Yogi Berra

Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–63, 1965), most of them for the New York Yankees. An 18-time All-Star and 10-time World Series champion as a player, Berra had a career batting average of .285, while compiling 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. He is one of only four players to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award three times. Widely regarded as one of the best catchers in baseball history,"Yogi Berra". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 29, 2015 he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
A native of St. Louis, Berra signed with the Yankees in 1943 before serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II. Making his major league debut in 1946, he was a mainstay in the Yankees' lineup during the team's championship years in the 1940s and 1950s. Despite his short stature, Berra was a power hitter and strong defensive catcher. Berra caught Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, the only perfect game in MLB postseason history. After playing 18 seasons with the Yankees, Berra retired following the 1963 season. He spent one season as their manager, then joined the New York Mets in 1965 as coach (and briefly a player again). Berra remained with the Mets for the next decade, the latter four years of which were spent as their manager. Berra returned to the Yankees in 1976, coaching them for eight seasons and managing for two, before coaching the Houston Astros. He is one of seven managers to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series. As a player, coach, or manager, Berra appeared in 21 World Series and won 13 of them. 
The Yankees retired his uniform number 8 in 1972 and honored him with a plaque in Monument Park in 1988. Berra was named to the MLB All-Century Team in a voting by fans in 1999. For the remainder of his life, he was closely involved with the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, which he opened on the campus of Montclair State University in 1998. Berra, who quit school after the eighth grade, was also known for his malapropisms as well as confusing, pithy and paradoxical quotes, such as "It ain't over 'til it's over", while speaking to reporters. Simultaneously denying and confirming his reputation, Berra once stated, "I really didn't say everything I said." He died at the age of 90 of natural causes.
==Early life==
Yogi Berra was born in a primarily Italian neighborhood of St. Louis called "The Hill", to Italian immigrants Pietro and Paolina (née Longoni) Berra. Pietro, originally from Malvaglio near Milan in northern Italy, arrived at Ellis Island on October 18, 1909, at the age of 23.Williams, Dave (April 1, 2013). Bridging Two Dynasties: The 1947 New York Yankees. Society for American Baseball Research. University of Nebraska Press. Chapter 44: Yogi Berra. p. 170. Archived at Google Books. Retrieved April 29, 2015. In a 2005 interview for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Yogi said, "My father came over first. He came from the old country. And he didn't know what baseball was. He was ready to go to work. And then I had three other brothers and a sister. My brother and my mother came over later on. My two oldest brothers, they were born there—Mike and Tony. John and I and my sister Josie were born in St. Louis." 
Yogi's parents originally nicknamed him "Lawdie", derived from his mother's difficulty pronouncing "Lawrence" or "Larry" correctly. He grew up on Elizabeth Avenue, across the street from boyhood friend and later competitor Joe Garagiola; that block, also home to Jack Buck early in his Cardinals broadcasting career, was later renamed "Hall of Fame Place". Berra was a Roman Catholic, and he attended South Side Catholic, now called St. Mary's High School, in south St. Louis with Garagiola. Berra has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
He began playing baseball in local American Legion leagues, where he learned the basics of catching while playing outfield and infield positions as well. Berra also played for a Cranston, Rhode Island team under an assumed name. While playing in American Legion baseball, he received his famous nickname from his friends Bobby Hofman and Jack Maguire who said he resembled a Hindu yogi whenever he sat around with arms and legs crossed waiting to bat or while looking sad after a losing game. 
==Professional baseball career==
===Minor leagues===
In 1942, the St. Louis Cardinals spurned Berra in favor of his boyhood best friend, Joe Garagiola. 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."Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra". qotd.org. Retrieved April 29, 2015. However, the Yankees signed Berra for the same $500 bonus the Cardinals offered Garagiola, before Rickey could sign Berra to the Dodgers. The Yankees assigned Berra to the Norfolk Tars of the Class B Piedmont League, where his most memorable feat was driving in 23 runs in a doubleheader.
====WWII====
Berra served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he served as a gunner's mate on the USS Bayfield during the D-Day invasion of France. Following his military service, Berra played minor league baseball with the Newark Bears, surprising the team's manager with his talent despite his short stature. He was mentored by Hall of Famer Bill Dickey, whose number Berra took. He later said, "I owe everything I did in baseball to Bill Dickey."
