Mike Yastrzemski Learned How To Spell His Last Name With Some Help From Mickey Mouse
Yastrzemski has his grandmother to thank for helping him with this.
Atlanta Braves right fielder Mike Yastrzemski had to use an unorthodox method to learn how to spell his last name as a kid.
Growing up, it took the grandson of MLB legend Carl a while to figure it out. Frankly, I don’t blame him. Can you imagine having to learn how to spell a Polish surname at the same time as you’re entering kindergarten? I certainly wouldn’t want to do that.
Thankfully, his grandmother had an idea on how to make it stick.
Yastrzemski was a big fan of the cartoon show "The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" (he was far from the only one). Using that knowledge, she realized she could use the show’s theme song to help her grandson with his spelling.
Braves radio announcer Brandon Gaudin told the rest of the story on Friday.
"His grandmother discovered there are the same number of letters in Yastrzemski as in the (lyric) M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E," Gaudin said. "He learned how to spell his name like that…Y-A-S-T-R-Z-E-M-S-K-I."
Anybody who watched that as a kid can immediately pick up on the jingle and see just how genius of an idea this is. Remembering things by pairing them with music makes things stick for a lot longer than most other memory techniques, but it takes a smart person to use that to make a connection with a complicated last name like Yastrzemski.
This is a classic example of how grandmothers are often some of the smartest people in our lives — and that Mickey Mouse is truly a legend.