Yogi Berra, c. 1957
Sure, I’ve been a San Diego Padres fanatic even before moving to SoCal in 1973. But I grew up in The Bronx, and as a kid I lived and died with the Yankees. My heroes were Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Elston Howard, Roger Maris—and the great Yogi Berra, a catcher with a non-athletic body who was capable of some amazing athletic feats. He was also the most quotable of all ballplayers, and many of his one-liners endure to this day. Some of them are presented below.
Yogi passed away in September of 2015 at age 90. At the time of his passing, Jacqueline and I happened to be in the Big Apple for a family wedding. We had also purchased tickets to see a Yankees game. It would be their first home game since Yogi died. He was honored accordingly by old friends and teammates, and among fans in my, ahem, age range there were quite a few tears shed. Some of them were mine.
“It ain’t over till it’s over.” Arguably Yogi’s most well-known quote, it is repeated quite often throughout all of sports.
We were in Yankee Stadium when Yogi was honored.
“Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.” This one is an absolute hoot!
“Never answer an anonymous letter.”
“Baseball is 90% mental; the other half is physical.”
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” This one has shown up a number of times in my last couple of books. Love it!
“It’s like déjà vu all over again.”
“You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.”
“The future ain’t what it used to be.”
Flowers at Yogi’s plaque in Monument Park.
“Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel.”
“Even Napoleon had his Watergate.”
“He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.”
“I don’t know if they were men or women fans running naked across the field. They had bags over their heads.”
At a game where the Yankees honored him:” “I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.”
“I never said most of the things I said.”
“It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.”
“So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.”
“No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.”
“You better cut the pizza in four pieces, because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.”
Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra was a gem. Baseball could use more colorful characters like him.