Sports

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New York Yankees

SPYOGI27

Yogi Berra was a true American hero

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Neil Best

Yogi Berra's family knew his death late Tuesday would be big news after his seven decades as a much-loved celebrity. But the magnitude of the public reaction still came as a surprise.
"The Empire State Building [lights] in pinstripes!" his eldest son, Larry, said Thursday of one Berra tribute. "I don't think I've ever heard of that before. It is amazing . . . I sit there and say, 'Oh my God, it's incredible.' "
Larry spoke at a news conference at the Yogi Berra Museum &amp; Learning Center alongside his brothers, Tim and Dale, and Larry's daughter, Lindsay, in an hourlong discussion that featured tears, laughs, stories and, of course, Yogi-isms.
Lindsay recalled one in paying tribute to Berra's humanity: "We all can't be as good as Grandpa all the time, and as he said, if things were perfect, they wouldn't be. But if we all try a little harder to be perfect, his legacy is in that effort."
The museum, which opened in 1999, is among Berra's proudest legacies. A public memorial will be held at the facility Thursday, after a private funeral Tuesday at Church of the Immaculate Conception in Montclair, New Jersey.
One byproduct of the many Berra remembrances in the news media Wednesday was a reminder for younger people about how good a player the three-time American League MVP was.
"I think people think of him as these Yogi-isms all the time and they forget that he only struck out 12 times in 597 at-bats one year [1950], and that was insane," Lindsay said.
But more than anything, his family recalled him as a devoted father who taught by example.
"He had the incredible ability, innately, to treat the bankers and CEOs the exact same way he treated the tailor," said Dale, who briefly played for his father before Yogi was fired as Yankees manager early in 1985. "There was no difference."
Said Tim: "We blended in. And the reason we blended in was because of him."
Larry said that while Berra obviously was busy during baseball season, he made it a point not to leave home in the offseason.
"He was just a family man," Larry said. "He never saw us play a baseball game in our lives. He saw us play every football game, soccer game, basketball game. Every other sport he saw."
Said Tim: "I wasn't naive. I knew he was this iconic, great player. But that's not the way I saw him as a father. He was a buddy of mine. We did things together. We laughed. He supported me in everything I did."
Lindsay said she was heartened by the fact that Berra passed away before the birthday Thursday of his wife of 65 years, Carmen, who died in 2014. "He's up there having a little party with her," she said, fighting back tears.
Larry noted that like previous Yankees stars such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, Berra always will be with us, even in death.
"He's just up there with all of those guys," he said.
Then Lindsay added, "Playing one hell of a ballgame."
Said Larry: "That's some team now."

SPYOGI25

Yogi Berra's children, granddaughter remember the devoted family man

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Greg Logan

It was just last Saturday that Yankees manager Joe Girardi spoke to 90-year-old Yogi Berra on the telephone before the Yankees faced the Mets at Citi Field.
"You never think that's going to be the last time you're going to talk to someone," Girardi said Thursday night. "I miss him. I miss having him around here, the laughs that we had, the knowledge that he gave me, how he made you always feel comfortable. It's just not going to be the same."
The Yankees honored their franchise icon before the first game played at the Stadium since Berra's death on Tuesday. They placed a wreath in front of Berra's plaque in Monument Park, painted the on-deck areas with his No. 8 and lowered all flags to half-staff. 
A video tribute to Berra was shown on the scoreboard before the game, and Berra's service in the U.S. Navy in World War II was honored by a Navy color guard and a trumpeter who played "Taps" near a No. 8 wreath laid in the catcher's box.
"It's been a tough couple of days for us," Girardi said. "Yogi meant so much to the organization, to the city, to all of us."
Although the sport was saddened by Berra's passing, those who knew him inevitably mourn with a smile. Former Yankees reliever David Robertson, who was in attendance with the visiting White Sox, beamed at his recollection of Berra.
"I felt like I saw Yogi all the time in the clubhouse," he said. "Maybe a little less last year with his wife [Carmen's] passing, but he was just the nicest guy you could ever meet. Always called me 'Slim,' always took a second to sit down and talk with me. He was a true legend of the game."
White Sox manager Robin Ventura recalled Berra's frequent presence in the clubhouse during Ventura's playing days with the Yankees. "He would just sit and talk baseball and funny things going on," he said. "You always loved being around him. Any time anybody talks about him, they immediately start smiling because that's the type of person he was."
Girardi acknowledged that the Yankees' pursuit of a postseason berth has been complicated by the emotions surrounding Berra's death, saying, "We're dealing with some emotions that we didn't expect to deal with. But I think everyone in that room knows what Yogi would tell us: 'Go finish the job . . . Go win.' Our hearts are heavy for Yogi and his family, but our guys know what they're supposed to do." With Mark Herrmann

SPTRIB25

Yankees honor Yogi Berra with pregame tribute and their memories of him

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When Yogi Berra retired as a player in 1963, it didn't take him long to find his next job in baseball.
Berra immediately took over as manager of the Yankees, leading the team to the 1964 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. He lasted one season in that role, but moved across town to become a coach with Mets in 1965. Berra became manager of the Mets in 1972 and managed the team to the 1973 World Series.
His playing career had an important impact on him as a manager. Berra was a players' manager long before the term was popularized.
Berra wasn't a wordsmith, Jon Matlack, a starting pitcher on the 1973 Mets said.
"He was a very laid back, relaxed manager who pretty much said, 'Here are the bats and balls, boys. Go play, make me proud,' " Matlack said. "Under that environment he allowed people to flourish. He created an environment where you wanted to excel rather than you were under the gun to excel."
That started in 1964 when he was a rookie manager with the Yankees, Joe Pepitone recalled.
"When Yogi gave his speech he said, 'Let's go get 'em,' " Pepitone said. "It wasn't a long speech like some of these college grads would say. He didn't talk in that type of language. He just played the game like it was played."
Some of the Mets later learned the same when Berra managed them to the World Series in 1973.
"He obviously didn't come out with those Yogi-isms in the locker room," said Ed Kranepool, who was a first baseman and outfielder on the 1973 Mets. "He was very serious talking baseball."
Berra had a successful season with the 1964 Yankees, finishing 99-63 and capturing the American League pennant. But Berra was fired after losing a seven-game World Series to the Cardinals.
"He was the one manager that knew me better than anybody, so when I came in feeling [ill] he said, 'You're playing, you're playing,' " said Pepitone, who batted .281 with 28 home runs and 100 RBIs in 1964. "I had my best year."
The Mets finished 82-79 under Berra in 1973, winning the NL East by a game and a half. The Mets were under .500 until late September.
"He was basically thanking us for his job," Matlack said. "He thought had he not turned it around that he potentially could have been fired."
The Mets upset the heavily favored Cincinnati Reds in the National League Championship Series, but lost to the Oakland A's in seven games in the World Series.
"They threw away the mold in regards to Yogi," Tom Seaver, who went 19-10 and won his second NL Cy Young Award in 1973, said in a statement. "He was one of a kind. He loved the game. As a manager, he never tried to complicate things. He let his players play. He respected what you did on the field. He was an utter delight to be around."
The slogan for the 1973 Mets was "Ya Gotta Believe." The players put their trust in Berra.
"He was a true gentleman," said Jerry Koosman, a starter for the 1973 Mets. "As a manager he was very, very reassuring. When things were bad, he always stayed positive."
Berra was fired by the Mets in 1975. He didn't manage again until 1984 when he returned to the Yankees.
Berra had a lasting impact on the players he managed.
"He did so much good for so many people in this world," said Rusty Staub, who played for Berra on the 1973 Mets. "Every time I think of Yogi I have a smile on my face. That's the effect he had on people."

