Dear Sports Fan,
At the ceremony to retire Pedro Martinez’ number, Yaz (Carl Yastrzemski) was wearing an Iowa Hawkeyes football shirt. Does anyone know why? Does he have grandchildren at Iowa? Google failed me on this one.
Thanks,
Stephanie
Dear Stephanie,
It’s rare that any of us gets to beat Google but I think I just did that. Carl Yastrzemski was wearing an Iowa Hawkeyes shirt under his blazer because he is close friends with the father of an Iowa Hawkeyes assistant football coach. The coach is Chris White. He coaches the running backs and special teams. As he explained on Twitter, his Dad played baseball with Yaz when they were both college kids at Notre Dame and play golf frequently today:
@hawkrod my dad played baseball at Notre Dame w/ #Yaz. They play golf together monthly. Good friends!
— Chris White (@IowaCoachWhite) July 30, 2015
Will this become a pattern? Maybe if Coach White has his way. He is apparently going to send Yaz more Iowa clothing to wear.
My dad called #Yaz today&told him #HawkeyeNation was fired up that he was representing. Got to send him more gear! pic.twitter.com/gNvTtSJPNx — Chris White (@IowaCoachWhite) July 30, 2015
I hope this explains the connection. Thanks to Tim Kluender for answering my investigatory Tweet. Here’s our conversation. You should follow him for all your Iowa Hawkeyes and Kansas City Royals needs.
@TimKluender Did you ever find out what the connection was? I’m stumped.
— dearsportsfan (@dearsportsfan) July 30, 2015
@dearsportsfan – Assistant football coach Chris White’s father and Yaz were friends in college and Notre Dame.
— Tim Kluender (@TimKluender) July 30, 2015
@TimKluender Awesome — thanks!
— dearsportsfan (@dearsportsfan) July 30, 2015
Thanks for reading,
Ezra Fischer