Eddie Yost has died at 86. The Nats third-baseman and lead-off hitter from about 1946 through 1958, Yost finished 20 major-league seasons with an on-base percentage of .394. He led the AL in walks about six times, and had such a good eye that umpires let Yost call close pitches. If Yost didn't swing, it was a ball.
Let this sink in: eight times, Yost had more than 100 walks in a season, and an on-base percentage above .400...not counting his part-time last season.
If you check Yost's numbers, his average doesn't look impressive, unless you remember that Yost was a right-handed pull hitter in Griffith Stadium. The left-field mark was about 405 feet until 1956 or so, when Calvin Griffith added some bleachers to shorten left to a mere 350 feet. In hitter-friendly Detroit in 1959, Yost hit 21 homers...too old, "washed up", traded to dump salary and to make a place for Harmon Killebrew, Yost showed power.
He was also "a good glove man", says my Dad.
For details, see the SABR bio at:
http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/27ab6decand stats at:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/yosted01.shtml