SPYMAN24

Those who played for him recall Yogi Berra as being a players' manager

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As Yogi Berra himself pointed out, he didn't really say everything he said. But that was beside the point.
The point was this: There was no one better to say them, even if he didn't.
Berra, a plain-speaking, plain-looking, plain-tastes guy from a Plains State served perfectly as a canvas on which others could project plain old American wisdom.
The fact that he always played along illustrated both his good nature and his subtle savvy.
So, here we are. It's never over for Yogi the icon, even if it's over for Yogi the man. He long ago came to a fork in the road and took it, allowing himself to be teased about his words while never losing his dignity or diminishing his legacy as a player.
No one is more responsible for Yogi-isms than his childhood friend from St. Louis, Joe Garagiola, who was not nearly the player Berra was, but compared with Yogi, he was a Hall of Fame talker.
Garagiola burnished Berra's image -- and his alleged quotations -- during a long career as a voluble raconteur, game announcer, talk show guest and morning show host, roles in which Berra would have been a fish out of water.
But the actual provenance of most of Yogi's sayings is so muddled that determining their rightful origins is a mostly joyless task best left to historical researchers.
For example: Does it matter that others were decades ahead of Berra in his complaint about a popular restaurant that "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded"?
It does not. All that matters is that it is so in its own twisted way, a truism we encounter in our daily lives.
Same goes for most of Berra's best Yogi-isms. As he himself pointed out about people who expect him to make one up on the spot, it doesn't work that way. "They're the truth," he said.
"It ain't over 'til it's over" is the truest and most ubiquitous of all, which Berra said he first uttered during the Mets' late rally to a division title when he was their manager in 1973.
But after confirming that origin in an interview with The New York Times language columnist William Safire in 1987, Berra claimed to have had nothing to do with originating "it's deja vu all over again."
Or the one about how "you should always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours."
No matter who said it, alas, it is time for those words of wisdom to be tested. But there is no danger of Berra being short on friends and admirers in death, not after 90 richly lived years.
The words of wisdom he left behind are just a bonus.
Before Berra came to be known for them, the Yankees' most well-known purveyor of entertaining malapropisms was Casey Stengel, a fellow Missourian and Berra's manager during the glory days.
But Stengel was different. He went off on long, loopy tangents and loved playing to crowds with his verbal stylings. Berra did not seek such attention. He was foremost a ballplayer, as well as a family man and a veteran of the D-Day invasion of France in 1944.
If the rest of us wanted to project deep thoughts onto him, well, that was fine, too.
After all, as everyone knows, baseball is 90 percent mental and only half physical and yet, paradoxically, you can't think and hit at the same time.
It's all confusing, really, but Berra helped to clarify things, and remind us that you can observe a lot in life by watching.
So, <a href="http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/yogi-berra-dies-at-90-yankees-legend-hall-of-famer-won-10-world-series-rings-1.10880267">farewell, Yogi</a>. Perhaps one cannot say of a 90-year-old that he is gone too soon. But still . . . It gets late early out here.

SPYISM24

Yogi Berra's 'Yogi-isms' fit perfectly, even if he didn't say them all

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Photos of Yankees Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, who died Sept. 22, 2015

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George Steinbrenner with Yogi Berra, left

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Yogi Berra at 2009 Old Timers Day

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Yogi Berra at Yankees spring training

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Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson walk past a monument to George Steinbrenner

Yogi Berra watches a ceremony unveiling a monument honoring George Steinbrenner

Yankees Hall of Famer Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra, a life in photos

As the baseball world mourns the death of Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry grieves the loss of a friendship that endured long after the pitcher's career with the Yankees.
What initially seemed like the oddest of couplings in so many ways -- age, eras, backgrounds and accents -- only strengthened over the years.
Guidry went beyond the Yogi-isms, discovering there was way more to Berra than met the ear. Berra was a Yankees coach from 1976-83, when Guidry went from rookie to ace of the staff.
"Our friendship kind of developed, his locker was right next to mine," Guidry, 65, said Wednesday by phone. "He's a walking encyclopedia of the game. He was one of the greatest ballplayers. He played against the greatest ballplayers. Why would I not ask questions about how to get guys out coming from a Hall of Fame catcher if I want to be a real good pitcher?"
That is what Guidry absorbed. He became such a persistent student that Berra playfully dismissed him one night in 1978 when he wanted some pregame advice before facing the California Angels.
"It was June 17, the night I struck out 18," Guidry said. "I walked back in the clubhouse and Yogi raised his hands in the air in a comical way, saying, 'You got everything you need to know. Just be the guy you are.' "
In later years, Guidry became something of a personal chauffeur for Berra at spring training, picking him up at the airport and transporting him around Florida. It was another educational experience, perhaps for both men. Guidry helped the elderly Berra navigate his way through camp. 
Guidry did it out of friendship, not obligation or payback.
"It's such a great relationship, you don't have to pay anybody anything when you're such good friends," he said. "He looked forward to coming to spring training. As soon as he was home in March he was already making plans to go to the next spring training."
Guidry had been there for Berra during his 14-year feud with owner George Steinbrenner, who reportedly sent general manager Clyde King to inform Berra he was being fired as manager 16 games into the 1985 season. 
"That was big on his mind," Guidry said. "He didn't like the way that he had gotten fired and that George hadn't told him personally. He stayed away and I know it ate at him not to be there. That was the thing that he just loved to do.
"Once it got patched up, it was like he was never away and he never once said anything bad about George. He said, 'I'm glad I'm here. It's fun to be back.' "
Guidry visited with Berra a few months ago at an assisted living facility in New Jersey.
"We watched the game together," he said. "We just talked about the game. It was very, very touching for me when I think that was my last time with him. But his 90 years were filled with fun and a lot of joy."

SPGUID24

Ron Guidry remembers old friend Yogi Berra

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David Lennon

In honoring a life well-lived, the highest compliment is also the simplest. Yogi Berra, who died Tuesday night at the age of 90, was a D-Day hero, a Yankees' icon and, incredibly, the most quotable speaker of his generation. 
And yet, standing next to Yogi, enjoying his company as countless people did, sharing a laugh with him, you'd never know it. 
At the height of his baseball powers, Berra stood all of 5-7. An ordinary Joe in physical stature, perhaps, but nothing else. When seen during his visits to Yankee Stadium, Berra was as assuming as your grandfather. For those of us who never had the privilege of watching him play, and never met him until his managing days were long over, we couldn't help but think, "That's Yogi Berra?" 
It was a natural reaction, and hardly uncommon. Because a person like Lawrence Peter Berra was too big to fit on a movie screen, too accomplished to fully appreciate on the written page. The best authors, with vivid imaginations, couldn't have scripted such a personality. And if they came close, would they have nailed it so perfectly with the nickname "Yogi?" 
No chance. Berra was an American Original, truly one of a kind, whose influence radiated outward from the Bronx, where he was the stocky anchor of 10 World Series champions, from 1947 to '62. To put that in contemporary terms, Derek Jeter -- the Yankee who had everything -- ended his career envying him, saying how his goal was to "catch" Berra's two-handed haul of championship rings. Jeter got only half as many. 
"I think the players in the clubhouse are always trying to live up to that, the mark that Yogi set," Joe Girardi said before Wednesday night's game against the Blue Jays. "You heard Derek talk about how he wanted 10." 
It was a rivalry Jeter brought up for Berra's benefit, as the two often joked together on the occasions Yogi would swing by his locker, either during spring training or Old-Timers' Day. Like Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle and DiMaggio before him, Berra served as the bridge to a Golden Era in Yankees' history. Larger than life on the field, but in a cuddly, personable, comical package outside the lines. 
"We've lost Yogi," Joe Torre said on Wednesday in a statement, "but we will always have what he left for us: the memories of a lifetime filled with greatness, humility, integrity and a whole bunch of smiles. He was a lovable friend." 
That was the human side to the Hall of Famer, the ballplayer-next-door quality that made this 15-time All-Star, and three-time MVP, the guy that would invite you to pull up a stool for a chat. And many were fortunate to have that opportunity, from five-star generals to movie stars to the clubbies picking up the dirty laundry. 
"He was kind of like walking into the family Italian restaurant," Brian Cashman said. "And all of a sudden, the kitchen and the bar opens up for you, and you have a seat. Just a very warm, welcoming guy." 
The numbers are the numbers, and few people to ever play the game can touch what the St. Louis born son of Italian immigrants was able to do after returning from World War II. But for someone to jump off their Cooperstown plaque, and leave a legacy like Berra's, the statistics tell only a fraction of the story. 
"I don't know how many pinstripes are in the uniform, from top to bottom," Cashman said. "But one of them would be in his name." 
As much as Berra adored the Yankees, his 14-year, self-imposed exile from the old Stadium reflected the personal values he held most sacred. Yogi felt disrespected by George Steinbrenner when the owner refused to tell him personally of his firing in 1985 after only 16 games. It wasn't until Steinbrenner apologized for the treatment that Yogi finally showed up for the Opening Day festivities in 1999. 
That repaired the relationship, and all felt right with the Yankees Universe again. How could it be that the greatest champion of the most storied franchise in professional sports was the undersized everyman Yogi Berra? 
Because when people saw him, maybe they saw themselves. From a modest upbringing, to serving his country, to succeeding in a way that was never boastful -- just admired. And with a slogan as American as apple pie, paired with a cold glass of Yoo-hoo. 
"It ain't over 'til it's over," Berra famously said. 
And even though he's gone, in our hearts and minds, Yogi ain't going anywhere.

