http://nypost.com/2015/09/23/yankees-legend-yogi-berra-dead-at-90/
RIP to one of the greats of the game and a true original.
RIP to one of the greats of the game and a true original.
RIP Yogi Berra
- Thread starter Jim Lonborg
- Start date
Died tonight, my grandfather begged me to play catcher because his idol growing up was Yogi. Even though I grew up a huge Sox fan, I always loved Yogi, because of my grandpa.
It ain't over until it's over. Well, now it's over for a true legend of baseball. He stood 5-foot-8, had great power and athleticism. One of the best at pouncing out from behind the plate to field bunts or squibs. Played a lot of left field after Elston Howard came along. When asked about the tricky sky in left, he said "It gets late out there early." Some of his Yogisms were made up by Yankee p.r. people and other media. My favorite was "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
He is still the best all-time Yankee catcher, in my opinion, on a franchise that has had some good ones, including HOF'er Bill Dickey.
He is still the best all-time Yankee catcher, in my opinion, on a franchise that has had some good ones, including HOF'er Bill Dickey.
NY Times obit was very good...
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/sports/baseball/yogi-berra-dies-at-90-yankees-baseball-catcher.html?referrer=
Didn't realize he was awarded a Purple Heart. Really a true American icon.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/sports/baseball/yogi-berra-dies-at-90-yankees-baseball-catcher.html?referrer=
Didn't realize he was awarded a Purple Heart. Really a true American icon.
71 hits in the World Series will stand for a long, long, time.
He was also on General Eisenhower's boat (floating D-Day HQ) in the English Channel and was also receiving German artillery fire at 19, and Bob Feller didn't like him because he didn't serve his country! I had read in Golenbock's book Dynasty back in the 1970s, that he had seen D-Day action, but certainly not this.
http://nypost.com/2015/09/23/yogi-berras-legacy-the-most-beloved-man-in-baseball/
He was also on General Eisenhower's boat (floating D-Day HQ) in the English Channel and was also receiving German artillery fire at 19, and Bob Feller didn't like him because he didn't serve his country! I had read in Golenbock's book Dynasty back in the 1970s, that he had seen D-Day action, but certainly not this.
http://nypost.com/2015/09/23/yogi-berras-legacy-the-most-beloved-man-in-baseball/
I had the pleasure of meeting him about 10 years ago. One of the nicest people I've met. RIP Yogi
I met him too, in Ft. Lauderdale, one Spring Training.
Full circle.....Yogi made his MLB debut, September 22, 1946, 69 years to the day, before his death.
Full circle.....Yogi made his MLB debut, September 22, 1946, 69 years to the day, before his death.
I grew up in his adopted hometown of Montclair NJ and as a kid it was a thrill to see him at the various events where his sons played.
My brother did some handyman work for the Berras and actually hung Yogi's own copy of the famous shot of him jumping into Larsen's arms in Yogi's den, and got Yogi to sign a ball with a Happy Birthday message for me, becoming one of my treasured possessions.
RIP to the kindest and humblest legend around.
My brother did some handyman work for the Berras and actually hung Yogi's own copy of the famous shot of him jumping into Larsen's arms in Yogi's den, and got Yogi to sign a ball with a Happy Birthday message for me, becoming one of my treasured possessions.
RIP to the kindest and humblest legend around.
The word icon gets thrown around too much, but Yogi was iconic. Great player. Good man. I can't imagine a better ambassador for baseball. What a sad day.
He is a slice of American history. It is telling that 90% of the people who have such high regard for him never saw him play an inning of baseball live.
This one makes me quite sad. Yogi was the same age as my father and was always one of my dad's favorites. 3 MVP's, 18 all-star games in 15 different seasons, 10 championships as a player, 13 overall. Bill James made a strong case that Yogi was the greatest catcher of all-time.
He was also something of a baseballZelig Forrest Gump, being on the scene for several of the game's historic moments:
Edit: corrected # of rings and all-star games, and I guess the comparison to Gump better conveys my point.
He was also something of a baseball
- Jumping into Don Larsen's arms after catching his WS perfect game
- The left fielder who watched Mazeroski's 1960 WS-clinching homer sail over the wall at Forbes Field
- First base coach for the '69 Miracle Mets
- Bench coach for the '86 Astros who witnessed the incredible Game 6 of the '86 NLCS
- Breaking up the fight in the Fenway dugout between Reggie and Billy in '77 (ok, this one doesn't belong on the list, but I love that Yogi was the peacemaker)
Edit: corrected # of rings and all-star games, and I guess the comparison to Gump better conveys my point.
