While many people recognize Yogi Berra from Alfac commercials, Berra has been using his “Yogi-isms” for a long time. “Yogi” is a nickname bestowed upon Lawrence Berra, after he and his friend were watching a movie and a character, who happened to be an Indian snake charmer, resembled the way Berra walked. Since that time the name “Yogi” has stuck. Before becoming a professional baseball player, Berra enlisted in the Navy at age eighteen, and served in World War II.
After the war, Berra began his baseball career starting in the minor leagues. As a major leaguer, Berra played for the New York Yankees from 1946-1963, and the New York Mets in 1965. After his field playing days were behind him, Berra went on to manage and coach. Not only did he coach for twenty seasons, but he was the manager for the Yankees in 1964, and during the 1984-1985 seasons. In addition, he managed the Mets from 1972-1975. Because of Berra’s success as a manager, and his leadership in both American and National League teams, he is one of only a few managers to have won both American League and National League pennants.
As a player, Berra was best known for talking to batters from the opposing team to try to distract them. While many of the opposing players did not like this behavior because they were caught off guard or unaware of Yogi’s tactics, Berra also was faced with some distractions which fortunately never were carried through. One day, just before the New York Yankees went to Boston to play an important series between the Red Sox, Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto got a letter. The letter stated that if he and his teammates Johnny Mize, Yogi Berra, and Hank Bauer played in the series, that they would be shot. Berra went on to play in fourteen All Star games, win the American League MVP award in 1951, 1954, and 1955; and obtain many World Series records. Some of Berra’s World Series accomplishments include: having the most World Series games played in by a catcher (63), having the most World Series hits (71), and being on a winning World Series team ten times!
Later, Berra lent his “Yogi-ism’s” to a book called I Didn’t Really Say Everything I Said. Some of his famous sayings such as “it ain’t over till it’s over”, “you can observe a lot by watching” “never answer an anonymous letter” and “I usually take a two hour nap from one to four” are just some expressions mentioned in the book. In addition to having his own book, Yogi also has a museum named after him located on the campus of Montclair State University in New Jersey.
Some other statistics are as follows:
Home runs- 358 (66th overall)
Runs batted in – 1430 (54th overall)
Induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame – 1972