Columnists

SPDAVE24

Yogi Berra truly was one of a kind

Erik Boland

Alex Rodriguez's most memorable moment involving Yogi Berra was a pep talk. 
It occurred before the Yankees started their postseason run in 2009, one that would start in the ALDS against the Twins and end with their 27th world championship. 
"He said, 'I have a good feeling about this year, kid,' " A-Rod recalled before Wednesday night's&nbsp;game against the Blue Jays. "I have a good feeling about this team and I have a good feeling about you. I have one [piece of] advice. If there's a fork in the road, take it.' So I did." 
Rodriguez, whose struggles in the playoffs with the Yankees were documented often, went 19-for-52 (.365) with six homers, 18 RBIs and 15 runs during that postseason. Three of the homers came in the seventh inning or later. 
"It was something I needed to hear and it was great hearing it from Yogi," said Rodriguez, who several times referenced Berra's 10 rings and propensity for performing well in October. "It meant a lot to me." 
As did, in general, Berra's presence around the club, particularly in spring training, to players and coaches. Up until two springs ago, the Hall of Famer was almost a daily fixture, arriving early at the stadium and staying late. 
Brett Gardner has been a Yankee since being drafted in 2005. "I've gotten to be around a lot of special guys, I've gotten to be around a lot of the guys that have built up this organization into what it is, and he was probably the most special of them all," Gardner said. "Not just for what he did on the field, all the World Series, but what he was able to do off the field, the people that he impacted. He was just a very special human being." 
Joe Girardi got to know Berra on a variety of levels -- first as a catcher with the organization and then as manager. Berra often sat in his office for morning chats and accompanied him in the car to many a spring training road game. 
Berra always seemed to connect with the Yankees' catchers -- Thurman Munson, Girardi, Jorge Posada and the newest one, Brian McCann. 
"I remember when I was a catcher here,'' Girardi said, "and he would be there while we were doing drills and talk to us about certain things and I used to think, 'I can't believe I'm next to this guy, I can't believe I'm in [his] presence, in the same dirt he caught in.' I was always in awe of him, but he never made you feel that you should be." 
A-Rod said: "It's hard to describe Yogi unless you met him and spent time with him and really felt his warmth." He also mentioned Berra's humility, a sentiment echoed by Gardner. 
"Always very humble, never talked about himself, never talked about his accomplishments, always was willing to offer advice," Gardner said. "Just coming up as a young player, he probably had no idea who I was and was willing to talk and say hello." 
Added general manager Brian Cashman: "I've been around a long time, and come across many really successful athletes and celebrities in their own right, and a lot of time, they're not as approachable as someone like Yogi. Yogi, with all the success, he was one of the most humble and warm and welcoming and kind people you'd ever know." 
And there were those 10 World Series titles, a total Derek Jeter often referenced. 
"Yogi didn't have enough fingers for the rings he had," Girardi said. "I don't think you'll ever see a player have the success Yogi had. I think the closest that we've seen in sports today is maybe Michael Jordan with six [titles] in eight years. It's not going to happen." 
With David Lennon

SPYREAX24

Yankees remember Yogi Berra as warm, humble

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Had Yogi Berra seen the number of fans entering his museum Wednesday, he may have said something like, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
A steady flow of fans visited the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center at Montclair University in New Jersey to honor Berra, a legendary Yankee who died Tuesday night at the age of 90. "His popularity transcends the game of baseball," said Dave Kaplan, the director of the museum. "He's an American icon, an American treasure. But he's probably an even better person off the field than he was on the field."
Near the entrance, fans placed flowers and balloons beside a bronzed statue of Berra down on one knee in his Yankees uniform. A handwritten letter to Berra left on the statue said millions of fans will miss him because, "You gave so many the greatest gift -- you made them smile." 
Admission to the museum, a nonprofit institution that charges $6 for adults, was free Wednesday. Kaplan said the museum normally receives 30 to 50 visitors on a typical weekday. But Wednesday, many more came to pay their respects and share Yogi stories.
Bob Groder, of Springfield, New Jersey, spoke of the time he met Berra at a restaurant. Berra mistook Groder and his party for another family and, thinking he knew them, offered to buy a round of drinks.
"When he found out he mixed us up, he didn't care," said Groder, 57. "He kept chatting with us. It was only ten minutes but it's something I'll remember for the rest of my life."
Milwaukee Brewers fan Mark Schowalter, of West Orange, New Jersey, visited with his wife and two children.
"We just wanted to pay tribute to this great man," Schowalter said. "Somebody I really want my son to look up to."
His son, 7-year-old Hudson, gazed at Berra's jerseys, read love letters that Berra wrote to his wife, and gripped the barrel of one of Berra's bats. 
"I know about Yogi Berra," he said. "He kind of has said crazy things. He was not one of those cocky famous people, he was one of the nice ones."
Niki Russo -- who used to visit the museum with her late father, Joe -- placed flowers by the statue and began to cry.
"He was what my dad always said to look for in people," said Russo, 21, of Union City, New Jersey. "Yogi loved the game, but he loved life more than the game."
Kaplan said the museum will remain dedicated to continuing Berra's legacy and instilling in children the values that he displayed through his life. 
"He is a wonderful example of a life well lived," Kaplan said. "He touched so many lives in so many different ways. He was very genuine, very accessible, unlike so many famous people. The one thing that always struck me about Yogi was he valued friendship more than fame. He was one of the most beloved people in this country, and you could understand why."

SPMUSE24

Yogi Berra's legacy transcends baseball

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It's over.
Except that it's not, really. Yogi Berra might have died, but he will live on among New Yorkers, baseball fans of all stripes and lovers of pop culture.
You didn't have to know the game to know Yogi. One of the first one-name personalities, he transcended baseball with colorful sayings that seemed to make no sense but were filled with wisdom. That was the essence of Yogi -- the lovable paradox. 
He was rightly celebrated as a common man of great humility, but his achievements were singular and extraordinary. Cherished by fans of the Yankees as the ultimate winner and a key part of their dynasty, he's also remembered warmly by Mets fans for managing their team to a National League title. Although born in St. Louis, he was quintessentially ours -- a striver and son of immigrants who gave birth to a cartoon character, Yogi Bear, and a phrase, Yogi-ism, that captured his delightful and often enigmatic epigrams. Eight of them -- including the enduring "You can observe a lot by watching" -- appear alongside those from Shakespeare and the Bible in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.
His dear wife, Carmen, who died last year, once asked him where he wanted to be buried, since he grew up in St. Louis, played in New York and lived in New Jersey. Yogi's response: "Surprise me."
In truth, it doesn't matter where Yogi's body is laid to rest. His spirit resides in all of us, as we tell ourselves that the future ain't what it used to be, it's deja vu all over again, nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded, and -- especially -- it ain't over 'til it's over.
RIP, Yogi. May you forever be immortal.