===Major leagues===
Berra was called up and played his first game on September 22, 1946 and he played 7 games that season and 83 games in 1947, for the Yankees. He played more than one hundred in each of the following fourteen years. Berra appeared in fourteen World Series including 10 World Series championships, both of which are records. 
In part because Berra's playing career coincided with the Yankees' most consistent period of World Series participation, he established Series records for the most games (75), at-bats (259), hits (71), doubles (10), singles (49), games caught (63), and catcher putouts (457). In Game 3 of the 1947 World Series, Berra hit the first pinch-hit home run in World Series history, off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca (who later gave up Bobby Thomson's famous Shot Heard 'Round the World in 1951).
Berra was an All-Star for 15 seasons, and was selected to 18 All-Star Games (MLB held two All-Star Games in 1959 through 1962Donnelly, Patrick (2012). 
"Midsummer Classics: Celebrating MLB's All-Star Game". "there were two games a year from 1959 to 1962" ..."all players who were named to the AL or NL roster were credited one appearance per season." SportsData. Retrieved April 12, 2015)."Yogi Berra". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 29, 2015 He won the American League (AL) MVP award in 1951, 1954, and 1955; Berra never finished lower than fourth in the MVP voting from 1950 to 1957. 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. From 1949 to 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.Collecting Sports Legends (2008) by Joe Orlando, pp. 84
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 first of only two no-hitters ever thrown in postseason play."Roy Halladay throws second no-hitter in postseason history". ESPN. October 7, 2010 The pictures of Berra leaping into Larsen's arms following the 27th out are among the sport's most memorable images.
====Playing style====
Berra was excellent at hitting poor pitches, covering all areas of the strike zone (as well as beyond) with great extension. In addition to this wide plate coverage, he also had great bat control. He was able to both swing the bat like a golf club to hit low pitches for deep home runs, and chop at high pitches for line drives. Whether changing speeds or location, pitcher Early Wynn soon discovered that "Berra moves right with you."Kahn, Roger. (2003). "The Gathering Storm". October Men: Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, and the Yankees' Miraculous Finish in 1978. Orlando, FL: Harcourt. p. 174. ISBN 0-15-100628-8. Retrieved September 18, 2015. Five times, Berra had more home runs than strikeouts in a season, striking out just twelve times in 597 at-bats in 1950. The combination of bat control and plate coverage made Berra a feared "clutch hitter," proclaimed by rival manager Paul Richards "the toughest man in the league in the last three innings." Contrasting him with teammate Mickey Mantle, Wynn declared Berra "the real toughest clutch hitter," grouping him with Cleveland slugger Al Rosen as "the two best clutch hitters in the game." When asked about swinging at "bad pitches", Berra reportedly said, "If I can hit it, it's a good pitch."
As a catcher, 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, playing 88 errorless games in 1958. He was the first catcher to leave a finger outside his glove, a style most other catchers eventually emulated.
In June 1962, at the age of 37, Berra showed his superb physical endurance by catching an entire 22-inning, seven-hour game against the Tigers. Casey Stengel, Berra's manager during most of his playing career with the Yankees and with the Mets in 1965, once said, "I never play a game without my man."Ken Burns' Baseball: Inning 7 – The Capital of Baseball According to the win shares formula developed by sabermetrician Bill James, Berra is the greatest catcher of all time and the 52nd greatest non-pitching player in major-league history.
Later in his career, Berra became a good defensive outfielder in Yankee Stadium's notoriously difficult left field.The Yankee Encyclopedia (2003) by Mark Gallagher, pp. 31
====Manager and coach====
Berra retired after the 1963 World Series, and was immediately named to succeed Ralph Houk as manager of the Yankees. Much was made of an incident on board the team bus in August 1964. 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 could not 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 of 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. Houk, who was general manager at the time, later said the decision to fire Berra was made in late August and that the incident with Linz had nothing to do with it. Although he didn't elaborate, Houk said that he and the rest of the Yankee brain trust did not feel Berra was ready to manage.
Berra was immediately signed by the crosstown Mets as a coach. He also put in four cameo appearances as a catcher early in the season. 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 under Stengel, Wes Westrum and Gil Hodges for the next seven seasons, including their 1969 World Series Championship season. He then became the team's manager in 1972, following Hodges' unexpected death in spring training.
