Yogi Berra

Baseball Player

• Born: May 12, 1925
• Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri
• Died: September 22, 2015
• Place of death: West Caldwell, New Jersey

Sport: Baseball

Early Life

Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra was born to Pietro and Pauline Berra in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 12, 1925. When Lawrence was seven, his father, a brickyard worker, moved the family to “the Hill,” an Italian district in the city. There, Lawrence, his three older brothers, and Joe Garagiola, who later became a major-league catcher and broadcaster, played baseball. While playing American Legion baseball, Yogi recalled sitting with his arms and legs crossed because his team did not have benches or dugouts. His friends began calling him “Yogi” after they saw a travelogue about India that featured a Hindu holy man meditating. Larry’s posture resembled that of the “yogi,” another word for a spiritual person.

The Road to Excellence

In 1942, the St. Louis Cardinals signed Garagiola to a contract and a five-hundred-dollar bonus. Cardinal manager Branch Rickey saw no future for Yogi, but Stockham manager Leo Browne persuaded Yankee scout Johnny Schultz to watch Yogi play. Schultz was impressed enough to sign Yogi to a contract with the Yankees organization.

In 1943, at the age of eighteen, Yogi entered professional baseball with the Yankee farm club in Norfolk, Virginia, where he captured attention with his bat. After a detour in the Navy during World War II, Yogi was sent to play for the top Yankee farm club in Newark, New Jersey. With the Newark Bears of the International League, Yogi batted .314 and hit 15 home runs. Yogi was moved to the New York Yankees near the end of the 1946 season and hit 2 home runs in 22 at bat.

The Emerging Champion

In 1947, Yogi’s first full season as a Yankee, management shifted Yogi between the outfield and catching. He hit .280 with 15 doubles and 11 home runs. He started the 1947 World Series behind the plate but allowed 5 stolen bases and was replaced. In game three of the series with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the short, squat Yogi hit the first pinch-hit home run in World Series history. The next season, he hit .305 with 14 home runs and 98 RBI.

In 1949, Yogi married Carmine Short, a former dancing instructor, and they had three sons. Their son Dale, who became a major-league infielder, briefly played for his father when Yogi managed the Yankees in 1985.

After Casey Stengel assumed Yankees managerial duties in 1949, he hired former Yankee all-star catcher Bill Dickey to tutor Yogi in fielding and throwing. That year, Yogi’s fielding average improved to .989. By 1951, he allowed only three passed balls all season. Yogi won the American League (AL) most valuable player award in 1951, 1954, and 1955.

Continuing the Story

In 1952, Yogi hit 30 home runs, a feat he duplicated four years later. Between 1957 and 1959, Yogi played 148 consecutive games without an error.

In 1964, Yogi was named manager of the New York Yankees and led the team to the AL pennant, but New York lost the World Series to St. Louis. Yogi was fired by the Yankees, who wanted a cult hero to replace the colorful Casey Stengel. In 1965, Yogi joined the New York Mets as coach and became manager in 1972, leading the team to a pennant in 1973. The Mets finished with an ordinary 83-79 record that season but, behind Yogi’s now-legendary refrain of “it ain’t over ’til it’s over,” the team persevered all the way to the season’s final game of the World Series, which resulted in a loss to the Oakland Athletics.

In 1972, Yogi was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Yogi returned to the Yankees as a coach in 1975 and stayed through 1983. In 1984, he managed the Yankees to an 87-75 record. After owner George Steinbrenner fired him following a 6-10 start to the 1985 season, Yogi vowed never to return to Yankee Stadium. In 1986, he signed on as a coach with the Houston Astros.

In 1998, Yogi oversaw the opening of the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center on the campus of New Jersey’s Montclair University. The museum is a nonprofit sports education center that features memorabilia and exhibitions and hosts lectures and panel discussions about baseball. In 1999, Yogi made national headlines when he publicly made peace with Steinbrenner at the museum; the two had not talked for fourteen years following Yogi’s firing as Yankees manager. Consequently, Yogi lifted his self-imposed ban on Yankee Stadium and became a regular at Yankees home games and at Yankees spring training, where he instructed Yankees catchers.

Almost every year, Berra would bring family and attend the induction weekend events for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. However, Berra, nearing ninety years old and living in an assisted living facility in West Caldwell, New Jersey, since 2012, experienced a difficult year in 2014. His wife, Carmine, passed away after suffering a stroke, and the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center was burglarized, resulting in the loss of several priceless World Series rings and MVP plaques. The following year, Berra passed away in his sleep at the assisted living facility in West Caldwell on September 22, 2015. He was ninety. The mayor of New York City declared that all flags in the city would fly at half-mast the next day in honor of Berra. Friends, family, and baseball greats attended his funeral in Montclair, New Jersey.

Summary

Yogi Berra’s 358 home runs were a record for catchers when he retired. He also set records for World Series games, 75; at-bats, 259; and hits, 71. He played in fourteen World Series and was on the winning side ten times. He remained a pop culture icon more than forty years after his retirement as a player. His plain-spoken expressions, affectionately referred to as “Yogi-isms,” are nationally known and cited widely. Some of the most famous Yogi-isms include, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!”; “ninety percent of the game is half mental”; and “it’s déjà vu all over again.”

Bibliography

Berra, Yogi. The Yogi Book: I Really Didn’t Say Everything I Said! New York: Workman, 1998. Print.

Berra, Yogi, and Dave Kaplan. Ten Rings: My Championship Seasons. New York: Morrow, 2003. Print.

Berra, Yogi, and Dave Kaplan. When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It! Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball’s Greatest Heroes. New York: Hyperion, 2001. Print.

Berra, Yogi, Bob Powell, and Howard Liss. Yogi Berra’s Baseball Book: The Game and How to Play It. Scarsdale: Lion, 1999. Print.

Forker, Dom. The Men of Autumn: An Oral History of the 1949–53 World Champion New York Yankees. Dallas: Taylor, 1989. Print.

Weber, Bruce. "Yogi Berra, Yankee Who Built His Stardom 90 Percent on Skill and Half on Wit, Dies at 90." New York Times. New York Times, 23 Sept. 2015. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.