Opinion

Editorials

VPYOGI24

Farewell to Yogi Berra, baseball great and folksy philosopher

Editorial: A baseball great and folksy philosopher

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Yogi Berra, a Yankees legend and American sports icon, died late Tuesday at the age of 90. 
As news of his passing spread Wednesday, people from the sports world and beyond issued statements on Berra. Here's a collection of them:

<h2>PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA</h2>

"Yogi Berra was an American original - a Hall of Famer and humble veteran; prolific jokester and jovial prophet. He epitomized what it meant to be a sportsman and a citizen, with a big heart, competitive spirit, and a selfless desire to open baseball to everyone, no matter their background. Michelle and I offer our deepest condolences to his family, his friends, and his fans in New York and across the world." 

<h2>ROB MANFRED, MLB COMMISSIONER </h2>

"Renowned as a great teammate, Yogi stood for values like inclusion and respect during the vital era when our game began to become complete and open to all. With his trademark humility and good humor, Yogi represented only goodwill to baseball fans. His proud American story will endure at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey. 
"Yogi Berra was a beacon of Americana, and today Major League Baseball and all of its Clubs stand together in mourning his passing and celebrating his memory. On behalf of the game he served with excellence and dignity, I extend my deepest condolences to Yogi's children and grandchildren, his many friends throughout our game and his countless admirers." 

<h2>BOBBY RICHARDSON, FORMER YANKEES TEAMMATE</h2>

"Yogi Berra was my wonderful, long-time friend. Not only a teammate a lot of my career, but my manager in 1964. What can I say about Yogi? He was a friend and a wonderful clutch hitter. He had so many accolades in the world of baseball that it is almost impossible to realize how many. He was a World War II veteran and a great friend. It's a deep loss."

<h2>RON GUIDRY, FORMER YANKEES PITCHER</h2>

"It's just a sad day. We're losing a great man and I'm losing a great friend. He was always a very good friend of mine. All I know is every time I hear the word 'baseball,' I think of Yogi."

<h2>JOE TORRE, MLB CHIEF BASEBALL OFFICER </h2>

"We've lost Yogi, but we will always have what he left for us: the memories of a lifetime filled with greatness, humility, integrity and a whole bunch of smiles. He was a lovable friend." 

<h2>HAL STEINBRENNER, YANKEES GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER </h2> 

"Yogi Berra's legacy transcends baseball. Though slight in stature, he was a giant in the most significant of ways through his service to his country, compassion for others and genuine enthusiasm for the game he loved. He has always been a role model and hero that America could look up to. 
"While his baseball wit and wisdom brought out the best in generations of Yankees, his imprint in society stretches far beyond the walls of Yankee Stadium. He simply had a way of reaching and relating to people that was unmatched. That's what made him such a national treasure." 

<h2>NEW YORK METS </h2>

"Yogi Berra was a baseball legend who played a key part in our history. He was kind, compassionate and always found a way to make people laugh. With us he was a player, coach and managed the 1973 'Ya Gotta Believe' team to the National League pennant. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family." 

<h2>JORGE POSADA, FORMER YANKEE</h2>

"When you were around Yogi, he had a way of bringing out the best in you. He made you feel good inside. That was his gift to so many of us, and why people always tended to gravitate to him. I don't care what team you play for or what team you root for, if you love baseball, then you love Yogi Berra. My prayers go out to Yogi's family, and to the countless people he touched over the years."

<h2>ANDY PETTITTE, FORMER YANKEE</h2>

"What an honor it was to have rubbed shoulders with Yogi. He embraced me from the first day I met him. Heck, he embraced everyone he met. Yogi loved talking baseball and sharing stories, and I was always excited to hear them. He was a special man who brought smiles to the faces of an awful lot of people. He served our country with honor, and I can't think of a better ambassador to have represent this game. He will be sorely missed, and my heart goes out to his family during this difficult time."

<h2>NYC MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO</h2>

"The people of New York City have lost Yogi Berra, one of the people -- I think -- who defined life in this city. For so many of us, it felt like there was another member of our family and that was Yogi Berra. ... It's a day to celebrate all that Yogi Berra has meant to New York City."

<h2>ROBIN VENTURA, MANAGER, CHICAGO WHITE SOX </h2>

"It's sad, his passing, but anyone who starts thinking about him will smile. I was fortunate enough to play a couple of years with the Yankees and he spent a lot of time in the clubhouse. He lit up the room. 
"Just a beautiful person all the way around. His numbers are incredible, but his presence and how he dealt with people were really the biggest thing."

