{{Short description|American baseball player (1924–2008)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Sal Yvars |image=Sal Yvars.jpg |position=Catcher |bats=Right |throws=Right |birth_date={{Birth date|1924|2|20}} |birth_place=New York City, New York, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|2008|12|10|1924|2|20}} |death_place=Valhalla, New York, U.S. |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=September 27 |debutyear=1947 |debutteam=New York Giants |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=September 26 |finalyear=1954 |finalteam=St. Louis Cardinals |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Batting average |stat1value=.244 |stat2label=Home runs |stat2value=10 |stat3label=Runs batted in |stat3value=42 |teams= *New York Giants ({{mlby|1947}}–{{mlby|1953}}) *St. Louis Cardinals ({{mlby|1953}}–{{mlby|1954}}) }} '''Salvador Anthony Yvars''' (February 20, 1924 – December 10, 2008) was an American professional baseball catcher. He played all or part of eight seasons in Major League Baseball, with the New York Giants from 1947 to 1953 and the St. Louis Cardinals from 1953 to 1954. Born in Manhattan's Little Italy to a Valencian gravedigger and a Sicilian laundress,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sal Yvars: robbed of high leverage hit in 1951 WS - Italian Americans in Baseball|date=January 29, 2021 |url=https://www.baseballamore.com/yvarss/|access-date=2022-01-01|language=en-US}}</ref> he was a three-sport star at White Plains High School, playing football, basketball, and baseball.<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E5DE1531F93AA35751C0A9679C8B63|first=Charlie|last=Leduff|title=PUBLIC LIVES; A Telescopic Lens on a Baseball Legend|date=2001-02-09|work=The New York Times}}</ref> He originally signed with the Giants in 1942, and enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces shortly afterward.<ref name=nytimes/> During his time in the Army, Yvars was effectively a test dummy, with him saying of his ability to handle the tests, "I could take six and a half G's without a pressure helmet."<ref name=nytimes/>
After World War II, Yvars again played for the Giants' farm system. He played for Manchester of the New England League during the 1946 season, and the Jersey City Jerseys of the International League during the 1947 season. He made his major league debut on September 27, 1947 in the only game he played that season for the Giants.<ref name=br>{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/y/yvarssa01.shtml|title=Sal Yvars Statistics|publisher=Baseball-Reference.com|accessdate=2008-09-12}}</ref> His lone hit of the season came off of Schoolboy Rowe, a single to left field.<ref name=nytimes/> In 1948, Yvars played in 15 games and had a batting average of .211.<ref name=br/> He played three games in 1949 and nine in 1950 for the Giants.<ref name=br/> During the 1951 New York Giants season, Yvars was the backup catcher behind Wes Westrum, and played in 25 games, hitting .317 during the season.<ref name=br/> During Game Six of the World Series, he lined out to right field for the final out as the Yankees took the series.<ref name = "Prager"/>
Yvars is best remembered as the player on the New York Giants who relayed stolen signals to his teammates awaiting in the batters box during the 1951 pennant-winning season.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hitters knew pitches in stretch drive|url=https://www.espn.com/classic/s/2001/0201/1054936.html|work=ESPN|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref> In the 1980s, he said he wrote a memoir titled ''How We Stole the Pennant'', but lost his publishing deal, he claimed, when he refused to detail the personal peccadilloes of teammates.<ref name = "Prager">{{cite news |first=Joshua Harris |last=Prager |title=Inside Baseball: Giants' 1951 Comeback, The Sport's Greatest, Wasn't All It Seemed |publisher=Wall Street Journal |date=January 31, 2001}}</ref>
The Giants traded Ivars to St. Louis in 1953. He retired the next year, and worked as an investment advisor for 50 years.<ref name = "Prager"/> He died in Valhalla, New York from amyloidosis at the age of 84, survived by his wife, Antoinette; his son, David; daughters Diane, Donna and Deborah; a brother, Jack; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/sports/baseball/12yvars.html?_r=0 Sal Yvars Dies at 84; Revealed Baseball Scheme]. ''New York Times'' (December 11, 2008), retrieved October 17, 2016.</ref>
In 210 games over eight seasons, Yvars posted a .244 batting average (102-for-418) with 41 runs, 10 home runs and 42 RBI. Defensively, he recorded a .987 fielding percentage.<ref name="br" />
Yvars is interred in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{baseballstats|br=y/yvarssa01| fangraphs=1014400|brm=yvars-001sal}} *{{cite news|url=http://www.nyjnews.com/obits/Obit1.php?pid=2665519|title=Yvars, Salvador Anthony|format=obituary|publisher=The Journal News|work=nyjnews.com|accessdate=March 22, 2020|url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525092132/http://www.nyjnews.com/obits/Obit1.php?pid=2665519|archivedate=May 25, 2011}} *{{findagrave|32128852}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yvars, Sal}} Category:1924 births Category:2008 deaths Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American people of Spanish descent Category:Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Category:Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York) Category:Deaths from amyloidosis Category:Jersey City Giants players Category:Little Rock Travelers players Category:Major League Baseball catchers Category:Manchester Giants (baseball) players Category:Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Category:New York Giants (baseball) players Category:People from Valhalla, New York Category:Sportspeople from Mount Pleasant, New York Category:Baseball players from Westchester County, New York Category:St. Louis Cardinals players Category:White Plains High School alumni Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Category:20th-century American sportsmen