Yogi Berra

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Lawrence "Yogi" Berra (May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and mentor.

He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (1946–1963, 1965), one of the few for the New York Yankees.

He was an 18-time All-Star and won ten World Series championships as a player, more than any other player in MLB history.

While hitting 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in, Berra had a career batting average of 285, with 358.

He is one of only five players to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award three times.

He is widely regarded as one of the best catchers in baseball history, and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. Berra, a native of St. Louis, joined the Yankees in 1943 before serving as a gunner's mate in the Normandy landings during World War II, where he received a Purple Heart.

He made his major-league debut in 1946 and was a mainstay in the Yankees' lineup from 1949 to 1962.

Despite his short stature (he was 5 foot 7 inches tall), Berra was a power hitter and a good defensive catcher.

In Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, Don Larsen was catching his perfect game. Berra spent 18 seasons with the Yankees before retiring after the 1963 season.

He spent the next year as their boss and later joined the New York Mets as a coach in 1965 (and briefly as a player again).

Berra remained with the Mets for the next decade, spending the last four years as their boss.

In 1976, he returned to the Yankees, assisting them for eight seasons and two others before coaching the Houston Astros.

He was one of seven executives to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series.

In every one of the 13 World Series that New York baseball teams won from 1947 to 1981, Berra appeared as a player, mentor, or boss.

Overall, he appeared in 22 World Series, with 13 of whom were on the winning team. Bill Dickey had previously worn number 8, and both catchers had to be reinstated by the Yankees after the Yankees cut him.

In 1988, the club unveiled a plaque in Monument Park to honor him.

In 1999, Berra was named to the MLB All-Centure Team in a fan vote.

He was heavily involved in the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, which he opened on Montclair State University's campus in 1998. After the eighth grade, Berra dropped out of school.

When speaking to reporters, he was known for his malapropisms as well as pithy and paradoxical remarks, such as "It ain't over 'til it's over."

"I certainly didn't say anything I said" twice, simultaneously denied and confirmed his celebrity by saying, "I really didn't say anything I said."

Early life

Yogi Berra was born Lorenzo Pietro Berra in a predominantly Italian neighborhood of St. Louis called The Hill. Pietro and Paolina Berra's parents, who were born in Italy, were from Pietro and Paolina (née Longoni). Pietro was born in Malvaglio near Milan, and he arrived on Ellis Island in 1909 at the age of 23. "My father came over first," Berra said in a 2005 interview with the Baseball Hall of Fame. He came from the old country. And he didn't know what baseball was. He was excited to get to work. Since then, I had three other brothers and a sister. Later that day, my brother and mother arrived over. Mike and Tony, my two oldest brothers, were born there. I and John and I and my sister Josie were born in St. Louis. Louis"

Berra's parents had nicknamed "Lawdie" in honor of his mother's difficulty pronouncing "Lawrence" or "Larry" correctly. He grew up on Elizabeth Avenue, across the street from boyhood friend and later rival Joe Garagiola, Sr., and Jack Buck's home was also on the block, and it was later renamed "Hall of Fame Place." Berra was a Catholic and attended South Side Catholic, now named St. Mary's High School in south St. Louis, Garagiola. Berra has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

He first started playing baseball in local American Legion Baseball leagues, where he learned the fundamentals of catching while playing both outfield and infield positions. He also competed for a Cranston, Rhode Island, team under an assumed name. He borrowed the nickname "Yogi" from his friend Jack Maguire, who said he resembled a yogi from India when he sat around with arms and legs crossed while waiting to bat or looking sad after a losing game.

Personal life

Carmen Short was born on January 26, 1949. They had three sons and lived in Montclair, New Jersey, until Carmen's declining health led them to move to a nearby assisted living facility. Berra's sons also played football: Dale Berra of the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees (managed by Yogi in 1984–85), and the Houston Astros; Tim Berra played for three minor league teams in the New York Mets organization; and Larry Berra played for three minor league teams. Carmen Berra died of acute kidney disease at the age of 85 on March 6, 2014; the couple had recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. Following Carmen's death, the house in Montclair was listed for auction at $888,000, a homage to Yogi's uniform number.