SPYSTATE24

Statements on Yogi Berra's passing

Yankees legend Yogi Berra, one of the most accomplished baseball players and colorful personalities in sports history, died Tuesday at age 90.
Berra, who played 18 years with the Yankees and is baseball's all-time leader in World Series games, at-bats and hits, died Tuesday of natural causes at an assisted living facility in New Jersey, according to Dave Kaplan, the director of the Yogi Berra Museum.
"Yogi Berra's legacy transcends baseball," Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said in statement Wednesday morning. 
Berra's death came 69 years to the day of his major league debut -- a career that began with a home run at the original Yankee Stadium.
"Though slight in stature, he was a giant in the most significant of ways through his service to his country, compassion for others and genuine enthusiasm for the game he loved. He has always been a role model and hero that America could look up to," Steinbrenner said. "While his baseball wit and wisdom brought out the best in generations of Yankees, his imprint in society stretches far beyond the walls of Yankee Stadium. He simply had a way of reaching and relating to people that was unmatched. That's what made him such a national treasure."
In his later years, Berra followed the path of former teammates Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle as the most revered former Yankee and a name that transcended the ballpark.
"To those who didn't know Yogi personally, he was one of the greatest baseball players and Yankees of all time," retired Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter wrote on The Players' Tribune, a website founded by Jeter. "To those lucky ones who did, he was an even better person."
Success on and off the field
Berra was an indelible image in the minds of a generation of baby boomer baseball fans and their parents -- but there was much more to his career and personal life.
There were his years of consistent and clutch hitting in Yankee pinstripes; his development into a top-notch defensive catcher; his seasons managing the Yankees and Mets; his enormous popularity during and after his career; his success as a product pitch man and entrepreneur; and, of course, his penchant for "Yogi-isms," those unintentionally ironic phrases that fractured the English language yet often made sense when the words were re-examined.
"Yogi Berra's character, talent, courage, extraordinary experiences and inimitable way with words made him a universally beloved figure in baseball and beyond," Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement Wednesday.
For decades, scratchy highlight films featured Berra in three memorable scenes from the fabled Yankees-Brooklyn Dodgers October rivalry during an era many believe was baseball's golden age.
In Game 1 of the 1955 World Series, Berra was the catcher when Jackie Robinson stole home in the eighth inning. Berra was so livid he jumped up and down and screamed at the umpire, certain his tag had beaten Robinson's slide.
In Game 7, Berra sliced a fly ball down the leftfield line that appeared to be a certain game-tying double. But Sandy Amoros made a spectacular reaching, running catch in the corner and turned it into a double play. The fielding gem helped the Dodgers win their only World Series as Brooklyn's team.
In Game 5 of the 1956 Series, Berra's uniform No. 8 is clearly visible as the catcher leaped into pitcher Don Larsen's arms after the only perfect game in postseason history. "It was the most excited I ever saw him," Larsen told Newsday in 1996.
People frequently joked about Berra's appearance. He was short and squat. He had large ears and a goofy grin he flashed often. He may have looked to some like a cartoon character, but he was deadly serious about baseball. He did not have blazing speed, but his feet, his bat, his reflexes and his mind were quick and nimble.
Outfielder as well as catcher
He was a capable outfielder early and late in his career, and a defensive stalwart at catcher during his prime years. 
Berra had a strong, accurate arm, knowledge of opposing hitters and a deep understanding of the game that inspired confidence in his pitchers.
Most importantly, Berra was a superb lefthanded hitter. He was tough to pitch to because he could hit pitches in and out of the strike zone, and tough to defend because he could spray the ball to all fields.
"I can't deny that I've always been a bad-ball hitter. I like to swing at anything that looks good to me, as long as I can reach it," Berra said in his autobiography "Yogi" written with Ed Fitzgerald. "A bad pitch isn't a bad pitch anymore when you hit it into the seats."
Opponents feared Berra most in clutch situations. Overshadowed in the Yankees' batting order by DiMaggio or Mantle throughout his career, he was no easy touch. "Berra is the toughest man in baseball, when the game is up for grabs," veteran manager Paul Richards once said. "He is by far the toughest man in the league in the last three innings."
He batted .285 over 18 seasons with 358 home runs, plus another 12 in World Series play, was voted to 15 All-Star teams and was named most valuable player of the American League three times. "He was a great clutch hitter and a smart catcher," shortstop Tony Kubek, a teammate from 1957 to 1964, wrote in his book "Sixty-One." "Basically, Yogi played like a guy who had tremendous insight into the game."
So it was no coincidence that the Yankees won 10 world championships during his career, which culminated with his election to the Hall of Fame in 1972. "Not bad for a kid from The Hill," Berra said of his Cooperstown enshrinement in a 1999 interview.
He was referring to the poor, Italian section of St. Louis, where Lawrence Peter Berra was born on May 12, 1925, and raised. The Hill was a sports-mad neighborhood where Berra and dozens of kids, including boyhood friend Joe Garagiola, a future major league catcher and announcer, played ball year-round. 
"Yogi was always the one you wanted with you. He was the best at baseball, the best at football, even the best at pitching horseshoes," Garagiola recalled in "The Wit and Wisdom of Yogi Berra," written by Phil Pepe.
Berra and his friends went to the movies one day, and the short subject was a travelogue about India. The film showed a Hindu mystic known as a yogi, who was sitting with his arms folded and his knees crossed, looking sad. One of Berra's friends thought the character "looked just like I used to look, sitting down after a ballgame," Berra told John Tullius in the book "I'd Rather Be a Yankee." From then on, Lawrence Peter Berra became Yogi Berra.
And soon after, he became a Yankee farmhand. His American Legion manager recommended that a Yankee coach who lived in St. Louis, Johnny Schulte, check out Berra, which eventually led to him signing for a $500 bonus.
Served in Navy during WWII
He joined the Yankees' farm team in Norfolk, Virginia, for the 1943 season where he showed promise. He spent 1944 and 1945 in the Navy, serving at D-Day. In 1946, he had a terrific season playing for the Yankees' Newark farm team in the International League, before the Yankees promoted him late that season.
Berra became a Yankee for good beginning in the 1947 season. He was a raw backup catcher and adequate outfielder in '47 and '48. During those two seasons, he learned the intricacies of catching from Yankees coach Bill Dickey, who had retired after the 1946 season. By 1949, he was the team's regular catcher, wearing Dickey's old No. 8, which was later retired in honor of both players.
"Berra improved more as a defensive catcher . . . than any catcher I ever saw. He became one of the all-time great catchers," Dickey told Anthony Connor in the book "Voices From Cooperstown."
Berra was one of 12 Yankees who played for manager Casey Stengel on consecutive World Series winners from 1949 to 1953. He batted a career high .322 with 124 RBIs in 1950 and won the first of his three MVP honors in 1951 when he batted .294 with 27 homers and 88 RBIs. He also won MVP honors in '54 and '55.
In 1956, Berra hit .298 with 30 HRs and 105 RBI. He blasted three homers to help the Yankees win the final Brooklyn-New York World Series. Though Yogi's '56 season was overshadowed by Mantle's Triple Crown and Larsen's perfect game, he called the latter "the highlight of my career. It's never happened before or since. The glove I used in that game is the only thing I saved from my career. It's in my museum."
Berra remained a productive hitter until his playing days with the Yankees ended after the 1963 season. He managed the team to the 1964 pennant but was fired when the Yankees lost the Series to St. Louis.
Berra rejoined his old boss Stengel as a Mets coach in 1965, even playing four games for New York's young National League team. He was promoted to manager in 1972 and won a come-from-behind pennant in 1973, making him only the third man in history to that point to have managed a pennant-winner in both leagues.
"Yogi Berra was a baseball legend who played a key part in our history," the Mets said in a statement Wednesday. "He was kind, compassionate and always found a way to make people laugh. With us he was a player, coach and managed the 1973 'Ya Gotta Believe' team to the National League pennant. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."
Berra was fired by the Mets in 1975 and returned to the Yankees as a coach under manager Billy Martin in 1976. He managed the Yankees for a second time in 1984 and for 16 games in 1985 before being fired by owner George Steinbrenner.
The proud and loyal Berra was so outraged by Steinbrenner's act that he refused to come to Yankee Stadium for 14 years. He did return to coaching with Houston from 1986 to 1989, but appeared miscast wearing the rainbow-burst Astros' uniform of that era.
Two sons played pro sports
Off the field, his life was always an unqualified success. He had a long and happy marriage to Carmen Berra that produced two sons, Dale, who played major league baseball, and Tim, who played in the National Football League. Carmen died in 2014.
"While we mourn the loss of our father, grandfather and great-grandfather, we know he is at peace with Mom," the Berra family said in a statement. "We celebrate his remarkable life, and are thankful he meant so much to so many. He will truly be missed."
During his playing days, Berra showed shrewd business sense by rising to the presidency of the company that made Yoo-Hoo, a popular chocolate soft drink. He had successful ventures in bowling alleys, racquetball clubs and product endorsements, earning millions more than he ever did as a player. He opened the Yogi Berra Museum on the campus of Montclair State University in New Jersey in 1998, another rousing success story.
"He found good advice and he took it," second baseman/teammate Bobby Richardson said of Berra's financial acumen.
But many family members and friends felt his life was incomplete without a return to Yankee Stadium. Prospects appeared grim for most of the 1990s, but as Berra himself once said in a classic Yogi-ism, "It ain't over 'til it's over."
With the help of Yankees broadcaster Suzyn Waldman, who intervened, Steinbrenner and Berra reconciled in the winter of 1999, setting the stage for one of the most memorable days in the history of the franchise.
On July 18, 1999, Yogi Berra Day at Yankee Stadium attracted a crowd of nearly 42,000 who witnessed the reunion of Berra with Yankee teammates like Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, Larsen, Gil McDougald, Richardson and even a player he managed from 1984 to 1985, the popular Don Mattingly.
In the game that followed, David Cone pitched a perfect game against Montreal, conjuring up images of the Larsen masterpiece that Berra had caught 43 years earlier. "Nothing bad happens when Yogi Berra is around," Yankees manager Joe Torre said that day.
Kubek echoed those sentiments when he wrote in his 1987 book: "The fact is that people just like Yogi. I don't know if it's because of his nickname, his looks, or because of the things he says . . . I only had to be around Yogi for a few minutes to be reminded that he remains one of the most popular men in sports."
Funeral arrangements had not been announced. The Yogi Berra Museum &amp; Learning Center will host a news conference Thursday to honor Berra. Members of Berra's family, and representatives of the museum and Major League Baseball are expected to attend.

