SAN FRANCISCO -- Few people on this planet can tell a baseball story like Giants broadcaster Jon Miller, and as he sat in the dugout before a recent game, he excitedly told two that connect different generations of a well-known baseball family.
First, Miller talked of his fondness for Carl Yastrzemski, a Hall of Famer and Red Sox legend who once made life much easier for a 22-year-old broadcaster looking for a postgame interview. Miller was doing radio work for the A's in 1974 and part of his job was interviewing one of the game's stars.
"I asked Carl if he would do the postgame and he agreed," Miller said. "He was very gracious with his time. He could have blown me off, I was a young man at Fenway Park for the first time."
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To complete the interview, Miller had to run a wire down from the press box all the way to the backstop. He remembers Yastrzemski being remarkably patient and understanding as a bunch of Red Sox fans hung around to see if they could get autographs from the star, who had expected to be interviewed in the dugout.
"We had our own studio audience," Miller said, laughing.
Forty-five years later, the technology is light years different. When Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski hit three homers in a recent game, Miller was in the booth asking postgame questions of the rookie outfielder. Part of Miller's research had been done by pulling out his iPhone and looking up Yastrzemski and his family on Instagram.
Hardly an interview goes by for Mike without his grandfather being mentioned. When the Giants visit Boston in mid-September, he is expected to hold a press conference of sorts. That's how great the demand already is for his time.
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For Miller, Mike Yastrzemski's breakthrough has added a cool note to a legendary career in the booth. Miller worked for a station called WITS in Boston for three seasons, calling the latter years of Carl Yastrzemski's career. He first heard of Mike when he was an Orioles prospect.
"I was rooting for him big-time," Miller said. "I just thought it would be cool for the Giants to have a guy named Yastrzemski. And then, to have him be so good, too."
Like he did with the original, Miller calls Yastrzemski "Yaz" and writes it that way in his scorebook. Miller has actually seen all three generations in action. He watched Mike's dad, also named Mike, play in the Cape Cod League and remembers hearing Carl tell stories about his son. When Mike was called up by the Giants, Miller tracked down a photo of his father and grandfather.
This is not the first time Miller has covered multiple generations. He was behind the mic on a daily basis for Buddy Bell and David Bell and has watched other father-son duos while doing national work.
This one is special, though. Miller formed a nice bond with Yastrzemski, and he jokes now that the Red Sox star gravitated towards the broadcast team because he was so much older than most of his teammates when Miller started in Boston in 1980.
That led to one more story, one involving Mike's grandfather and father. Miller said Carl Yastrzemski told him that his most exciting moment involving baseball actually came as a fan.
[RELATED: Carl Yastrzemski knows it'll be 'emotional' to see Mike play at Fenway]
"He had a day off in the schedule and Mike's dad was playing in college and he was a star. He was on one of the top teams in the nation at Florida State, and Carl went to the game," Miller recalled. "The fans were yelling at Mike the whole time, just crucifying him because of his last name. And Carl is outraged that his son is having to endure it.
"It might have been the seventh or eighth and Mike is coming up and they're all over him. He hit a homer and turned the game around and they won, and Carl said that was his most exciting moment in a baseball game. I thought that was a cool story."