Yogi Berra

I thought I would take a break from my usual fare and indulge in a little nostalgia. Nowadays I care very little about any sports, but it was not always so. This book brings back those days when I did care and is worth reading from that perspective. Yet, sadly, it only reinforces my distaste for todays' pre-Madonna’s.



Allen Bara, “Yogi Berra” (Eternal Yankee), W. W. Norton & Co, 2009, 404 Pages

Below portions taken from a book review by Scott Ham which captures the essentials better than I could:

In his new biography, Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee, Allen Barra sets out to prove why Yogi Berra was not only one of the greatest players of his or any other generation, but a great person as well.

Born and raised in “The Hill” area of St. Louis, Yogi’s life was one always consumed by athletics, whether by earning extra money for the family in amateur boxing or organizing his un-sponsored and therefore uniform-less baseball team. Yogi loved athletics and hated school so much that he eventually stopped his education after the eighth grade, choosing to work instead. Branch Rickey, famed St. Louis Cardinals president, offered Yogi’s friend Joe Garagiola a contract and $500 bonus while offering Yogi only $250. Yogi knew, as did Joe and everyone else on the Hill, that he was the better catcher. Yogi wasn’t going to take less than he knew he was worth, a trait that would define Yogi’s financial success for the rest of his life.

Soon, Yogi landed a contract with the New York Yankees and played for their class B Norfolk team before being drafted for World War II. After volunteering for a job that nobody wanted in the Navy’s rocket division, Yogi found himself at the front of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, firing rockets on the beach to help clear a path for the oncoming ground assault.

Through guile and luck, Yogi survived the war and returned to the states, where he played for the Newark Bears. Towards the end of the 1946 season, he was called up to the big club in the Bronx and hit a home run in his second at-bat. He would spend the next 18 years in pinstripes.

Calling Yogi’s career “storied” is a bit of a misnomer. Not only was Yogi arguably the greatest catcher of all time, but his career spanned two major eras in the history of the Yankees: Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. Allen Barra makes the argument in the book that Yogi’s ten World Series rings justifies calling Berra’s career the “Yogi era,” given that his accomplishments outweigh those of either Joltin’ Joe or The Mick. One might reasonably call it the Casey Stengal era as well, although Casey only participated in seven of the ten titles.

It quickly becomes apparent while reading about Yogi’s life that, not only was he a great baseball player, but he is also a genuine person. What may pass as boring due to lack of controversy or sizzle is actually a profile in integrity, determination, and love of family. After reading Barra’s book, it’s easy to understand why Yogi Berra became an American icon almost before he became a baseball legend. Yogi did indeed represent everything that was good about baseball and about America at the time. The fact that Yogi is still so beloved today is a testimate to his accomplishments and to his character.