SPYOGI24

Yogi Berra, New York Yankees legend, dies at 90

Tom Rock

Tom Coughlin issued a statement on Wednesday about the passing of Yankees legend Yogi Berra.
"We paid tribute to Yogi this morning in our team meeting. We recognized him," the Giants head coach said Wednesday. "I've had an opportunity to meet and be in Yogi's company. Yogi was a very, very nice man, nice to meet, always gracious. I always look at him as a terrific representative of those great Yankee years. I asked Eli [Manning] about him, too, and Eli said he was a very nice man.
"But to imagine the player that he was. I remember him as a kid, obviously. Can you imagine what he accomplished - three MVPs, 10 world championships. How many batting titles? He was unbelievable. And not a big man. He swung that bat and he had that classic [routine] in the on-deck circle the way he did that then threw the bat off to the side. It was a classic.
"And he was in D-Day. He and Joe Garagiola were neighbors in St. Louis when they were kids. But how magnificent for a young kid like that. And the fact that he could stick to his business all those years, when quite frankly, others weren't. And he was devoted to his wife Carmen. He lost her last year. But what a sports icon he was. Did his talking on the baseball field, and that was the key.
"When I was a kid, I was a Dodgers fan. But it was always the Yankees on television. My grandfather, who lived with us, he was a Yankees fan, so the black and white set was always on, it was always the Yankees. So I knew them all."

Football

New York Giants

SPGTOM24

Tom Coughlin marvels at Yogi Berra

Giants Cowboys Football cropped

Yogi Berra was a lovable paradox. He was a pop culture caricature with the funny name, but a man of character who stood up to the bluster of George Steinbrenner;&nbsp; a poor man's Shakespeare whose head-scratching bits of wisdom are part of our vernacular; and the rarest of birds, a respected baseball icon with a warm place in the hearts of fans of both the Yankees and Mets. 
His plaque at the Hall of Fame tells that he played on more pennant winners (14) and World Series champions (10) than anyone else. He hit 358 home runs and caught 148 games without an error. He was a three-time MVP and managed the Yankees to the pennant in 1964. It's a shame, in a way, that he was inducted into the hall in 1972, because not on the plaque is the fact that he managed the crosstown Mets to their second pennant just a year later, in 1973. 
He is the man whose wonderful utterances are quoted by presidents and will entertain us forever: "It's not over till it's over," "Nobody goes there anymore - it's too crowded," "Why buy good luggage; you only use it when you travel," and "I really didn't say everything I said." 
He was a simple man but a proud one, too. He managed the Yankees to an 87-75 record in 1984, but missed the playoffs. When the team started 6-10 in 1985, Steinbrenner fired him - and Yogi vowed never to return to Yankee Stadium. 
Berra rebuffed invitations to Old-timer's Day, did not attend when the Yanks added a plaque in his honor to Monument Park in 1988, and even stayed away when his friend and old teammate Phil Rizzuto was honored. 
Even when Steinbrenner tendered his resignation as general partner in 1990, Yogi refused to return. "'To me, I don't think he's out of it yet, so I don't know when I'll come back,'' Berra told The New York Times. 
But the two men made up in 1999 when a contrite Steinbrenner traveled to a museum named after Berra at Montclair State University in New Jersey.&nbsp; Only after that would Berra return as the prodigal son for Yogi Berra Day on July 18, 1999. 
His passing Tuesday at age 90 will grab New York City headlines away from a visiting pope, but one wonders if&nbsp; Lawrence Peter Berra, a devout Catholic, and Jorge Mario Bergoglio wouldn't be kindred spirits. Both are beloved for their thoughtful decency and humility. 
Yogi's simplicity - the uncanny ability to hit balls out of the strike zone without thinking too much, or summing up a moment with an unintended contradiction - was his gift. 
Yankees fan Billy Crystal once told "60 Minutes," "I don't think you can explain someone like Yogi. It's too hard to do. I can't even attempt it. Because that would be to damage what is just a delightful little jewel that we should cherish." 
Lawrence Striegel is an editor for Newday's Opinion section.

Striegel: We woke up to loss of 'jewel' Yogi Berra

You arrive at Yankee Stadium Sunday thinking that maybe this whole Old-Timers' Day thing has run its course. 
 And then you see Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford emerge from beyond the centerfield wall in an oversized golf cart and ride around the warning-track dirt, waving and smiling and soaking in well-deserved adulation. 
 You see the cart turn and go down the third-base line and rest behind home plate. You see the early-arriving crowd stand and applaud. 
 You see the 88-year-old Berra and the 84-year-old Ford, wearing Yankees uniform tops over their civilian clothes, and you realize how lucky some people here are to have seen them play, and how lucky everyone here is to see them today. 
 You realize that Berra, once a constant presence around Yankee Stadium after he patched things up with George Steinbrenner, hasn't been around much lately. 
 You remember that he didn't make it to the playoffs last year. You remember writing about his desire to be there if the Yankees made it to the World Series. But they didn't. He didn't make it to spring training this year, either. 
 You remember seeing him often in past years walking around the clubhouse, stopping to say hello to Jorge Posada or Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera, always with a smile. 
 You remember listening for Yogi-isms but not really hearing more than a few soft-spoken words. 
 You remember making sure you listened closely to those words. 
 You remember noticing how the current Yankees legends treat him. With affection. With deference. With respect. You are certain he has earned it for more than just his baseball career. 
 You listen to John Sterling talk about Berra's war record. You think about what it must have been like for him to be part of the invasion force on D-Day, 300 yards from Omaha Beach, as a 19-year-old in the Navy. 
 You listen to the career milestones: 15-time All-Star, three-time AL MVP, 10-time World Series champion, 358 home runs. elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972. 
 You remember marveling that this tiny man once was one of the most feared hitters in baseball. You think about 10 World Series rings and you can't even imagine it. 
 You look around the stands and you see people taking those ubiquitous cellphone pictures. You know Facebook and Instagram and Twitter will be full of Yogi and Whitey photos in a few minutes. 
 You doubt that Yogi has a Facebook page or a Twitter account. But you'd sure like it if he did. 
 You think about the whole idea of Old-Timers' Day and what it still means to people. 
 You think about the fans waiting outside the stadium more than four hours before the first pitch of the "real'' game. Waiting on slow-moving security lines in the fast-growing morning heat, wearing uniform tops that said "Mantle'' and "DiMaggio'' and "Berra'' and "Jeter,'' even though no actual Yankees uniform has ever had a player's name on the back. 
 You know these fans aren't here this early to see Yankees vs. Rays. They will fill only about a third of the stadium when Old-Timers' introductions start, inexplicably, with Brian Dorsett, a catcher who played in 22 games with the Yankees in the lean years of 1989 and '90. Still, you hear cheers for Dorsett. And for the next Old-Timer, Lee Mazzilli, and all the rest, no matter how obscure or famous. 
 You hear a gasp when the 1970s Afro haircut of Oscar Gamble is shown under a Yankees cap on the centerfield scoreboard. You listen to cheers for the stars of the last Yankees dynasty of the late '90s and early 2000s. 
 You share the pride when military veterans Don Larsen, Bobby Brown and Jerry Coleman are honored together. 
 And then Yogi and Whitey emerge from centerfield. And all you wish for is to see them again next year -- and for many more years after that -- on Old-Timers' Day. On one of the best days of the year.