Soxfan in Fla said:
12 K in 656 PA in 1950, one of my favorite stats. That's one every 55 times at the plate. Just incredible.
Because he was a funny-looking guy who said funny things, his greatness as a ballplayer has not always been given its due. A top five catcher all-time by almost any measure, and arguably the most important player on the most dominant teams in the history of baseball's most dominant franchise.
Very sad to see this news when I woke up. Not a Yankee fan, but you can't really be a fan of baseball and not respect what Yogi accomplished and brought to the sport, and he's that rare sports icon whose personality actually made him more likable
I was at Fenway one day when he hit one into the LF screen. Like everyone else is saying, whatever your team, you probably liked this guy. Really sad about this loss to the game.
For years I've believed that Yogi was the most beloved living American. No idea who would claim that title today. I'm in Montclair NJ as well and the rare occasions that I would see Yogi were a genuine thrill for me, especially when my kids met him even if they were too young to understand. Underappreciated as an all-time great player, I think, and a unique, irreplaceable figure in baseball lore. Very sad to read the news.
Lawrence Berra's life was a life well lived including his exploits on the ball diamond, his community service and his military service during WWII. One of the Yogi-isms that I like is ":The future sure isn't what it used to be!" So true Yogi, so true.
I actually saw much of his career, on top of everything else, he was an amazing bad ball hitter. My heroes when I was 8 were Yogi and Moose (the original, as in Skowron). He owned virtually every post season record until 'post season' went from a maximum of 7 games to what it is today. Now the only links left to those teams are Whitey and Larson, and I'm feeling very old this evening...
Your team is in a pennant race, Coup. You're 68 instead of 8 years old. Cheer up. You have a good 10-20 years left unless the Yankee bullpen gives you a heart attack over the next six weeks.Couperin47 said:
That cannot be real, I have zero doubt the Vegas Sun may have staff that stupid, but the body of the story is a direct reprint of the standard AP article and the folks at Associated Press are still competent so this is a fraud.
If there is such a thing, my favorite Yankee. He hit a homer over my head at Fenway in right field, deep. I can still see it. Many years later in the mid 80s I stood behind him at a mutuel window at Del Mar. It was a Yankee off day on a west coast trip. He could not have been nicer to me and the others who couldn't help but say "hey Yogi". Nice guy, true American hero, and one hell of a baseball player.
I attended UConn when Tim Berra played for UMass. Yogi would come to the game and park behind the old Field House. On the short walk over to Memorial Stadium, fans would always stop him to say hello. He would always say a few words and shake hands. RIP Yogi.
one of the first things my father ever taught me was to hate the Yankees, but this guy was impossible to hate. I still remember coming home from school and finding out that the Dodgers were getting killed in game 7 of the 1956 World Series, and seeing a piece of paper my mother was writing on when watching the game, with things like "shit, Yogi again" on it. I think he hit a few home runs that game, and the Yankees won something like 9 or 10 to nothing. If I remember right, Newcomb got shelled. But through all those hate the Yankee years, this guy was impossible not to like.
And growing up in North Jersey and driving frequently to the great Rutts Hut, there was always the Rizzuto-Berra bowling Lanes to pass.
I loved those times. And with all my many baseball fan transmutations over the years, I have never loved any sports team like I loved the Brooklyn Dodgers as a kid, and I never loved baseball like I did when all three teams were in New York. We were Dodger fans with night time season tickets to the Giants and the Polo Grounds (which was a half hour away) and I sat and watched the greatness of the young Willie Mays and all those amazing Dodger-Giant games and Dodger Yankee World Series. This is a sad day. But what a great life and what a great player.
And growing up in North Jersey and driving frequently to the great Rutts Hut, there was always the Rizzuto-Berra bowling Lanes to pass.
I loved those times. And with all my many baseball fan transmutations over the years, I have never loved any sports team like I loved the Brooklyn Dodgers as a kid, and I never loved baseball like I did when all three teams were in New York. We were Dodger fans with night time season tickets to the Giants and the Polo Grounds (which was a half hour away) and I sat and watched the greatness of the young Willie Mays and all those amazing Dodger-Giant games and Dodger Yankee World Series. This is a sad day. But what a great life and what a great player.
