Just when we thought school was out for the summer, the Inland Empire 66ers surprise us with one last Education Day. Screaming kids, and lots of them. Chris and I were given a Steve Yeager autographed bat to raffle off. To be honest, I didn’t brush up on my LA Dodger history before the game so I was a little unsure of Steve Yeager’s career stats and highlights. After a little research here is what I found:

Interesting Steve Yeager Facts, current hitting coach of the Inland Empire 66ers (courtesy of Wikipedia)

1. Was a catcher for the Dodgers who in 1981 shared the World Series MVP honors with two other Dodger players, Pedro Guerrero and Ron Cey.

2. In 1976 he was injured when a piece of Bill Russell’s bat shattered and hit him in the neck, piercing his esophagus. He had nine pieces of wood taken out of his neck in 98 minutes of surgery. Yeager is famous for later inventing the catcher’s throat protector flap that hangs from the catcher’s mask, which he began wearing after the life-threatening incident.

3. 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.

4. In September 1979, he and his family appeared on Family Feud with Richard Dawson. They played for a total of 6 days.

Even though there were a lot of kids there who were born over 15 years after Steve Yeager was named MVP of the 1981 World Series, there were still a lot of older adult Dodgers fans in attendance that helped us raise a bunch of money. Thanks a lot to Paul for helping us out on such a hectic day. Next stop of the day—Lake Elsinore.