Anthony Rieber

SPRIEBER24

Hey Yogi, let's hope Old-Timers' Day ain't ever over

yogi whitey cropped

LITTLE FALLS, N.J. -- It's been 56 years since Don Larsen etched his name into baseball lore by throwing the only perfect game in World Series history. But the former Yankee's memory of the event is as perfect as the game itself. 
Said Larsen, "I think about it maybe 10, 15 times a day."
Those memories were rekindled Monday when Larsen and Yogi <a href="/topics//Yogi_Berra">Berra</a> -- his catcher that day -- reunited for the 56th anniversary of the game at the Yogi Berra Museum. Larsen and Berra were kicking off a Steiner Sports Memorabilia auction of Larsen's uniform from Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the <a href="/topics//Brooklyn_Dodgers">Brooklyn Dodgers</a>. The auction, whose proceeds will go to putting Larsen's grandchildren through college, will last 56 days and start at $56,000.
"I'm not getting any younger," said Larsen, 83, "and I want to make sure my grandkids have a good education."
The perfect game was truly a perfect storm of events. Larsen had no idea he would be pitching until he arrived at Yankee Stadium that morning. It was then that he saw a ball in his shoe inside his locker, the sign that manager Casey <a href="/topics//Casey_Stengel">Stengel</a> had tabbed him as the starter.
"Everybody else had known, but not me," said Larsen, who added he never asked Stengel why he was chosen to pitch that day. "I looked at the ball and I took a big swallow and I said to myself, 'Don't screw this one up.' "
After his performance in Game 2 three days earlier, Larsen had every reason to be nervous. He lasted only 12/3 innings, giving up four unearned runs and walking four in the <a href="/topics//New_York_Yankees">Yankees</a>' 13-8 loss. But in Game 5, his control was outstanding. His fastballs and sliders retired <a href="/topics//Jackie_Robinson">Jackie Robinson</a>, <a href="/topics//Roy_Campanella">Roy Campanella</a>, <a href="/topics//Duke_Snider">Duke Snider</a>, <a href="/topics//Gil_Hodges">Gil Hodges</a> and Pee Wee Reese with ease.
"He didn't shake me off once," Berra said. "He was throwing pretty hard and had a good breaking ball that day. Everything was working for him."
It wasn't until the seventh inning that Larsen and Berra realized they had something special on their hands. But even then, Larsen still was subject to baseball superstition -- much to his chagrin.
"I was taking a little break, and [<a href="/topics//Mickey_Mantle">Mickey Mantle</a>] comes in from centerfield, and I said, 'Mick, look at the scoreboard. Wouldn't it be something with two more innings to go?' " he recalled. "I shouldn't have said anything, because then it got to be annoying. Nobody would talk to me."
When Larsen got <a href="/topics//Dale_Mitchell">Dale Mitchell</a> to strike out looking for the final out -- prompting Berra to leap into his <a href="/topics//ARMS_(band)">arms</a> in one of the most iconic sports photos ever -- the magnitude of his accomplishment didn't hit him right away. "I didn't know it was a perfect game until somebody told me in the clubhouse after," he said. "I didn't even know what one was, because there hadn't been one for a long time."
Larsen -- who does regular speaking engagements when he's not with his family at his home in <a href="/topics//Hayden">Hayden</a> Lake, <a href="/topics//Idaho">Idaho</a> -- ended a 14-season career in 1967 with an 81-91 record (including 3-21 for the 1954 Orioles). But for one day, he was untouchable.
 Said Larsen: "I wish we could do it all over again."
That would be perfect.

SPYOGI09

56 years later, Don Larsen and Yogi Berra reminisce about perfect game

spPERFECT08

When Craig Biggio made his first official tour of the Hall of Fame as a Hall of Famer in late January, he was in awe of the place. He was amazed as he perused the plaques of all the greats and pleased to know that he will be in the company of a good friend. 
Biggio's plaque will be in the same big room as the one for Lawrence Peter Berra, who helped Biggio get here.
Yogi will not be at the induction ceremony Sunday for Biggio, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz (the largest Hall class in 60 years). He is in an assisted living facility in New Jersey, where Biggio visited him recently. But his impact accompanies the former Astros star and Long Island native wherever he goes.
Berra was a coach with the Astros when Biggio broke in and repeatedly advised and encouraged him, so much so that they became buddies.
"You've got to remember that Yogi was a Hall of Famer and Craig was a young kid," said Matt Galante, the former Yankees farmhand and Mets coach who also was an Astros coach during Biggio's formative years in the late '80s. "So naturally he would listen to a guy like that. They had a good relationship, both from Jersey."
He was referring to Biggio's career at Seton Hall University in South Orange, which is where he first met Berra. It was an eventful meeting. The Astros had just drafted the young catcher and asked Berra to cast his experienced gaze on him. Berra set up the meeting with Seton Hall coach Mike Sheppard, a longtime friend of Yogi's who has a sense of humor.
"I said, 'OK, just come over. We're in the gym today,' " Sheppard said on the phone from his New Jersey home this week. "I had a Houston jacket and I put it on my manager. He was a very good manager."
The team manager also was 5-7 and 280 pounds. Just for fun, Sheppard made sure the manager was doing the catching when Yogi arrived.
"Yogi saw him and he kept saying, 'You've got to be kidding me. Oh, well, we'll make a ballplayer out of him,' " Sheppard said. "But Yogi caught on. You couldn't pull the wool over his eyes."
In fact, at his news conference after his Hall election was made official, Biggio said of Berra, "He was the smartest baseball man I've ever been around, no doubt. I would be on the bench and he would come behind me and babble something. I'd kind of look at him. Then the next few innings, it would all happen."
Biggio was fortunate to have had numerous wise baseball men in his ear. Galante was the force behind Biggio's life-changing move from catcher to second base.
"He wasn't happy in the beginning. He had just made the All-Star team as a catcher. But we saw that he had quick feet and good hands. We didn't want to lose his speed," Galante said. "We explained it to him that way. He wasn't excited about it early, but little by little, he kind of liked it."
Sheppard recalled watching Biggio play high school football for Kings Park. The game was a blowout and Biggio was reduced to returning punts (one for a touchdown). Sheppard never will forget seeing the kid dig into the ground with his cleats out of frustration because he wasn't in the game. "I saw him run and I saw how much he wanted to play and I said, 'That's a kid I want,' " Sheppard said.
Galante and Sheppard will be here Sunday for the induction. And Yogi and Biggio will be here together forever.

SPHOF25

The Craig Biggio-Yogi Berra Hall of Fame connection

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Yogi Berra's amazing life has taken him from the coast of Normandy to the batter's box at Yankee Stadium, the dugout at Shea Stadium and the halls of Cooperstown. The next stop could be 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
A petition filed last month on whitehouse.gov to award the Hall of Fame catcher the Presidential Medal of Freedom reached the threshold needed to require an official response from the White House. The threshold was 100,000 signatures by June 8, one month from the petition's publication, and Berra's petition received 108,623.
"A man of unimpeachable integrity and respect, he befriended the first black and Latino baseball players in Major League Baseball," the petition states. "He is currently an ambassador for Athlete Ally, which promotes LGBT rights in sports. Berra enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II and served during the D-Day invasion."
Berra's cause received a big eleventh-hour push online, with advocates as diverse as MLB executive vice president Joe Torre and CEO Steve Forbes championing the case.
Berra, who turned 90 on May 12, was a three-time American League MVP and 10-time World Series winner for the Yankees. He won an AL Pennant as Yankees manager in 1964 and NL Pennant as Mets manager in 1973.

