Hall of Famer Profile - Yogi Berra
The New York Yankees Catcher Played in 14 World Series in 18 Seasons
Yogi Berra was so great, they named a cartoon character after him.
Early Life & Minors
Lawrence Paul Berra was born on May 12, 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri. Berra lived his early life in a section of St. Louis called the Hill. Growing up, his neighbors and boyhood friends were Joe Garagiola and the late, great Jack Buck.
Berra started playing ball as a young boy. In neighborhood pickup games, he usually played every position except for catcher. He moved up to American Legion ball when he was just 14 years old. It was there that Berra received his famous nickname. Apparently, when he was on deck, Berra would sit with his arms and legs crossed, and one of his teammates told him that he looked like an Indian Yogi whom he had just seen in a movie. The name stuck. From then on, Lawrence was known as Yogi.
After playing a few years in American Legion baseball, scouts started showing up to watch Berra play. The first were from the hometown St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals, however, spurned Berra in favor of his best friend, Joe Garagiola, whom they signed in 1942. A few months later the Yankees stepped in and signed Yogi for the same $500 bonus that the Cardinals had given to Garagiola.
Before he could report to the Yankees minor league affiliate for the start of the 1943 season, however, Berra signed up for military service to fight in World War II. He served as a gunner's mate in the U.S. Navy and was on a warship the day the Allied Powers invaded the beaches at Normandy. When Berra returned from war, he played one season for the Newark Bears minor league club, and was elevated to the major league team for good in 1947.
Major League Career
Athough Berra struggled initially with his defensive catching skills, he was a good hitter right off the bat. In his first full season, he hit .305 wih 20 home runs and 98 RBI. Yogi worked very hard on his catching in the early years witht the help of Hall of Famer Bill Dickey, who not only tutored the young backstop but also bestowed his number 8 upon Yogi as a supportive gesture for his protege. Berra soon developed into one of the best defensicve catchers in the game's history.
But he was always a great hitter; a bad-pitch hitter who once smacked a ball that bounced two feet in front of the plate for a long triple over the center fielder's head. Beginning in 1949 and continuing through to 1955, Berra led the Yankees in RBI seven straight seasons. Not bad on a team that had Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. During that seven year run, Yogi won three MVPs (1951, '54 and '55) and also finished second (1953), third (1950) and fourth (1954) in the voting.
All tolled, Yogi finished his career with a .285 average, 358 home runs, and 1,430 RBI. He made the All-Star team 14 years in a row and received MVP votes in fifteen straight seasons.
World Series Records
Berra's Yankee teams dominated baseball for his entire 17 seasons with the franchise, winning 14 American League pennants and 10 World Series championships during that stretch. Yogi leads all baseball players in history with those 10 championship rings, edging out his onetime teammate Joe DiMaggio, who won 9.
But Berra didn't just play on those winners; he was a major force. As of the 2007 season, Yogi is still the all-time leader in World Series hits (71), doubles (15) and catcher putouts (457). He also ranks second in World Series RBI (39) and runs scored (41).
Yogi-isms
For all of his talents as a baseball player, however, Berra will probably be best remembered for his malapropisms and other speaking accidents that somehow demonstrate his lack of education and his brilliance at the same time. Here are some of his greatest hits:
1. "It ain't over till it's over."
2. "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
3. When someone gave him a check made out to Bearer, Yogi responded "How the hell can you spell my name like that?"
4. When his wife took one of the Berra children to see Dr. Zhivago, Yogi asked: "What the hell is wrong with the kid now?"
5. Once during a late night of drinking in Chicago with Phil Rizzuto and Mickey Mantle, Scooter asked Yogi if there was supposed to be a full moon that night. Yogi responded: "I don't know, This isn't my town."
Managing Career
Yogi served as manager for the Yankees in 1964, and won the AL pennant. He also managed the Mets from 1972 through 1975, and won the National League title in 1973, making him one of just six managers to win a pennant in each league.
