Yogi Berra: A legend passes at 90

I have been mulling all afternoon if I should write something about Yogi Berra’s passing. A bit cheap to write about it as all other baseball websites wrote about it already.

But on the other hand, as a Yankee fan I should spend some words on it.

Berra signed with the Yankees in 1943 while serving with the US Navy in World War II. After he joined the Yankees in 1946,  he kept playing with them until he retired in 1963.
He was the successor of another legendary Yankee catcher that also wore nr. eight: Bill Dickey, who mentored Berra in his early days with the team.
After spending one season as the Yankees’ manager in 1964, he joined the New York Mets as a coach and returned as a player for a short period. Eventually he played his very final game on May 9, 1965. Next to managing the Yankees in 1964, he managed the team in 1984 and 1985. He also managed the New York Mets from 1972 through 1975 and made a World Series run with them in 1973 as they fell to the Oakland Athletics in seven games.

Berra also coached with the New York Mets (1965–1971), New York Yankees (1976–1983) and the Houston Astros (1986–1989)

Yogi Berra is the only player who won ten World Series rings (1947, 1949-1953, 1956, 1958, 1961 and 1962). As a player he is the only catcher that caught a perfect game in the World Series as he was the backstop for Don Larsen in game five of the 1956 World Series.

After serving as a coach from 1976 through 1983, he was appointed manager in 1984. After he had the promise of George Steinbrenner that he would not be fired, he returned as the Yankees’ manager in 1985. But after sixteen games into the season, the impatient George Steinbrenner did fire him, but he was chicken to tell him the news himself, so he sent his special baseball advisor Clyde King to do so. This created a wide gap between Berra and George Steinbrenner that lasted for almost fifteen years.

Other achievements on his resume are: 18 time All Star (1948-1962), 13 World Series titles (three as a coach), 3 time American League MVP and of course a plaque in Coopertown.

Berra passed away last night after his health was deteriorating for some time. He devoted the final years of his life to the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls, NJ.

Berra will be best known, also by non baseball fans, for his quote “It ain’t over until it’s over.”

Here are some other of his famous twisted quotes:

“Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical”
“We were overwhelming underdogs”
“It’s like deja vu all over again”
“You can’t hit and think at the same time”
“He hits from both sides of the plate. He is amphibious”

Of course his legacy lives on, but with his passing baseball loses another legend. Yogi is one of the many reasons that I became a Yankee fan. I only read this this afternoon: He never struck out more than 38 times per season in his career. Only the very great can do this and he was one of the very great. His name will be mentioned in the same breath as Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays, to name a few. His frail stature will be missed with the future old timers days.