Steve Yeager
Steve Yeager signing autographs before the 2008 NLCS Game 3.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Catcher/Coach
Born: (1948-11-24) November 24, 1948 (age 64) Huntington, West Virginia
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
August 2, 1972 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
August 29, 1986 for the Seattle Mariners
Career statistics
Batting average	.228
Home runs	102
Runs batted in	410
Teams
Los Angeles Dodgers (1972–1985) Seattle Mariners (1986)
Career highlights and awards
World Series champion (1981) World Series MVP (1981)

Stephen Wayne "Steve" Yeager (born November 24, 1948) is an American right-handed former professional baseball catcher . Yeager spent 14 of the 15 seasons of his Major League Baseball career, from 1972 through 1985, with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His last year, 1986, he played for the Seattle Mariners. As of 2012, Yeager is the Los Angeles Dodgers' Major League catching coach.

Minor league career [edit]

Yeager once hit two grand slams in one high school game at Meadowdale High School (Ohio) in Dayton, Ohio. Yeager was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 6, 1967, in the 4th round of the 1967 Major League Baseball Draft. After one game with the rookie level Ogden Spikers of the Pioneer League, Yeager was sent to the Dodgers Single-A affiliate, the Dubuque Packers of the Midwest League. The following season, in 1968, Yeager played 59 games for the Single-A Daytona Beach Dodgers of the Florida State League. In 1969, he played 22 games for the Bakersfield Blaze, the Dodgers' Single-A affiliate in the California League, where he threw out 26 runners from behind the plate.

Yeager was promoted to Double-A before the end of the 1969 season, playing in 1 game for the Albuquerque Dodgers of the Texas League. He spent the next two-and-2/3 seasons with the Double-A franchise. In 162 games played over the 1970 and 1971 seasons, he hit .276, with 77 RBIs in 490 at bats. He threw out 84 runners (second in the Texas League) and was named to the Texas League All-Star team as a catcher in 1971.

With the Dukes becoming the new Pacific Coast League Triple-A affiliate for the Dodgers in 1972, Yeager was promoted while remaining in Albuquerque for another season. With the Triple-A Dukes, he played 82 games, batting .280 with 45 RBIs in 257 at bats.

Major league career [edit]

Yeager made his Major League debut with the Dodgers on August 2, 1972. He started 34 games that season, backed up Joe Ferguson in 1973, and split time with Ferguson for the pennant-winning 1974 club. Thereafter, Yeager was the starting catcher for the Dodgers and became an integral part of the Dodgers' success in the 1970s and early 1980s. Yeager helped the Dodgers to the World Series in 1974, 1977, 1978, and 1981. In the '81 Series against the New York Yankees, he shared the World Series Most Valuable Player award with teammates Pedro Guerrero and Ron Cey. Yeager, who was backing up Mike Scioscia by that time, did not have overwhelming stats for the Series, as he went 4-for-14 (.286), but three of his hits were a double and two home runs. One of the homers, off Ron Guidry, turned out to be the game-winner in Game 5.

In 1982, Yeager injured his knee and broke his wrist a year later, severely limiting his playing time. He was traded to the Seattle Mariners for Ed Vande Berg following the 1985 season and retired after hitting only .208 in 1986.

While with the Dodgers, Yeager caught Jerry Reuss' no-hitter on June 27, 1980. ^[1]

Characteristics [edit]

Lou Brock called Yeager "the best-throwing catcher in the game." His specialty was defense and his command of the game on the field. In one nationally-televised game, he made a putout to second base – and the radar gun in place to record pitches caught his throw to second (from a crouch) at 98 mph. He was very good at managing the game from his position and was even more highly regarded for his abilities with young pitchers. In 1974, he led National League catchers in putouts with 806. This compensated for his overall subpar offense, as illustrated by arguably his best offensive year occurring in 1974 when he batted .266 in fewer than 100 games. Despite this reputation, Yeager was still somewhat of a clutch hitter as he had an average of .321 when hitting with the bases loaded during his career, as well as hitting 4 homeruns in 21 World Series games. He also had success hitting off pitcher Ken Forsch. While never hitting more than two home runs off any other pitcher, he managed to hit 5 against Forsch in his career.

With the Dodgers, whenever knuckleballer Charlie Hough pitched, Yeager would use a special enlarged catcher's mitt and would hold it in a cupped style, palm facing upward, instead of the normal upright "target" position.

Throat protector [edit]

In 1976, Yeager was injured when teammate Bill Russell's bat shattered and a large, jagged piece hit him in the neck while Yeager was in the on-deck circle, piercing his esophagus. He had nine pieces of wood taken out of his neck in 98 minutes of surgery. After the incident, Dodger trainer Bill Buhler invented and patented a throat protector that hangs from the catcher's mask. It was soon worn by most catchers around the Majors and other leagues.

Stats [edit]

• Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
• Weight: 190 lb (86 kg)
• Batted and Threw: Right
• Uniform number: 7
• World Series: .298 in 21 games, 17 for 57, 10 RBIs
• MLB Career

Minor league coaching career [edit]

In 1999, Yeager was the hitting coach for the Dodgers’ Single-A San Bernardino Stampede, which won the California League championship. In 2001, he managed the Long Beach Breakers in the independent (now-defunct) Western Baseball League, where the team won the league championship in their inaugural season that year beating the Chico Heat 3 games to 2. He was hitting coach for the Jacksonville Suns in 2004 when the team went on to win the championship, and in 2005-06 he was the hitting instructor/coach for the Dodgers AAA farm club, the Las Vegas 51s. He later became the A Dodgers affiliate Inland Empire 66'ers and became the hitting coach in 2007.

Yeager was instrumental in the conversion of Russell Martin from third base to behind the plate.

In 2007, he became the manager for the Long Beach Armada of the independent Golden Baseball League.

Outside baseball [edit]

• Yeager is part owner of a Jersey Mike's Subs franchise.^[2]

• Yeager is a nephew of pilot Chuck Yeager.

• Known for his flashy lifestyle as a player, when he got married on the steps of LA's City Hall, then Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley was best man at his wedding.

• Yeager served as technical advisor and also had a small role, as Coach Duke Temple, in Major League, Major League II, and Major League: Back to the Minors.

• In September 1979, he and his family appeared on Family Feud with Richard Dawson. They played for a total of 6 days.
• In 1982, Yeager posed semi-nude in Playgirl magazine.^[3]

• After his playing career, Yeager converted to Judaism.^[4]

See also [edit]

• List of select Jewish baseball players

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Steve Yeager at the Internet Movie Database
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Baseball Library bio
• Baseball Almanac bio
• Famous (one of National Geographic 100 best) picture of Yeager kissing coach Monty Basgall
• Yeager (with Garvey, Fingers, & Buckner) on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the 1974 World Series issue
• "Minor league baseball: Yeager is managing Breakers day by day," 8/29/01