The following season looked like a disappointment at first. Injuries plagued the Mets throughout the season. Midway through the 1973 season, the Mets were stuck in last place but in a very tight divisional race. In July, when a reporter asked Yogi if the season was over, he replied, "It ain't over till it's over."Clichés: Avoid Them Like The Plague (2012) by Nigel FountainIt Ain't Over Till It's Over (2015) by R.T. Kendall, pp. xxvi
As the Mets' key players came back to the lineup, a late surge allowed them to win the NL East despite an 82–79 record, making it the only time from 1970 through 1980 that the NL East was not won by either their rival Philadelphia Phillies or the Pittsburgh Pirates. When the Mets faced the 99-win Cincinnati Reds in the 1973 National League Championship Series, a memorable brawl erupted between Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose in the top of the fifth inning of Game Three. After the incident and the ensuing bench clearing brawl that followed had subsided, fans began throwing objects at Rose when he returned to his position in left field in the bottom half of the inning. Sparky Anderson pulled Rose and his Reds off the field until order was restored. When National League president Chub Feeney threatened the Mets with a forfeit, Berra walked out to left field with Willie Mays, Tom Seaver, Rusty Staub and Cleon Jones in order to plead with the fans to desist. Yogi's Mets went on to defeat the highly favored Big Red Machine in five games to capture the NL pennant. It was Berra's second as a manager, one in each league. The Mets fell to the Oakland Athletics in the 1973 World Series, but they went the distance in a close-fought, seven-game series.
thumb|Berra hitting fungos prior to a game in 1981.
Berra's tenure as Mets manager ended with his firing on August 5, 1975. He had a record of 298 wins and 302 losses, which included the 1973 postseason. In 1976, he rejoined the Yankees as a coach. The team won its first of three consecutive AL titles, as well as the 1977 World Series and 1978 World Series, and (as had been the case throughout his playing days) Berra's reputation as a lucky charm was reinforced. Casey Stengel once said of his catcher, "He'd fall in a sewer and come up with a gold watch." Berra was named 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. Instead of firing him personally, Steinbrenner dispatched Clyde King to deliver the news for him. This caused a rift between Berra and Steinbrenner that was not mended for almost 15 years.
Berra joined the Houston Astros as bench coach in 1985, where he again made it to the NLCS in 1986. The Astros lost the series in six games to the Mets. Berra remained a coach in Houston for three more years, retiring after the 1989 season.
In 1999, after George Steinbrenner ventured to his home in New Jersey to apologize in person for the way his firing as Yankee manager was handled, Berra ended his 14-year estrangement with the Yankee organization and worked in spring training camp with catcher Jorge Posada.
==Honors==
In 1972, Berra was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The No. 8 was retired in 1972 by the Yankees, jointly honoring Berra and Bill Dickey, his predecessor as the Yankees' star catcher.
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." However, the honor was not enough to shake Berra's conviction that Steinbrenner had broken their personal agreement; Berra did not set foot in the Stadium for another decade, until Steinbrenner publicly apologized to Berra.
In 1996, Berra received an honorary doctorate from Montclair State University, which also named its own campus stadium Yogi Berra Stadium, opened in 1998, in his honor. The stadium is also used by the New Jersey Jackals, an independent professional baseball team.
In 1998, Berra appeared at 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. At the 2008 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, Berra had the honor of being the last of the 49 Hall of Famers in attendance to be announced. The hometown favorite received the loudest standing ovation of the group.2008 MLB All Star Game: Hall of Famers walk onto the field
On July 18, 1999, Berra was honored with "Yogi Berra Day" at Yankee Stadium. Don Larsen threw the first pitch to Berra, to honor the perfect game from the 1956 World Series. 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 an honest 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. On that day, Yankees pitcher David Cone threw a perfect game against the Montreal Expos, only the 16th time it had ever been done in Major League history.
In 2008, Berra was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
===Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center and Yogi Berra Stadium===
In 1998, the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center and Yogi Berra Stadium (home of the New Jersey Jackals and Montclair State University baseball teams) opened on the campus of Montclair State University in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. The museum is the home of various artifacts, including the mitt with which Yogi caught the only perfect game in World Series history, several autographed and "game-used" items, and nine of Yogi's championship rings.
Berra was very involved with the project and frequently visited the museum for signings, discussions, and other events. It was his intention to teach children important values such as sportsmanship and dedication on and off the baseball diamond.
On October 8, 2014, a break in and theft occurred at the museum, and several of Berra's World Series rings and other memorabilia were stolen.
