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Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born May 12,
1925) in St. Louis, Mo. is a former catcher and manager in Major League
baseball. He played almost his entire career for the New York Yankees
and was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. He was one of only
four players to be named the Most Valuable Player of the American League
three times, and one of only six managers to lead both American and
National League teams to the World Series. He played most of his career
with the New York Yankees and played four games with the New York Mets.
Berra, who quit school while attending the
8th grade, was also famous for his tendency toward malapropism and
fracturing the English language in highly provocative, interesting ways.
Berra, simultaneously denying and confirming his reputation, stated "I
never said half the things I really said." (See Yogiisms.)
****
Early background
Born in St. Louis, Missouri in a primarily
Italian neighborhood called "The Hill", Berra was the son of immigrants
who originally nicknamed him Lawdie, derived from his mother Paulina's
difficulty pronouncing Lawrence or Larry correctly. He grew up on
Elizabeth Avenue, just a few doors down from his boyhood friend and
later competitor Joe Garagiola (that block, also home to the late
baseball broadcaster Jack Buck, has subsequently been renamed "Hall of
Fame Place"). Berra has also been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of
Fame.
He picked up his more famous nickname from
a friend who said he resembled a Hindu holy man (yogi) they had seen in
a movie, whenever Berra sat around with arms and legs crossed waiting to
bat, or while looking sad after a losing game. (Years later, the
Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Yogi Bear was named after Berra,
something Berra did not appreciate after he started being periodically
addressed as "Yogi Bear.")
He began playing baseball in local American
Legion leagues, where he learned the basics of play as a catcher.
The St. Louis Cardinals spurned Berra in
favor of his boyhood best friend, Joe Garagiola, in 1942. On the
surface, the Cardinals seemed to think Garagiola the superior prospect
-- but team president Branch Rickey actually had an ulterior motive:
knowing he was soon to leave St. Louis to take over the operation of the
Brooklyn Dodgers, and more impressed with Berra than he let on, Rickey
apparently planned to hold Berra off until he could sign him for the
Dodgers. The plan was ruined when the Yankees got to him first, signing
him for the same $500 bonus the Cardinals offered Garagiola.
Berra is considered by many observers to be
the greatest all-around catcher in baseball history. In two recent
(2004) approaches by sabermetricians, Berra is ranked first among
catchers by the Bill James Win Shares method and third by the Total
Baseball Total Player Rating method.
Playing career
Following a stint in the U.S. Navy during
World War II where he served as a gunner's mate in the D-Day invasion,
Berra played minor league baseball with the Newark Bears before being
called up for seven games in the major leagues in 1946. The following
season he played 86 games for the Yankees, and he would play more than a
hundred in each of the following fourteen years.
During his nineteen-year career as a
Yankee, Berra's teams dominated baseball. Berra appeared in fourteen
World Series, winning ten championships, both of which are records.
Because Berra's playing career coincided with the Yankees' most
consistent period, it enabled him to establish the major league records
for World Series games (75), at-bats (259), hits (71), doubles (10),
singles (49), games caught (63), and catcher putouts (457).
Berra has become a beloved, cuddly figure
in American sport, which in some ways has obscured his immense talents
as a competitive athlete. Berra was a fifteen-time All-Star, and won the
league's MVP award three times, in 1951, 1954 and 1955. He received MVP
votes in fifteen consecutive seasons, tied with Barry Bonds and second
only to Hank Aaron's nineteen straight seasons with MVP support. (Ted
Williams also received MVP votes in every year of his career, but it was
twice interrupted by military service.) Between 1949 and 1955, on a team
filled with stars such as Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio, it was Berra
who led the Yankees in RBI for seven consecutive seasons.
