losing a ton of weight and everyone got their hopes up that he would recapture his youth. Almost none of them do, but almost all of them recapture the weight eventually.

You've missed the point. The importance of Yaz and 1967 was beyond statistics and pennants. Maybe you weren't alive to experience Boston baseball in the early 60's. The importance was that he was the centerpiece of a franchise saving team that revived and saved the franchise. Don't take my word for it. Read Bob Ryan's writings about it. He has always said that in Boston Baseball 1967 was the clear delineation. Many other long time writers have placed the same importance on that year, including Gammons. Baseball in Boston was reborn that year. That's why it was so important. Also, it wasn't a 1 year wonder. While nothing could match 1967, they put out winning teams (16 straight seasons) and many strongly competitive teams including 2 World Series teams. It may be argued that some Sox players were greater players than Yaz (not too many were), but IMO, none had more of a positive impact on the franchise. If you didn't see or experience Boston baseball prior to 1967 and witness the change, you are speaking from a position of ignorance.

I would not underestimate the greatness of Yaz. Don't forget that his prime years were in a pitching dominated era with a higher mound -- that got lowered in 1969 (Yaz's 9th season). For a power hitter, he rarely struck out. If you compared him to the other power hitters from his era, his k's per 162 games and per HR were pretty phenomenal. Pedro is the pitching equivalent of Yaz in that he dominated in a hitting dominate era while Yaz did so in a pitching dominated era.

And the pipedream of getting King Felix officially goes up in smoke. The mariners did the smart thing. Stud aces are rare. You don't let them go. We will be waiting for a long time before one hits the FA and we outbid the Yank, Dodgers, Angels and others. We need to build a deep rotation of non-aces until one comes up through our system. Don't hold your breath.

He was never a great pitcher and we have seen the worst of him. He's 34 and and post-op. He has been the poster boy for bad FA contracts for pitchers, and now, the Sox are trying to sell us on him as reason to be optimistic. Are they freakin kidding?

The whole discussion isn't relevant as we have been debating a throw away line in a post where I said: The point that I was making is that it is pretty desperate that our fortunes are tied to Lackey in 2013. His record at Fenway is not that relevant. You said that my statement that he sucked at Fenway was not true. Doji disagreed, and we digressed. Overall, his Fenway record with the Angels has been spotty at best, and there were periods where we downright hammered him, but as I said, his Fenway record as an Angel is not really relevant.

Yaz was the most significant player in the history of the Red Sox. Williams ws the best hitter of all time, but Yaz did everything else much better. Where Yaz vaults to the top of the pack for me is that the 1967 team revived the moribund franchise that was considering leaving Fenway and Boston. The trajectory of the franchise changed with that season, and that was the season of Yaz. Beyond 1967 the Red Sox remained as a winning and competitive franchise with teams built around Yaz. After 1967, the Sox failed to field a winning team only once for the rest of Yaz career -- in 1983 (Yaz's last season). From 1967 to 1982, they finished above .500 for 16 straight seasons. That is the longest streak in the history of the franchise. Yaz was the leader on most of those teams. He is the player who made the most significant contributions to the Red Sox in the era that turned the Red Sox franchise around and made them not just relevant again, but beloved. The Red Sox need to commission a statue in his honor at Fenway, because I truly believe that Fenway might have been long gone had it not been for Yaz. For that matter, the Red Sox might not be in Boston either. I'd like to this done while he is still around for the dedication.

It looks like overall he was not good at Fenway during his Angel years.

He got hammered at Fenway in 2004 (10.80 ERA) and 2003 (9.90 ERA - 2 starts) too.

I remember him getting hit pretty hard by us, but my that was based on my recollection.

Cafardo has a good article in today's Globe on Farrell. He noted how last spring training Valentine ran more drills stressing fundamentals and that the players resented it. On veteran infielder complained "Are we in AA?" Then the team went out and played terrible fundamental baseball. The article states that we can look forward to a "more traditional" spring training where the emphasis is on startinfg the season healthy. I am sure that it will include plenty of golf, fishing and sunbathing too. We can probably look forward to another season of substandard fundamentals, because as Cafardo points out at the end of the article:

Do you want to discuss this and we can exchange our ideas or do you want to persist in being an asshat telling me what I think and what I would think? If you you want to exchange ideas, I'm in. Otherwise, STFU.

Bridge Year -- cost $170 million. Just asinine.

http://www.amazon.com/My-Turn-Bat-Fireside-Classics/dp/0671634232#reader_0671634232 This should be available at the Library

I read Teddy Ballgame's autobiography when I was a kid. I believe that it was entitled, "My Turn At Bat." It was an excellent book. His was a rich life, so there is plenty of material. I'd be happy to share stories that I have heard.

The other authorities referred to that have picked us at the bottom of the pile are not oddsmakers.