I love this post. Brings back a lot of memories for us old-timers. Parents teaching us how to love a team. NYC baseball in the 1950s. Those three old ballparks.Zupcic Fan said:
Yogi hit 2 homers off Newcombe in a 9-0 win. Didn't even have to look it up. Can't remember recent stuff but those 1950s stats are still in the front of my brain.
Joe Pos wrote a very good piece:
http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/remembering-yogi-berra-yankees/
And 95 year old Roger Angell, who was actually around for Yogi's whole career (he started writing for the New Yorker in 1944!!!), posted something also:
"I can almost bring Yogi back in memory, up at the plate, powerfully round and thick and bearish in his work-smudged pinstripes, with his head (in a cap, not a helmet) tipped a little, as if to give him more height while he stares out at the pitcher. The pitch is up, out of the strike zone, but Berra slashes at it anyway—it’s up by his eyes, because the force of his swing has dropped him down—and he drives it distantly. He runs hard, startling you again with his speed and strength, and rounds first base at full speed, leaning sideways like a racing car, then pulls up in a shower of dirt and scrambles back to the bag. I’m on my feet, yelling and laughing with everyone else. Yogi, Yogi—there’s no one else like him. The laughter isn’t sweet; it’s all wonder."
http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/postscript-yogi-berra-1925-2015
http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/remembering-yogi-berra-yankees/
And 95 year old Roger Angell, who was actually around for Yogi's whole career (he started writing for the New Yorker in 1944!!!), posted something also:
"I can almost bring Yogi back in memory, up at the plate, powerfully round and thick and bearish in his work-smudged pinstripes, with his head (in a cap, not a helmet) tipped a little, as if to give him more height while he stares out at the pitcher. The pitch is up, out of the strike zone, but Berra slashes at it anyway—it’s up by his eyes, because the force of his swing has dropped him down—and he drives it distantly. He runs hard, startling you again with his speed and strength, and rounds first base at full speed, leaning sideways like a racing car, then pulls up in a shower of dirt and scrambles back to the bag. I’m on my feet, yelling and laughing with everyone else. Yogi, Yogi—there’s no one else like him. The laughter isn’t sweet; it’s all wonder."
http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/postscript-yogi-berra-1925-2015
I share the love. I grew up in the Hartford area. My older brother was a Yankees fan, all my friends were Red Sox fans, but I followed the Dodgers religiously. My father took me to Ebbets Field once, I'll never forget it. I can still remember the 1955 Dodgers roster, the regulars anyway, and the catch that Sandy Amoros made in that 1955 World Series I'll never forget. There were a lot of Yankees from that era who were hard to hate, really .... The Giants were more villainous. But Yogi stood out as the most lovable of a really great bunch of ball players. RIP Yogi.terrynever said:
Vin Scully about Yogi
http://deadspin.com/vin-scully-explains-yogi-berra-related-reason-don-matti-1732724814
http://deadspin.com/vin-scully-explains-yogi-berra-related-reason-don-matti-1732724814
A Zupcic post mentioning the Brooklyn Dodgers and Rutt's Hut. If we had a Mike and the Mad Dog mention, I think I would have gone in a time machine back to 2003.
Today's USA Today has this list of the 50 greatest "Yogi-isms".
1. When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
2. You can observe a lot by just watching.
3. It ain’t over till it’s over.
4. It’s like déjà vu all over again.
5. No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.
6. Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.
7. A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
8. Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.
9. We made too many wrong mistakes.
10. Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
11. You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
12. You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.
13. I usually take a two-hour nap from one to four.
14. Never answer an anonymous letter.
15. Slump? I ain’t in no slump… I just ain’t hitting.
16. How can you think and hit at the same time?
17. The future ain’t what it used to be.
18. I tell the kids, somebody’s gotta win, somebody’s gotta lose. Just don’t fight about it. Just try to get better.
19. It gets late early out here.
20. If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.
21. We have deep depth.
22. Pair up in threes.
23. Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.
24. You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.
25. All pitchers are liars or crybabies.
26. Even Napoleon had his Watergate.
27. Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.
28. He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.
29. It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.
30. I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won twenty-five games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.
31. I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.
32. I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.
33. I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
34. In baseball, you don’t know nothing.
35. I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?
36. I never said most of the things I said.
37. It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.
38. If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.
39. I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.
40. So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.
41. Take it with a grin of salt.
42. (On the 1973 Mets) We were overwhelming underdogs.
43. The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.
44. Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.