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Professional baseball career

On the surface, the Cardinals seemed to believe that Garagiola was the better option, but team president Branch Rickey had an ulterior motive. Rickey knew he was going to leave St. Louis to take over the Brooklyn Dodgers' operations, and was more impressed with him than he let on; he clearly wanted to hold Berra off until he signed him for the Dodgers. However, the Yankees got Berra for the same $500 reward ($8,300 in current dollar terms) before Rickey gave Garagiola to the Dodgers before Rickey could sign Berra.

Berra served in the United States Navy as a gunner's mate on the attack transport USS Bayfield during the Normandy landings during World War II. On a Navy rocket boat, Berra was one of a six-man crew, firing machine guns and firing rockets at the German defenses on Omaha Beach. He was fired on but was not struck, and he later received several accolades for his bravery. During a discussion on the 65th anniversary of D-Day, Berra revealed that he was sent to Utah Beach during the D-Day invasion as well.

Berra played minor-league baseball with the Newark Bears, surprising the team's boss with his ability despite his short stature. Bill Dickey, whose uniform number Berra received, coached him. "I owe everything I did in baseball to Bill Dickey," he later said.

Berra was called up to the Yankees and appeared in his first game on September 22, 1946; he appeared in 7 games that season and 83 games in 1947. In each of the previous 14 years, he played in over a hundred games. Berra appeared in 14 World Series, including ten 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 set series records for the most games (75), hits (259), singles (49), and catcher putouts (457). Berra's first pinch-hit home run in World Series history, off by Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca (who later gave up Bobby Thomson's legendary Shot Heard 'Round the World in 1951).

Berra was an All-Star for 15 seasons and was chosen to 18 All-Star Games (MLB held two All-Star Games from 1959 to 1962). In 1951, 1954, 1954, and 1955, he received the American League (AL) MVP award; Berra never finished lower than fourth in the MVP poll from 1950 to 1957. In 15 seasons, he has been named MVP, tied with Barry Bonds, and second only to Hank Aaron's 19 seasons with MVP support. It was Berra who led the Yankees in RBI for seven seasons from 1949 to 1955, on a team brimming Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio.

One of Berra's most memorable games was when he saw Don Larsen's spectacular game in the 1956 World Series, one of the first two no-hitters to ever play in MLB postseason play. Berra's photograph of him leaping into Larsen's arms after Dale Mitchell's called third strike to end the game is one of the game's most iconic images.

Berra was an excellent at hitting pitches outside of the strike zone, as well as others within the strike zone, and he was extending his service to both directions. He had a natural bat command, in addition to this wide-ranging coverage. He was able to swing the bat like a golf club to low pitches for deep home runs and chop at high pitches for line drives. If you're shifting speeds or location, pitcher Early Wynn found that "Berra moves right with you." In 597 at-bats in 1950, Berra had more home runs than strikeouts in a season, striking out only twelve times in 597 at-bats. Berra's nicknamed "the toughest guy in the league in the last three innings" was a result of a combination of bat control and plate coverage, according to rival manager Paul Richards. Wynn compared Berra to teammate Mickey Mantle, naming him as "the two best clutch hitters in the game" for Cleveland.

Berra was outstanding as a catcher, quick, mobile, and a natural handler of pitchers, winning eight games and in hopes accepted, six times in double plays (a big-league record), eight times in putouts, three times in assists, and once in fielding percentage. (2007) and chances accepted (9,520). Berra left the game with the AL records for catcher putouts (8,723) and chance accepted (9,520). He was also one of the first four catchers to field 1.000 in a season, playing 88 errorless games in 1958. He was the first catcher to leave one finger out of his glove, a pattern that many other catchers later imitated. "I can't say enough for Yogi Berra," Tom Sturdivant, who played for the Yankees from 1955 to 1959, said. It gives a young pitcher a lot of confidence to have a fellow like Berra calling the pitches. "No one could have set up the hitters any better."

Berra, who was 37 years old in June 1962, displayed his remarkable physical endurance by winning a complete 22-inning, seven-hour game against the Detroit Tigers. "I never play a game without my man," Casey Stengel, Berra's boss during most of his playing career with the Yankees and with the Mets in 1965, said.

