Steve Yeager

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For the filmmaker and politician, see Steve Yeager (filmmaker) and Steve Yeager (politician).
Steve Yeager
Runs batted in
410
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Stephen Wayne Yeager (born November 24, 1948) is an American 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. From 2012 to 2018, Yeager was the catching coach for the Dodgers. He was co-MVP of the 1981 World Series.

Early and personal life

Yeager was born in Huntington, West Virginia.[1] He attended Meadowdale High School in Dayton, Ohio.[1] Yeager hit two grand slams in a single game while playing for Meadowdale.

He is the cousin of the late test pilot

Granada Hills, California.[4]

Minor league career

He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 6, 1967, in the 4th round of the

Bakersfield Dodgers, the Dodgers' Single-A affiliate in the California League, where he threw out 26 runners from behind the plate.[6] That season he suffered a fractured leg in a first-inning collision with a runner at home plate, but was not aware how bad his injury was, and finished the game.[5]

Yeager was promoted to

All-Star team as a catcher in 1971.[6]

In

Albuquerque for another season.[6] “You won't beat that arm of his,” Tommy Lasorda said that season.[5] With the Triple-A Dukes, he played 82 games, batting .280 with 45 RBIs and a slugging percentage of .502, in 257 at bats.[6][5]

Major league career

Los Angeles Dodgers (1972-85)

Yeager made his Major League debut with the Dodgers on August 2, 1972, and went on to play 15 seasons in the major leagues.[6] He started 34 games that season and batted .274/.374/.406.[6] In the winter before the 1973 season he was named to the Dominican League All Star team.[5] He backed up Joe Ferguson in 1973, and split time with Ferguson for the pennant-winning 1974 club as he hit .266 with 12 home runs.[6] Thereafter, Yeager was the starting catcher for the Dodgers and became an integral part of the Dodgers' success in the 1970s and early 1980s.

In 1976, he led NL catchers in assists, with 77.[6] In 1977, he came in second in voting for the Gold Glove Award.[5] He led NL catchers in baserunners caught stealing percentage in both 1978 (46.7%) and 1982 (43.1%).[6]

Yeager helped the Dodgers get to the

Pedro Guerrero and Ron Cey. Yeager, who was backing up Mike Scioscia by that time, did not have overwhelming stats for the Series, as he went 4-for-14 (.286), but one of his hits was a double and two were home runs.[6] One of the homers, off Ron Guidry, turned out to be the game-winner in Game 5.[5]

While with the Dodgers, Yeager caught Jerry Reuss' no-hitter on June 27, 1980.[7]

Yeager injured his knee in 1982 and broke his wrist the next year, which severely limited his playing time.

Seattle Mariners (1986)

He was traded from the Dodgers to the Seattle Mariners for Ed Vande Berg on December 11, 1985.[8] He retired after hitting .208 in 130 at bats in 1986.[6]

Characteristics

radar gun in place to record pitches caught his throw to second (from a crouch) at 98 mph. 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 had 806 putouts, the most in the National League.[6] This compensated for his overall subpar offense, as illustrated by arguably his best offensive year occurring in 1974 when he batted .266 in fewer than 100 games.[6] Despite this reputation, Yeager was still somewhat of a clutch hitter as he had an average of .321 when hitting with the bases loaded during his career, as well as hitting 4 home runs in 21 World Series games.[6] He also had success hitting off pitcher Ken Forsch. While never hitting more than two home runs
off any other pitcher, he managed to hit 5 against Forsch in his career.

With the Dodgers, whenever

knuckleballer Charlie Hough
pitched, Yeager would use a special enlarged catcher's mitt and would hold it in a cupped style, palm facing upward, instead of the normal upright "target" position.

Throat protector

In 1976, Yeager was injured when teammate

on-deck circle.[5] The wood hit him in the neck and pierced his esophagus, necessitating surgery.[5] After the incident, at Yeager's urging Dodger trainer Bill Buhler invented and patented a device that hangs from the catcher's mask to protect the throat.[5]
It was soon worn by most catchers throughout the Majors and other leagues.

2008 NLCS
Game 3

Coaching career

Steve Yeager coached the Dodgers catchers from 2012–2018.[9]

Minor league coaching career

In 1999, Yeager was the

Las Vegas 51s
. He later joined the A Dodgers affiliate Inland Empire 66'ers and became the hitting coach in 2007.

Yeager was instrumental in the conversion of Russell Martin from third base to behind the plate.

In 2007, he became the manager for the Long Beach Armada of the independent Golden Baseball League.[6]

Personal life

In September 1979, he and his family appeared on an episode of Family Feud. They played for a total of 6 days.

In 1982, Yeager posed semi-nude in a Playgirl magazine.[10][5]

In 1991, Yeager filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.[11]

In July 1996, Yeager was sued by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for allegedly misleading dozens of investors into donating between $2,900 and $3,500 into a fraudulent sports card brokering business.[12] He was sued for the same scheme in November of that year in Illinois and in 1997 in California.[11]

By 1997, Yeager had been divorced three times.[11]

Yeager served as a technical advisor and also played a small role as Coach Duke Temple, in Major League, Major League II, and Major League: Back to the Minors.

In 2008, Yeager sued two filmmaking companies for nonpayment of $50,000 allegedly promised to him to serve as a technical advisor on the film Playing with the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, a World at War and a Field of Broken Dreams. Yeager allegedly had been hired to teach the film's lead actor to play baseball like a convincing professional ballplayer.[13]

Yeager is a co-owner of a Jersey Mike's Subs franchise.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Steve Yeager".
  2. ^ "Major league catcher Steve Yeager returns to Long Beach to join Armada". Signal Tribune Newspaper.
  3. ^ "Jewish Baseball Players". Baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 23, 2011.
  4. ^ The Big Book of Jewish Baseball - Peter S. Horvitz, Joachim Horvitz - Google Books
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Steve Yeager | Society for American Baseball Research
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w "Steve Yeager Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Retrosheet Boxscore: Los Angeles Dodgers 8, San Francisco Giants 0".
  8. ^ "Orioles Trade Roenicke for Bordi, Hudler," The Washington Post, Thursday, December 12, 1985. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  9. ^ Coach Bio | MLB.com
  10. ^ "Yeager Expects Ribbing For Playgirl Photo". Associated Press. August 29, 1982.
  11. ^ a b c Dillman, Lisa (4 June 1997). "Yeager Sued by Sports Collectibles Investors". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  12. ^ "Ex-Dodger Yeager Is Sued by the City". The New York Times. 3 July 1996. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  13. Bloomberg.com
    . Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  14. ^ "Former Dodgers' star Yeager has found missing ingredient". Retrieved April 14, 2012.

External links

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