45. Mickey Mantle was a very good golfer, but we weren’t allowed to play golf during the season; only at spring training.
46. You don’t have to swing hard to hit a home run. If you got the timing, it’ll go.
47. I’m lucky. Usually you’re dead to get your own museum, but I’m still alive to see mine.
48. If I didn’t make it in baseball, I won’t have made it workin’. I didn’t like to work.
49. If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.
50. A lot of guys go, ‘Hey, Yog, say a Yogi-ism.’ I tell ’em, ‘I don’t know any.’ They want me to make one up. I don’t make ’em up. I don’t even know when I say it. They’re the truth. And it is the truth. I don’t know.
1. When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
2. You can observe a lot by just watching.
3. It ain’t over till it’s over.
4. It’s like déjà vu all over again.
5. No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.
6. Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.
7. A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
8. Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.
9. We made too many wrong mistakes.
10. Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
11. You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
12. You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.
13. I usually take a two-hour nap from one to four.
14. Never answer an anonymous letter.
15. Slump? I ain’t in no slump… I just ain’t hitting.
16. How can you think and hit at the same time?
17. The future ain’t what it used to be.
18. I tell the kids, somebody’s gotta win, somebody’s gotta lose. Just don’t fight about it. Just try to get better.
19. It gets late early out here.
20. If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.
21. We have deep depth.
22. Pair up in threes.
23. Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.
24. You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.
25. All pitchers are liars or crybabies.
26. Even Napoleon had his Watergate.
27. Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.
28. He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.
29. It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.
30. I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won twenty-five games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.
31. I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.
32. I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.
33. I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
34. In baseball, you don’t know nothing.
35. I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?
36. I never said most of the things I said.
37. It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.
38. If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.
39. I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.
40. So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.
41. Take it with a grin of salt.
42. (On the 1973 Mets) We were overwhelming underdogs.
43. The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.
44. Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.
45. Mickey Mantle was a very good golfer, but we weren’t allowed to play golf during the season; only at spring training.
46. You don’t have to swing hard to hit a home run. If you got the timing, it’ll go.
47. I’m lucky. Usually you’re dead to get your own museum, but I’m still alive to see mine.
48. If I didn’t make it in baseball, I won’t have made it workin’. I didn’t like to work.
49. If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.
50. A lot of guys go, ‘Hey, Yog, say a Yogi-ism.’ I tell ’em, ‘I don’t know any.’ They want me to make one up. I don’t make ’em up. I don’t even know when I say it. They’re the truth. And it is the truth. I don’t know.
Koufax and TerryNever. Yes, it's amazing the memories this brings back. Koufax, same with me---one trip to Ebbets Field. Never forget it. Maybe 200 to the Polo Grounds. Unlike you, I never hated the Giants (was too young to remember 1951---which to his death my father called one of the 5 worst days of his life). Correct me. If I'm wrong, but didn't Yogi hit the ball that Amaros caught? Ironic, too, because the one and only position where the 55 and 56 Dodgers did not have a great player was left field. One of my favorite baseball stories ever is that after that great game 7 in 55 the Dodgers got on the big Dodger bus and were a bit down cause the bus worked its way through Manhattan getting very little attention. Then, it crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, and 2 million people were waiting for it!
Yogi was at a function on a hot and humid night at which Mayor La Guardia's wife was also present. Mrs. La G. said to Yogi "you look cool tonight." Yogi retorted "You don't look so hot yourself."SoxJox said:
Yes, Sandy Amoros caught that bid for a double. He had just been put in for defense. Had he been right-handed, Sandy doesn't catch the ball, two runs score and I think the game is tied. Roger Kahn made those Dodger teams live forever with some of the greatest writing ever associated with a sports team. My closest connection to them was interviewing Clem Labine, a Rhode Island native from Woonsocket. He pitched a 1-0 shutout in the 1956 series.Zupcic Fan said:
In an age where racism still lay out in the open, Yogi and Jackie Robinson were friends, off the field. After Jack died, whenever Yogi would see Rachel Robinson, he would say "out" and Rachel would say "safe" and they would embrace. That was in reference, of course, to Jackie's steal of home in the first game of the 1955 WS.
Casey Stengel on Yogi Berra: "He has a lovely wife, a wonderful family, a beautiful house, money in the bank and he plays golf with presidents. What's so funny about that?"
From "Dynasty" by Peter Golenbock
From "Dynasty" by Peter Golenbock