ofessional sports is that nobody who ever truly knew the man ever said a bad word about Yogi Berra. Much like Stan Musial and Chuck Tanner, who are also sadly no longer with us, Berra had such a wonderful personality and positive outlook on life that anybody who knew him loved him.
Yogi's story began in a place called ''The Hill'', a neighborhood in St. Louis made up mostly of Italian Americans. Berra's closest friend from the neighborh
ood was future Major League player and broadcaster Joe Garagiola. Like most Americans, Yogi grew up loving the game of baseball, and in 1942, Berra and Gargiola were both given tryouts with the hometown St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals signed Garagiola and not Berra. Rumor has it that St. Louis team president Branch Rickey was more impressed with Yogi than he let on. Rickey knew he would soon be taking the helm of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and hoped to sign Berra then. Unfortunately for Rickey, the New York Yankees got to Berra first, and the rest is history. It is not clear how Lawerence got the nickname ''Yogi'', but, according to Berra, he got the name from one of his youth teammates as a result of the way he sat down resembling a Yogi
Another thing that makes Yogi's life so special is that he was more than just a great athlete - he was an American hero. After being shunned by the Cardinals, Berra was called by Uncle Sam to serve in the U.S. Navy during WWII. As a Second Class Seaman, Yogi served on a rocket boat during the Allied invasion at Normandy, where he came under enemy fire and received commendations for bravery.
After his service, Berra returned to the diamond, playing for the minor league Newark Bears. While in Newark, Yogi met legendary Yankee catcher Bill Dickey, who became a great mentor in teaching Yogi how to be a great catcher. Berra later said, ''I owe everything in baseball to Bill Dickey''.
Yogi made his Major League Debut with the New York Yankees on September 22nd, 1946. The New York media did not expect much out of Berra, saying that he was bowlegged and that his appearance resembled that of an ape, as well as mocking his hobby of reading comic books in the locker room among other things. The Press did not think he ''looked like a Yankee'', and not a lot of people saw him fitting in with a stacked squad that featured the likes of Phil Rizzuto, Charlie Keller, and the immortal Joe DiMagio. Needless to say, New York was a little off in its assessment of the young catcher from St. Louis.
When it comes to Berra's performance on the field, the numbers say it all: 18 All Star Games; 14 American League Pennants; 10 World Series Championships; 3-time American League MVP; 358 home runs; 1,430 runs batted in;, a lifetime Batting Average of .285; and World Series records for games played (75), at bats (259), hits (71), doubles (10), singles (49), games caught (63), and putouts by a catcher(457). And he was one of the greatest defensive catchers to ever play the game. Not bad for a player who was too short, stocky and awkward to be a Major League player. Berra had his number 8 retired by the Yankees has as a plaque in Yankee Stadium's monument park, and received the games highest honor when he was inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 1972.
Berra's life in baseball did not end after his last game as a Yankee. In 1964, Yogi replaced Ralph Houk as Yankee manager. Much like when he first started as a player, the New York Press did not think Yogi would succeed, and for the first 5 months of the season, it looked like they might have been right. But the Yanks caught fire in September, capturing the AL Pennant before losing a hard fought 7 game World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. After the season, Berra was fired. Ralph Houk, now the Yankees General Manager, said that he felt that Berra ''was not ready to manage''. It was a mistake that would come back to bite the Yankees, as the once invincible dynasty would not play in another World Series until 1976.
The Yankees loss proved to be a gain for the other New York team, as Casey Stengel, who was Yogi's manager for the majority of his Major League career, asked Yogi to be on his coaching staff with the New York Mets. It did not look to be anything special, as the Mets were horrendous from 1965-68. But in 1969, the Mets put it all together and won their first World Series, defeating the Baltimore Orioles in 5 games in one of the biggest shocks in World Series history, giving Yogi his 11th World Series title and first as a coach. In 1972, Yogi got another chance to manage when Mets skipper Gill Hodges died unexpectedly during Spring Training. The Press was still skeptical of weather or not Yogi was ready to manage, but Yogi proved them wrong yet again.
The 1973 season looked like it would be one to forget, as injuries to several key players resulted in the Mets being in last place during the month of July. When asked about his struggles, Yogi replied with what became one of his most famous quotes: ''It ain't over till it's over.'' Yogi was right, as the Mets ended up fighting back to win the NL East with an 82-79 record. In the NLCS, Yogi's Mets shocked the Cincinnati Reds, a team which had finished the regular season with 17 more wins than the Mets in the regular season, in 5 games, meaning that Yogi would take part in his 17th World Series. His Mets fell short, as they could not hold a 3 games to 2 lead and wound up losing in 7 to the mighty Oakland A's, who won their 2nd of 3 consecutive world championships. Despite not winning the big prize, it was still a noble effort, and one of about 8,000,000, reasons why Yogi is the man.
Yogi would be fired from the Mets on August 5th, 1975. In 1976, he would return to the Yankees by joining the coaching staff of new Yankee manager and former teammate Billy Martin. In his first 3 years as a Yankee coach, the team won 3 straight AL Pennants along with World Series wins in 1977 and 78. Yogi would appear in his 21st and final World Series in 1981, when the Yankees lost in 7 games to the LA Dodgers. After the 1983 season, Yogi would once again get a chance to manage. 16 games in to the 1985 season, impatient owner George Steinbrenner decided to fire Berra after a 6-10 start to the season.
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| Yogi(Left) talks with George Stienbrenner(Right) |
Yogi was very hurt by this decision. Not so much with the fact that he was fired, but that Stienbrenner had one of his employees break the news to him rather than telling him face to face. As a result, Yogi vowed never to step foot in Yankee Stadium ever again as long as George owned the Yankees. In the meantime, Yogi's last coaching effort in baseball was with the Houston Astros from 1986-89. Yogi kept his promise until 1999. In January of that year, Sieinbrenner made a trip to the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in New Jersey to apologize. A person riding in the car with Stienbrenner on the trip said he had never seen the boss so nervous. When Stienbrenner arrived, he told Berra face to face that firing him was a terrible mistake. Yogi forgave him, and the grudge was put to rest.
July 18th 1999 was declared ''Yogi Berra Day'' at Yankee Stadium. The Legend himself threw out the first pitch to an emotional standing ovation, and an already incredible day was capped off when David Cone threw a perfect game against the Montreal Expos. From that point forward, Yogi was part of the Yankee family again. Over the next decade, he spent a lot of time hanging around the Yankee clubhouse, and developed a particularly special bond with Derek Jeter.
In conclusion, there will simply never be another Yogi Berra. There will never be somebody with his kind of wit and sense of humor ever again in sports. Never again will an athlete win 10 championships with one single team. I am sure of this because athletes like Berra simply don't exist anymore, and for that matter, never existed before he came along. He was a once in a lifetime type player and person, and we were lucky to have him with us for 90 years. Rest easy, my friend.
I will leave you with a collection of some of my favorite ''Yogi-isms.''
''Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.''
''I didn't really say half the things I said.''
''You should always go to other people's funerals. Otherwise, they won't come to yours.''
''Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.''
''If you come to a fork in the road, take it.''
''So I'm ugly. I've never seen anyone hit with his face.''
''It's deja vu all over again.''
''We made too many wrong mistakes.''
''I usually take a 2 hour nap from 1-4.''
''It ain't over till it's over.''
Nice tribute, Joe!
ReplyDeleteThanks Carol!
ReplyDelete