KHI's Yastrzemski views Sox-Yanks in different light

Just like hundreds of thousands of other Boston Red Sox fans, Jeff lives and dies with the team's fortunes. And he's doubly fortunate this weekend.

He has tickets for one of the showdown series games with the arch-rival New York Yankees, and as a mechanic for Kevin Harvick Inc., he'll be just down the road in Loudon, N.H., for the Craftsman Truck Series race. So if the boss will allow him to leave as soon as practice ends, he can be at Fenway Park in time for the first pitch.

"I'm excited," he said. "I've got my tickets for the game Friday night. I can't wait."

Of course, Jeff's been to Fenway before. His famous last name was a fixture on the Fenway Park scoreboard for 3,308 games -- and graces a retired uniform with the No. 8 on the back.

Jeff Yastrzemski

Carl Yastrzemski

His name is Jeff Yastrzemski. His uncle, Carl Yastrzemski, was a Hall of Fame outfielder for the Red Sox from 1961-1983, playing the majority of his career a few yards from the Green Monster.

Most kids dream of meeting a major league ballplayer someday. Imagine what it's like to have one come to your house for Thanksgiving dinner.

"He was traveling all the time and I didn't get to see him a whole lot, but when I did, I'd ask him for pointers or whatever," Yastrzemski said. "His schedule then was about as hectic as mine is now."

Did Yastrzemski ever get to see his uncle play in person?

"I did a few times, late in his career," Yastrzemski said. "I was too young to see him during his good years, when he was one of the best players in the league."

Yastrzemski hails from Penn Yan, N.Y., which normally would have placed him squarely in Yankee country. But blood is thicker than pinstripes, in this instance. Just like his uncle, the younger Yaz also played left field -- and shortstop.

"I played in Little League," Yastrzemski said. "I actually played in three different towns. I was playing baseball all the time. That's all I wanted to do, was play baseball. I essentially got burned out on it.

"I played up to my sophomore year of high school and then I started to go racing, and that was about it. A friend of mine had a dirt car. We used to race at Canandaigua Speedway in upstate New York. I just liked it and decided that's what I wanted to do."

It was at Alfred State College where Yastrzemski realized he had the talent to make a living working on racecars.

"One of my professors had some connections down here and knew I went to the races on the weekends," Yastrzemski said. "He asked me if I thought about doing it for a living. In upstate New York, what are you going to do? Work in Troy all your life, building modifieds? I didn't think there was any money in it.

"Then he said, 'Have you ever thought about moving south?' I never had given it any thought. I never really had even watched a NASCAR race, to be honest with you. So he said he'd try to hook me up with some job opportunities if I wanted. So I came down and had an interview with RaDiUs Motorsports and that was all she wrote."

Yastrzemski landed at KHI a little under two months ago from Braun Racing -- and immediately learned that his new employer was a Yankees fan.

"I wear my Red Sox hat around the shop all the time, so he gives me a little bit of grief," Yastrzemski said, referring to Harvick. "The last series the Red Sox and Yankees had, we made a bet with each other. If the Red Sox win the series, he had to wear a Red Sox hat for a week and if the Yankees won, I would wear a Yankees hat for a week."

Well, the Yankees swept the series, so guess who had to sport the "NY" for seven days?

"It's been pretty tough since then," Yastrzemski admitted.

If Harvick presses the issue, Yastrzemski can always point to 2004, when the Red Sox finally ended decades of frustration by mounting a four-game comeback to beat their rivals. Of course, the heartache of all the those near-misses is rarely far away for a dyed-in-the-wool Sox fan.

"I was there in '86 when the ball rolled through [Bill] Buckner's legs and we lost to the Mets," Yastrzemski said. "If you ever watch that movie, Fever Pitch, that movie's basically like me. I'm like the biggest Red Sox fan you've ever met."

And there was an Uncle Carl in that film, too. Speaking of Carl Yastrzemski, Jeff says it's hard to find him, mainly because he keeps on the go in his retirement, either at his place on Cape Cod or at his winter home in Florida.

"He fishes every morning," Yaz said. "He goes striper fishing every morning, so you just can't catch him."

His favorite memory -- other than the 2004 World Series -- not surprisingly revolves around his uncle.

"Yaz Day, when he retired," Yastrzemski said. "When they brought out the rocking chair for his birthday, that was pretty cool."

Even though the NASCAR schedule has been hectic, and Yastrzemki is in the middle of moving from one house to another, he couldn't pass up the chance to see the Sox live.

"That's the only reason I'm going up there," he said. "They needed somebody, so I just kind of volunteered to go up there for them because I knew I could sneak down to Fenway and watch a ballgame. To play the Yankees is kind of a no-lose situation.

"We've been on the road 17 weekends in a row, but to have a chance to watch the Red Sox and Yankees, that'll work."