Charles Krupa/Associated Press
BOSTON — Forty-four years ago, Carl Yastrzemski ended one of the most electrifying World Series in baseball history with a fly out to center field at Fenway Park. A little higher and farther, and Yastrzemski would have tied Game 7 with the Cincinnati Reds. He never returned to the World Series.
The year the Red Sox finally won it, 2004, was painful for Yastrzemski: His only son, Mike, a former minor leaguer, died that September of a heart attack after hip surgery. Only 43 years old, he had left behind a son, also named Mike.