==Other activities==
Berra and former teammate Phil Rizzuto were partners in a bowling alley venture in Clifton, New Jersey, originally called Rizzuto-Berra Lanes. The two eventually sold their stakes in the alley to new owners who changed its name to Astro Bowl before those owners sold the property to a developer, who closed the bowling alley in 1999 and converted it into retail space.
Berra was also involved in causes related to his Italian American heritage. A longtime supporter of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), Berra helped fundraise for the Foundation. He was inducted into the Italian American Hall of Fame in 2004.
Berra was a recipient of the Boy Scouts of America's highest adult award, the Silver Buffalo Award.Scouting (September 2003), pp. 38
Based on his style of speaking, Yogi was named "Wisest Fool of the Past 50 Years" by The Economist magazine in January 2005.
In the 2007 television miniseries The Bronx is Burning, Berra was portrayed by the actor Joe Grifasi. In the HBO sports docudrama 61*, Berra was portrayed by actor Paul Borghese, and Hank Steinberg's script included more than one of Berra's famous "Yogiisms". In 2009, Berra appeared in the documentary film A Time for Champions recounting his childhood memories of soccer in his native St. Louis.A Time for Champions (2009). KETC/Cappy Productions
Yogi and his wife Carmen were played by real life newly married actors Peter Scolari and Tracey Shayne in the 2013 Broadway play, Bronx Bombers.
==Personal life==
Berra married Carmen Short on January 26, 1949. They have three sons and he was a longtime resident of Montclair, New Jersey, until his wife's declining health caused them to move into a nearby assisted living facility. Two of Berra's sons also played professional sports. His son Dale Berra played shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees (managed by Yogi in 1984–85), and Houston Astros; his other son Tim Berra played pro football for the Baltimore Colts in 1974. Carmen Berra died on March 6, 2014 due to complications from a recent stroke, the couple having recently celebrated their 65th anniversary. Following Carmen's death, the house in Montclair was listed for sale for $888,000, a reference to Yogi's uniform number.
== Death ==
Berra died of natural causes during his sleep at an assisted living facility in West Caldwell, New Jersey on September 22, 2015, at the age of 90, the same day as his MLB debut 69 years before.Burke, Don. "Yankees legend Yogi Berra dead at 90", New York Post, September 23, 2015. (accessed September 23, 2015) 
=="Yogiisms"==
thumb|Berra in 2007
Berra was also well known for his pithy comments, malapropisms, and witticisms, known as Yogiisms. Yogiisms very often take the form of either an apparently obvious tautology or a paradoxical contradiction.
===Examples===
* As a general comment on baseball: "90% of the game is half-mental."
* On why he no longer went to Ruggeri's, a St. Louis restaurant: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
* "It ain't over till it's over." In July 1973, Berra's Mets trailed the Chicago Cubs by 9½ games in the National League East. The Mets rallied to win the division title on the final day of the season.
* When giving directions to Joe Garagiola to his New Jersey home, which was accessible by two routes: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
* At Yogi Berra Day at Sportsman Park in St. Louis: "Thank you for making this day necessary."
* "It's déjà vu all over again". Berra explained that this quote originated when he witnessed Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris repeatedly hit back-to-back home runs in the Yankees' seasons in the early 1960s.
* "You can observe a lot by watching."
* "Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours."
==Books==
* Yogi: The Autobiography of a Professional Baseball Player, Yogi Berra and Ed Fitzgerald (1961) LOC: 61-6504
* Behind the Plate, Lawrence Yogi Berra and Til Ferdenzi (1962) ISBN 978-1-258-11403-9
* Yogi: It Ain't Over (1989) ISBN 0-07-096947-7
* The Yogi Book: I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said (1998) ISBN 0-7611-1090-9
* When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It! Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes (2001) ISBN 0-7868-6775-2
* What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All (2002) ISBN 0-7432-3768-4
* Ten Rings: My Championship Seasons (2003) ISBN 0-06-051381-0
* Let's Go, Yankees! (2006) ISBN 1-932888-81-0
* You Can Observe a Lot by Watching (2009) ISBN 978-0-470-45404-6
==See also==
* List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders
* List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
* List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
* List of Major League Baseball career runs-batted-in leaders
==References==
==Further reading==
* 
==External links==
*
*
*Yogi Berra, the Official Web Site presented by LTD Enterprises 
*Thehillstl.com, Yogi's birthplace, The Hill in St. Louis. Site includes various "Yogi-isms"
*Yogi Berra Quotes, A comprehensive list of "Yogi-isms"
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