Berra was an expert at hitting bad pitches,
covering all areas of the strike zone (as well as beyond) with great
extension. He was simultaneously able to swing the bat like a golf club
to hit low pitches for deep home runs, and chop at high pitches for line
drives. However, despite this wide plate coverage, he also had great bat
control. Five times, Berra had more home runs in a season than
strikeouts. In 1950, Berra struck out twelve times in 597 at-bats. This
combination made him a feared "clutch hitter"; rival manager Paul
Richards once called Berra "the toughest man in the league in the last
three innings."
As a fielder, Berra was truly outstanding.
Quick, mobile, and a great handler of pitchers, Berra led all American
League catchers eight times in games caught and in chances accepted, six
times in double plays (a major league record), eight times in putouts,
three times in assists, and once in fielding percentage. Berra left the
game with the AL records for catcher putouts (8,723) and chances
accepted (9,520)). He was also one of only four catchers to ever field
1.000 for a season, in 1958. Later in his career, he became a good
defensive outfielder in Yankee Stadium's notoriously difficult left
field. In 1962, at the age of 37, he showed his superb physical
endurance by catching an entire 22-inning, seven- hour game against the
Tigers.
One of the most notable days of Berra's
playing career came when he caught Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956
World Series, the only no-hitter ever thrown in postseason play. The
pictures of Berra leaping into Larsen's arms following the 27th out are
among the game's most memorable images.
On 18 July 1999, Larsen and Berra
celebrated the feat with a ceremonial pitch for "Yogi Berra Day" at
Yankee Stadium (the 74-year-old Berra did not jump into the 70-year-old
Larsen's arms, though). This was a part of the celebration to mark the
return of Berra to the Stadium, which ended his 14-year feud with
Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner. The feud started in 1985 when
Steinbrenner promised Berra a full chance as manager, then fired him in
the third week of the season. Berra vowed to never return to Yankee
Stadium so long as Steinbrenner owned the team. Amazingly, Yankees
pitcher David Cone then hurled his own perfect game against Montreal
Expos, only the 16th time it had ever been done in Major League history.
The coincidence served to illustrate one of the more famous Yogiisms
"It's like deja vu all over again".
In 1946, Berra wore uniform No. 38 on the
Yankees, switching to 35 the next year. In 1948, he changed to No. 8,
which became well-known as his number for the rest of his career on the
Yankees and Mets. The No. 8 was retired in 1972 by the Yankees, jointly
honoring Berra and Bill Dickey, his predecessor as the Yankees' star
catcher. Berra's uniform number and stocky build were familiar enough to
baseball fans that Sports Illustrated once used a photo of Berra facing
away from the camera as its cover, with the blurb "YOGI'S BACK."
Manager Yogi
After Berra's Yankee playing career ended
with the 1963 World Series, he was hired as the manager of the New York
Yankees. Much was made of an incident on board the team bus in August.
Following a loss, infielder Phil Linz was playing his harmonica, and
Berra ordered him to stop. Seated on the other end of the bus, Linz
couldn't hear what Berra had said, and Mickey Mantle impishly informed
Linz, "He said to play it louder." When Linz did so, an angry Berra
slapped the harmonica out his hands. All was apparently forgotten when
Berra's Yankees rode a September surge to return to the World Series.
But the team lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games, after which
Berra was fired. It was later written that general manager Ralph Houk
had been ready to discharge Berra since midseason, apparently for a
perceived loss of control over the team.
Berra made a very brief return to the field
as a player-coach for the crosstown Mets, playing in just four games.
His last at-bat came on May 9, 1965, just three days shy of his 40th
birthday. Berra stayed with the Mets as a coach for the next eight
seasons, becoming the team's manager in 1972. That same year, he was
elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The following year, his Mets won
the NL East division despite winning just 82 games, and eventually lost
that year's World Series in seven games. Berra remained the team's
manager for two more seasons. In 1976, he rejoined the Yankees as a
coach. The team won its first of three consecutive AL titles, and (as
had been the case throughout his playing days) Berra was regarded as a
lucky charm. Berra was eventually elevated to Yankee manager before the
1984 season. Berra agreed to stay in the job for 1985 after receiving
assurances that he would not be fired, but the impatient Steinbrenner
did fire Berra after the 16th game of the season. This caused a rift
between the two men that would not be mended for almost 15 years.
