Happy Birthday, Yaz!

Shank catches up with the former Red Sox left fielder:

Catching up with the great Carl Yastrzemski as he turns 85, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while trying to learn the NFL’s ridiculously complex new kickoff rules …

▪ Carl Yastrzemski is New England’s historic, hardball J.D. Salinger. He’s our Garbo. Yaz gave us great work for 23 big league seasons and now he just wants to be left alone.

The greatest living Red Sox player — and the team’s career leader in games (3,308), runs, hits, and total bases — turned 85 Thursday. He says he’s no longer fishing or playing golf, but he’s watched a lot of Sox games on TV this season and keeps close tabs on his 34-year-old grandson, Mike, who’s in his sixth season with the San Francisco Giants.

The West Coast night games are tough on Grandpa Yaz.

“They get going at 9:45 and I’m sleeping by then,” he said with a chuckle.