SPYOGI10.WEB

Yogi Berra petition for Presidential Medal of Freedom eclipses 100,000 signatures

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This time, it was everyone else's turn to thank Yogi Berra for making this day necessary.
For the people who gathered at the Yogi Berra Museum Tuesday, it really was necessary to wish a Happy 90th Birthday to an American icon, to salute one of the greatest baseball players of all time, to unveil a set of championship rings that replaced ones that were stolen, to honor one of baseball's keenest minds (regardless of his famous malapropisms) and to celebrate a good and kind soul.
"It's great to see so many people love him just as much as we love him," said Lindsay Berra, his granddaughter and emcee of the event, who urged friends and fans to sign an online petition to get the Hall of Famer awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"After a lifetime of giving to baseball and just giving to everybody, there is not much left that we can give him," said Lindsay, a writer for MLB.com. "He is the embodiment of the American dream."
She praised the values of the son of Italian immigrants who became a beloved national figure for his nickname, his record 10 world championships with the Yankees and many "Yogi-isms" such as telling the hometown crowd that honored him: "I want to thank you for making this day necessary."
"It brings a human element to him," said Jeff Idelson, president of the Hall of Fame, who noted that Berra always had fun with his reputation. But Idelson pointed out Berra was a sharp baseball thinker as a catcher, coach and manager who won an unlikely pennant for the 1973 Mets and turned Craig Biggio into a second baseman and Hall of Famer.
Matt Galante, a former Yankees minor leaguer who became close with Berra when they coached together with the Astros, recalled the 1986 National League Championship Series against the Mets. Galante asked Berra about how to pitch to Gary Carter. "He said, 'Well look, the first at-bat, we did this, this, this and that, next at-bat we did this.' He knew every pitch in the game, for every batter," Galante said.
Berra did not speak Tuesday, he just received. He got an eight-minute fanfare from Hillside Elementary School's Drums of Thunder and accepted proclamations officially declaring it Yogi Berra Day in both New York and New Jersey. Elston Howard's widow Arlene was there, along with former Yankees Willie Randolph, Mickey Rivers and Rick Cerone. All three of Berra's sons were there, as were 10 of his 11 grandchildren (Nick, 23, is in Lithuania with the Army's Second Cavalry) and his one great-grandchild.
There was cake, and of course there were stories.
Idelson remembered sitting with Berra in Cooperstown early one morning when the latter asked why it always seems to rain on Hall of Fame weekend. The Hall's president explained that they are at the base of a nine-mile-long lake between two mountain ranges. "There's a pregnant pause for five or six seconds," Idelson said. "Then he asks, 'Why don't you move it to another weekend when it doesn't rain?' "
Galante recalled an Astros trip to St. Louis, when Berra asked traveling secretary Barry Waters to book a room for his mother-in-law. The secretary got Yogi's credit card information, then, standing at the registration desk, asked for the woman's name. "He says, 'The name is Mom.' Barry says, 'No, no. I need a name.' Yogi said, 'I've been calling her Mom all these years. Her name is Mom.' "
Larry, Yogi's son, never will forget that his mother Carmen, who died last year, couldn't wait to share a Yogi-ism that occurred when they were watching the film "Papillon."
"My mother said, 'Boy, Steve McQueen really looks good in this movie.' My father said, 'Yeah, he probably made it before he died,'" Larry said. "She called me at 1 in the morning. She said, 'If I don't call you now, I'll forget it.'"
No one ever will forget Yogi Berra, about whom the stories are not over until they're over.

SPYOGI13

Friends, family in gathering to celebrate Yogi Berra on his 90th birthday

Yogi Berra is a regimented man. If he does something one way that works that will be the way he does it. Those plans, though, will have to deviate this year as the 87-year-old baseball legend will see spring training start for the Yankees without him. It is not so much that Berra is in ailing health, but his age and limited travel ability that have made him a no-show at George M. Steinbrenner Field when players began to report Monday, according to David Kaplan, the director of the Yogi Berra Museum, Berra’s name is synonymous with the Yankees and the “Golden Era” of baseball. With 10 World Series championships and three MVPs in 18 years of service with the Yanks from 1946-1963, Yogi is truly a living legend among baseball greats. After a 14-year dispute between him and late Yankees owner George M. Steinbrenner ended in 1999, Berra has been a staple with the team down in Florida when players report for spring training as a consultant. Being at spring training was a way for Berra to hold on to the sport he loved. But as he has aged and health has become a factor, Berra’s involvement has decreased to the point where he will most likely only be able to attend a few home games. For years a few things were almost certain as winter rolled into spring. Snow would melt, flowers would bloom and a short old man sporting a No. 8 on his back would be donning pinstripes. It seems all good things must come to an end.

Berra not at Yankees spring training

Yogi Berra can't make the trip to Yankees spring training

yogi berra - cropped

Organizers at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey, still had a crime scene on their hands when word arrived that baseball had stepped up to the plate. 
The Yankees, the Mets and Major League Baseball have donated replicas of items stolen from the museum during a heist Oct. 8. 
"People really rallied around Yogi and he has absolutely loved it," said Mark Markowitz, chairman of the museum's board of directors. 
The replicas include the Yankees' 27 World Series championship rings (Berra helped win 10 of them) and his three Most Valuable Player plaques. The museum also received a 1969 Mets World Series ring (Berra was a coach) and a 1973 National League championship ring from when Berra managed the Mets to the pennant. "He was smiling, thumbs up," Markowitz said of Berra's reaction. "It was great news. When I told him last week, he was thrilled.It's heartfelt. It's great to see people do stuff like that."

New York Mets

SPYOGI28

Yogi grateful for replica donations to Yogi Berra Museum

Thieves who broke into the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center early Wednesday morning made off with "several" of the Hall of Famer's World Series rings, along with two MVP plaques, authorities said. 
Chief Paul M. Cell of the Montclair State Police Department made the announcement Thursday afternoon, adding: "No other items appear to be stolen at this time." 
The museum, filled with memorabilia from the 89-year-old's career, is located on the Montclair State University campus in Little Falls, New Jersey. 
The Montclair State Police Department is leading the investigation. 
The Essex County sheriff's office continues to seek the public's help. Sheriff Armando Fontoura said in a statement Wednesday that its Crimestoppers program is offering "a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to the arrest of the suspects in the case." 
Berra, a three-time MVP during his 18 seasons with the Yankees, appeared in 14 World Series with the Bombers, winning 10 of them. His museum opened in December 1998.

SPYOGI10

Cops: World Series rings, MVP plaques stolen from Yogi Berra museum

Berra Museum Burglary cropped

Five Hall of Famers are expected to be in attendance at the Stadium on Sunday for the Yankees' 67th Old-Timers' Day, with Yogi Berra, 88, headlining the group. 
 Whitey Ford, Goose Gossage, Rickey Henderson and Reggie Jackson, Berra's fellow Hall of Famers, also are slated to appear. 
 Nearly 50 former Yankees -- including first-time participants Orlando "El Duque'' Hernandez, Andy Phillips, Todd Greene, Brian Dorsett, Scott Kamieniecki and John Flaherty -- are scheduled to take part in the ceremonies, which will begin at 11:15 a.m. 
 Flaherty will be joined by fellow YES Network broadcasters and former Yankees David Cone, Lou Piniella and Paul O'Neill. 
 Also expected to be introduced to the crowd are the widows of five standout Yankees -- Helen Hunter (Jim "Catfish'' Hunter), Jill Martin (Billy Martin), Kay Murcer (Bobby Murcer), Arlene Howard (Elston Howard) and Diana Munson (Thurman Munson). 
 Manager Joe Girardi, who experienced Yankees Old-Timers' Day as a player before doing so as a manager, said his first one, in 1996, was the most memorable because of the presence of Joe DiMaggio and seeing the old Stadium packed. 
 "I had never been a part of an organization that had had an Old-Timers' Day,'' Girardi said before Saturday's game. "And you saw the stands full. It just shows how much Yankees fans appreciate what players have done over the years here. And that was memorable for me, seeing the stands full for the Old-Timers' game.''

SPOLD23

Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford headline Sunday's Yankees Old-Timers' Day

The life of Yogi Berra

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