On August 22, 1988, Berra and Dickey were
honored with plaques to be hung in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.
Berra's plaque calls him "A legendary Yankee" and cites his most
frequent quote, "It ain't over till it's over." In 1999, he placed No.
40 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and
fan balloting elected him to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
Coaching and Managing career
1963 New York Yankees player-coach
1964 New York Yankees manager (won
American League pennant)
19651972 New York Mets coach
19721975 New York Mets manager (won
National League pennant in 1973)
19761983 New York Yankees coach
19841985 New York Yankees manager
19861989 Houston Astros coach
Career statistics
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB BA OBP SLG TB
SH HBP
2,120 7,555 1,175 2,150 321 49 358 1,430 30
704 .285 .348 .482 3,643 9 52
Non-Baseball Activities
Berra married his wife Carmen in 1949. They
have three children and have lived in Montclair, New Jersey since
Berra's playing days. Two of Berra's sons also played professional
sports - his son Dale Berra played shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates,
New York Yankees, and Houston Astros and his son Tim Berra played
American football for the New York Jets.
In 1998, The Yogi Berra Museum and Learning
Center [1] and Yogi Berra Stadium (home to the New Jersey Jackals
baseball team) opened on the campus of Montclair State University in
Upper Montclair, N.J. The Museum is currently the home of various
collector's items, including the mitt with which Yogi caught the only
perfect game in World Series history, several autographed and
"game-used" items, three World Series Championship trophies, and all of
Yogi's championship rings. It was an appearance on behalf of the Museum
by George Steinbrenner that led to their ultimate reconciliation. Berra
is very involved with the project and frequents the museum for signings,
discussions, and other events. It is his vision to teach children
important values such as sportsmanship and dedication both on and off
the field of play. When asked "So, what is it you do here?" Yogi,
without missing a beat, replied convincingly, "It's my museum."
Berra is a recipient of the Boy Scouts of
America's highest adult award, the Silver Buffalo Award.
In February 2005 Berra filed a lawsuit
against Turner Broadcasting System. He alleges that they used his name
in a racy advertisement for Sex and the City. The advertisement asks
what the definition of a "yogasm" is: a) a type of yo-yo trick; (b) sex
with Yogi Berra; or c) what Samantha has with a guy from yoga class.
(The answer given was C.) This case was settled out of court for an
undisclosed sum of money.
Berra has frequently appeared in
advertisements for Yoo-hoo, AFLAC, Entenmann's, and Stovetop stuffing,
among others, frequently demonstrating his famous "yogiisms." Based on
his style of speaking, Yogi was named Wisest Fool of the Past 50 Years
by the Economist magazine in January 2005.
Quotes
Main article: Yogiisms
Yogi Berra is famous around the
non-baseball world for his pithy comments and witticisms. Many of these
are in the vein of the gravedigger in Shakespeare's Hamlet, the comments
of a worldly-wise philosopher who does not have the education and
vocabulary to express his thoughts accurately. These quotes are often
called Yogiisms and are the subject of a further article. These are
examples:
"Nobody goes there anymore, it's too
crowded!"
"It ain't over till it's over." - After
Berra's 1973 Mets trailed the Chicago Cubs by 9ฝ games in the National
League East; the Mets rallied to win the division title on the
next-to-last day of the season.
"I don't know if it's good for baseball,
but it sure beats the hell out of rooming with Phil Rizzuto." on
hearing team-mate Joe DiMaggio was to marry Marilyn Monroe
"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."
"Pair up by threes."
"I want to thank everyone for making this
night necessary."
"You mean right now?" - Whenever he's asked
what time it is.
****
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Date Article Copied:
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