Steve Yeager

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For other persons named Steve Yeager, see Steve Yeager (disambiguation).

For the Baltimore filmmaker who directed Divine Trash, see Steve Yeager (filmmaker).
Steve Wayne Yeager
Position Catcher
MLB Seasons 15
Teams Los Angeles Dodgers
Seattle Mariners
Debut 2 August 1972 (LA)
Final Game 29 August 1986 (Seattle)
Total Games Games:
1269 batting
1230 catching
LCS Appearances 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1985
World Series Teams 1974, 1977, 1978 & 1981 Dodgers
Awards Co-MVP 1981 World Series
Nicknames'
"Yang"
"Boomer"
"Yags"

Stephen Wayne Yeager (born November 24, 1948, in Huntington, West Virginia) is an American right-handed former professional baseball catcher.

Yeager spent 14 of the 15 seasons of his Major League Baseball career, from 1972 through 1985, with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His last year, 1986, he played for the Seattle Mariners.

Yeager once hit two grand slams in one high school baseball contest.

Contents

[edit] Minor League Career

Yeager was drafted by Los Angeles on 6 June, 1967, in the 4th round of the amateur draft.

After one game with Ogden, Utah (in the Rookie League-Pioneer Division), Yeager was sent to Dubuque (Iowa - Single-A league-Midwest Division) for 14 games.

The following season, 1968, he played 59 games in Daytona Beach (Florida - Single-A Florida Southern League).

In 1969 he played 22 games in Bakersfield (California - Single-A - California League), throwing out 26 runners, and 1 game in Albuquerque (New Mexico - Double-A - Texas League).

He spent the next two-and-2/3rds seasons in Albuquerque. 1970 and 1971 in "AA" - Texas League, for 162 games, where he batted .276, with 77 RBIs in 490 at bats. For 1971 he threw out 84 runners (second in the Texas League), and was named to the All Star team as a member of the Texas League, or Dixie Association - Western Division, catching for the Albuquerque Dukes (67-75), along with teammates Lee Lacy (2B) and Paul Johnston (OF).

The following season, 1972, he played 82 games in Albuquerque (Triple-A - Pacific Coast League), with 45 RBIs in 257 at bats, while hitting .280.

[edit] Major League Career

In the beginning of August 1972, he got "the call" to the majors, and made his major league debut on the 2nd. In his first-third of a season he would make 106 plate appearances in 35 games, bat .274, and drive in 15 runs on 29 hits, while scoring 18 total runs.

He contributed to four national league pennants with the Dodgers, helping take them to the 1974, 1977, 1978, and 1981. In the final one, Yeager shared the World Series Most Valuable Player award with Dodger teammates Pedro Guerrero and Ron Cey.

Lou Brock called Yeager "the best-throwing catcher in the game." His specialty was defense and his command of the game on the field. He was very good at managing the game from his position, and was even more highly regarded for his abilities with young pitchers. In 1974 he led National League catchers in putouts with 806.

This compensated for subpar offense, as illustrated by arguably his best offensive year occurring in 1974 when he batted .266 in fewer than 100 games. He did, however, bat .321 with the bases loaded during his career. Four of his last five hits against Ken Forsch were home runs; he did not hit more than two home runs against any other pitcher in his career.[1]

In 1976 he was injured when a piece of Bill Russell's bat shattered and hit him (the on-deck batter) in the neck, piercing his esophagus. He had nine pieces of wood taken out of his neck in 98 minutes of surgery. Yeager is famous for later inventing the catcher's throat protector flap that hangs from the catcher's mask, which he began wearing after the life-threatening incident.

In 1982 Yeager injured his knee, and he broke his wrist a year later. In November 1985 he signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who the next month traded him to the Seattle Mariners for Ed Vande Berg. He retired after the 1986 season.

[edit] Stats

  • Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
  • Weight: 190 lb (86 kg)
  • Bats and Throws: Right
  • Uniform number: 7
  • World Series: .298 in 21 games, 17 for 57, 10 RBIs
  • MLB Career
    • Putouts: 6,110
    • Assists: 674
    • Errors: 88 (catching)
    • Double Plays: 75 (catching)
    • Fielding Percentage: .987
    • Batting average: .228
    • Hits: 816
    • RBIs: 410
    • Home runs: 102

[edit] Minor league coaching career

In 1999, Yeager was the hitting coach for the Dodgers’ Single-A San Bernardino Stampede, which won the California League championship. In 2000-01 he managed the Long Beach Breakers. He was hitting coach for the Jacksonville Suns in 2004, and in 2005-06 he was the hitting instructor/coach for the Dodgers AAA farm club, the Las Vegas 51s.

In 2007, he serves as the hitting coach for the Inland Empire 66ers.

[edit] Outside baseball

  • Known for his flashy lifestyle as a player, when he got married on the steps of LA's City Hall, then Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley was best man at his wedding.
  • Yeager was famous for having posed nude for Playgirl magazine in their October 1982 issue.
  • After his playing career, Yeager converted to Judaism.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Mike Schmidt		 World Series MVP (with Ron Cey and Pedro Guerrero)
1981		 Succeeded by
Darrell Porter
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