In Yankee Stadium's notoriously difficult left field, Berra made a good defensive outfielder early in his career.

Since spending 1963 as a player-coach, he played in 64 games (35 as a catcher and 29 as a pinch hitter, batting.293 at bats), and suspended the Yanks' first-base coaching position as a player—Berra retired as an active player after the 1963 World Series and was immediately hired to replace Ralph Houk as the Yankees' manager.

In August 1964, the Harmonica Incident, which was an enthralling event, occurred aboard the team bus. Following a loss, infielder Phil Linz was playing his harmonica, but Berra ordered him to stop. Linz was seated on the other end of the bus, and Mickey Mantle impishly told Linz, "He said to play it louder." An enraged Berra slapped the harmonica out of his hands when Linz did so.

The Yankees rode a September surge to return to the World Series in the West, but the team lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games, following which Berra was suspended. Houk, the time's general manager, explained that the decision to fire Berra was made in late August and that it had nothing to do with it. Despite that Houk didn't elaborate, Houk said that he and the majority of the Yankee braintrust did not think Berra was able to handle. However, players claimed that the incident strengthened their managerial position and helped them advance to the Series.

The crosstown New York Mets announced Berra as a mentor right away. He made four cameo appearances as a catcher early in the season. His last at-bat occurred on May 9, 1965, just three days shy of his 40th birthday. Berra spent seven seasons with the Mets as a coach under Stengel, Wes Westrum, and Gil Hodges, beginning with the 1969 World Series Championships. Following Hodges' unexpected death in spring training, he became the team's manager in 1972.

At first, the following season seemed to be a letdown. All season long, injuries plagued the Mets. The Mets were stuck in last place midway through the 1973 season but in a tight divisional tie. "It ain't over 'til it's over," a reporter asked Yogi when the season was over, he replied, "It ain't over 'til it's over."

While the Mets' key players returned to the lineup, a late surge helped them win the NL East, the only time the NL East was not won by either of their rival Philadelphia Phillies or the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1980. In the 1970 National League Championship Series, the Mets defeated the 99-win Cincinnati Reds in a thrilling match in the middle of Game Three's fifth inning. Fans began throwing objects at Rose after the incident and the ensuing bench-clearing brawl had subsided, causing the incident and the ensuing bench-clearing brawl, as he returned to his starting position in the left field in the bottom half of the inning. Sparky Anderson called Rose and his Reds off the field until the order was restored. Berra walked out to left field with Willie Mays, Tom Seaver, Rusty Staub, and Cleon Jones, as National League president Chub Feeney threatened the Mets with a forfeit. Yogi's Mets advanced to defeat the highly awaited Big Red Machine in five games to capture the NL pennant. It was Berra's second time as a boss, one in each league. In the 1973 World Series, the Mets lost to the Oakland Athletics, but the team went the distance in a close seven-game series.

Berra's tenure as Mets boss came to an end on August 5, 1975. During the 1973 playoffs, he had a record of 298 victories and 302 losses, which included the 1973 playoffs. He returned to the Yankees as a mentor in 1976. The team won its first of three consecutive AL titles, as well as the 1977 World Series and 1978 World Series, in which Berra's reputation as a lucky charm was reinforced. "He'd fall in a sewer and come up with a gold watch," Casey Stengel said of his catcher. Before the 1984 season, Berra was named Yankee manager. After receiving promises that he would not be fired, Berra decided to stay in the job for 1985, but the irmious Steinbrenner reneged, dismissing Berra after the 16th game of the season. In addition, Steinbrenner sent Clyde King to tell him personally rather than firing him personally. The incident resulted in a rift between Berra and Steinbrenner that hadn't been addressed for almost 15 years.

Berra first joined the Houston Astros as bench coach in 1985, when he made it to the NLCS for the second time in 1986. In six games to the Mets, the Astros lost the series. After the 1989 season, Berra remained a Houston coach for three years, retiring after the 1989 season. He ended his managerial career with a record of 484–444 and a playoff record of 9–10.

Since George Steinbrenner went to Berra's home in New Jersey to regret in person for mishandling Berra's dismissal as Yankee manager, he quit the Yankee organization in 1999 and spent in spring training camp with catcher Jorge Posada.

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