I agree that Yastrzemski should have retired earlier. My main memory of him is when he made the final out in the 1978 tie-breaker playoff game with the NY Yankees with a weak in-field pop up.
I remember that memorable moment (among many of them for the Yankees) in the 1978 season. Didn’t he also hit a home run off Ron Guidry earlier in that same game?
He did hit a homerun earlier in the game. The pop up was after a signature Yaz wicked swing. It was not a weak pop up. It was a legitimate swing and he just missed it. By the way, that same swing yielded 450 homeruns from a 180 pound body in the pre steroid era. There was no one else who should have been at the plate for that last chance.