Baseball Legend Yogi Berra Dies at Age 90

WSJ Video 9/23/2015 9:16AM

The legendary baseball catcher Yogi Berra, who died Tuesday, was famed for his record 10 World Series championships with the New York Yankees. But he was just as well known for “Yogisms”—his figures of speech—like “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
[video]http://www.wsj.com/video/baseball-legend-yogi-berra-dies-at-age-90/00943FA9-2439-4B42-9AE3-F7679A96F787.html [/video]

 

Yeah, it's sad to see him go. For a few years he was a bench coach for the Houston Astros and he kept the atmosphere light in the clubhouse. He'd go to a player when they were in a slump and rub their bat and tell them they were going to go 4 for 4 that game. The players got a kick out of it but the bottom line was that they respected and revered Yogi. He will be sorely missed.

 

"The future ain't what it used to be."
Yogi Berra

 

In 1972, Berra was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. His uniform number 8 was also retired by the NY Yankee organization the same year.







35 of Yogi Berra’s most memorable quotes (Re: 35 of Yogi Berra’s most memorable quotes | New York Post).

1. “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
2. “It’s deja vu all over again.”
3. “I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4.”
4. “Never answer an anonymous letter.”
5. “We made too many wrong mistakes.”
6. “You can observe a lot by watching.”
7. “The future ain’t what it used to be.”
8. “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”
9. “It gets late early out here.”
10. “If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.”
11. “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”
12. “Pair up in threes.”
13. “Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.”
14. “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”
15. “All pitchers are liars or crybabies.”
16. “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”
17. “Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.”
18. “He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.”
19. “I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.”
20. “I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won 25 games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.
21. “I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.”
22. “I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.”
23. “I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.”
24. “In baseball, you don’t know nothing.”
25. “I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?”
26. “I never said most of the things I said.”
27. “It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.”
28. “I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house.”
29. “I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.”
30. “So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.”
31. “Take it with a grin of salt.”
32. (On the 1973 Mets) “We were overwhelming underdogs.”
33. “The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.”
34. “You should always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise, they won’t come to yours.”
35. “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

 

Nice list. But it doesn't include one of my favorites. Someone asked him what time it was. Yogi: "You mean now?"

 

I hate the Yankees (look where I'm from), but Yogi was a great ambassador for the game, and a true gentleman.

RIP, sir.

 

The Yankees retired #8 to honor two players, Berra and Bill Dickey.

Yogi might have been the greatest catcher of all time--even greater than Cochran, Hartnett, Dickey, and his contemporary Campanella--but Johnny Bench might have taken that away. And let's not forget Fisk, who was freakishly timeless behind the plate...far beyond the age when most catchers either retire or move to another position to ride out the string.

But Yogi was one of a kind. I'm so glad he was...well, who he was.