Red Sox Team Honors Carl Yastrzemski with Statue

The Boston Red Sox honored Carl Yastrzemski with a statue outside the right field entrance of Fenway Park on Sunday morning, according to CNN Sports Illustrated.

"It means tremendous importance to me," he said, standing at the base of the statue after a 30-minute ceremony that included some of his former teammates and current members of the AL East champions. "This is as important to me as being elected to the Hall of Fame and having my number retired. It's a tremendous honor."

It was fitting that the Red Sox did it this season, one that's being compared to the club's turnaround from last to first when Yastrzemski won the Triple Crown in 1967. Boston, which clinched the AL East title on Friday night, won just 69 games and finished in the division's basement last season.

"In a way there's a lot of similarities, playing as a great, great unit," Yastrzemski said. "Different guys doing something everyday. That's what you need to win the division, which they did. The comparisons I make is it was a very tight unit.

I'm just waiting for the playoffs. I can't wait for the playoffs to start." Former teammates included Hall of Famer, Jim Rice, outfielder, Dwight Evans, Bill Lee and Luis Tiant. Current Red Sox players Dustin Pedroia, Jonny Gomes, Daniel Nava and manager John Farrell were also on hand.

"The greatest Red Sox player is Carl Yastrzemski," Evans told the crowd, recalling how he lived with Yaz when he was a young player. Rice, also a Hall of Famer, joked that Yastrzemski wanted things to be done quickly. "Yaz is the type of person that believed in a couple of things - short, quick and direct," said Rice, who replaced him in left.