OT: Yogi Berra

[RiverDog]

I apologise for starting an off topic obit thread in the main, but I figured if it was correctly titled that you guys wouldn't mind. Besides, it's about sports, not politics or religion.

I just read a telegram that Yogi had sent to Johnny Bench on July 16th, 1980, long before emails, text messaging, and tweets. Here are the first two sentences:

"Congratulations on breaking my home run record (for catchers). I always thought the record would stand until it was broken."

How typical is that!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-l ... 39470.html

Berra is one of the last of the old time athletes that had their careers interrupted by war. He served on a gunboat during the D-Day invasion in June of 1944. Oh, how the country has changed!

[burrrton]

NYT (I think) had the greatest headline for his obit:

Yankee Built His Stardom 90% on Skill, Half on Wit

Perfect. RIP, stud.

[Hawk Sista]

One of the all time greats! RIP, Yogi.

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

you can observe a lot by just watching.

It’s like déjà vu all over again.

No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.

A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.

Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.

We made too many wrong mistakes.

You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.

You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.

Never answer an anonymous letter.

Slump? I ain’t in no slump… I just ain’t hitting.

How can you think and hit at the same time?

The future ain’t what it used to be.

It gets late early out here.

If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.

We have deep depth.

Pair up in threes.

Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.

All pitchers are liars or crybabies.

Even Napoleon had his Watergate.

He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.

It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.

I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.

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?

I never said most of the things I said.

Take it with a grin of salt.

The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.

Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.

If I didn’t make it in baseball, I won’t have made it workin’. I didn’t like to work.

If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.

[RiverDog]

My favorite Yogism was when as a member of the Yankees, they were invited to a formal ball hosted by the Mayor of NYC. Yogi was dressed in what was known then as a summer suit, and the wife of the Mayor approached Yogi and complimented him on his attire. "Boy, you sure look cool, Yogi", she told him, to which Berrra heartedly replied "Thanks! You don't look so hot yourself!"

[RiverDog]

Yogi's malaprops are famous, but what is lost is that he was a great catcher, and a clutch hitter. He was a doubles hitter in the mold of Edgar Martinez. He was a leader, and a superstar in his time. It is unfortunate that he is seen more as a personality who entertained us with his words, when in actuality, he was a true all star on the field. Until Bench, he was probably the best catcher in the game.

Ditto. Plus Berra was an excellent tactician, knew how to handle pitchers, had a keen insight that allowed him to get a sense of the weaknesses of opposing hitters. His manager, Casey Stengel, perhaps the best baseball manager of his day, once said "I never want to play another game without my man.". Most people thought he was referring to Mickey Mantle, the Yankees star centerfielder. But he wasn't, he was referring to Yogi Berra.