1961-1980 Red Sox: Carl Yastrzemski
When Ted Williams announced his retirement in 1960, the future of the Red Sox franchise looked eerie. Lucky for the Red Sox, they had a young outfielder ready to make an immediate impact. His name: Carl Yastrzemski.
“Yaz” started his career at 21, and took off just two years later. The 18-time All-Star would go on to be the cornerstone of the franchise for 23 years.
Yastrzemski won the MVP once and won the batting title three times. He also accomplished one of the greatest feats any athlete in any sport can achieve: he won the triple crown in 1967. Ted Williams was the only other player in Red Sox history to accomplish this feat. It took until 2012 for someone to win the Triple Crown again (Miguel Cabrera). One of the most impressive stats that Yastrzemski produced was that he only played fewer than 100 games once.
His offense isn’t the only great aspect of his game, he, also, saw a lot of success on defense. He managed to bring home 7 Gold Gloves. Protecting the Green Monster is no small feat, and the Red Sox were lucky enough to have two of the greatest players in MLB history guarding it for north of four centuries.