Yogi Berra, who died Tuesday at age 90, is regarded by many as a likable baseball clown. That's mainly on account of "Yogiisms," his memorably slanted malapropisms, many of which he probably never uttered. The general principle, someone has said, is that the Yogiisms most likely to have been invented are the ones that make Yogi sound sort of dumb. That's probably true. We all have our favorites.
Asked during spring training what size cap he wore, Yogi said, "How should I know? I'm not in shape yet."
Directing someone to his house, he said, "When you get to the fork in the road, take it."
Having toured the Louvre, he was asked whether he had enjoyed it, and replied, "It's okay if you like paintings."
Of a certain restaurant, he said, "No one goes there. It's too crowded."
If you google him, you'll find a lot more of these before you ever discover that he was more than just a good baseball player: he was one of the very greatest. No player was ever a member of more pennant-winning teams, or played in more World Series games. Yes, he had great players beside him, but it is arguable whether even such iconic Yankee stars as DiMaggio and Mantle were Yogi's equals. He was the American League's Most Valuable Player three times. More impressive, especially for a catcher, the everyday player most subject to injury, he was among the top four in MVP balloting every season from 1950 to 1956--fourth in 1952, third in 1950, second in 1953 and 1956, and first in 1951, 1954, and 1955. It's true that the Yankees were winning the pennant every season, which gave a Yankee the inside track to the award. Still. DiMaggio and Mantle each won the award three times, too--same as, not more than, Yogi. Over 19 seasons, Yogi's output, per every 162 games played, was a batting average of .285, an on-base percentage of .348, a slugging percentage of .483, 27 home runs, 90 runs scored, and 109 RBI. For a catcher.
As a manager, he was probably underrated, too. He took the 1964 Yankees to the World Series, where they lost in seven games to the Cardinals. Everyone supposes that, well, the Yankees, they always won, manager fills out the line-up card and then watches them win from the dugout, but the 1964 team was old and hobbled by injuries. With a new manager, they finished in sixth place in 1965, tenth in 1966, ninth in 1967.
Yogi's 1973 Mets also made it to the World Series. That's two pennants in just five full seasons of managing.
Miss Manners told one of her correspondents that it's always a good sign for someone if they are more than they appear to be. Yogi Berra gets an A+ in that category.
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