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A wonderful life: Berra family reminisces at Yogi’s museum

From Yogi Bear to YooHoo ads to even the local Rizzuto-Berra Lanes, a bowling alley in Clifton, NJ, the town where I went to school, Yogi was everywhere.

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“To those who didn’t know Yogi personally, he was one of the greatest baseball players and Yankees of all time”, Jeter wrote on Wednesday in a post on his website, The Players’ Tribune. He was here accompanying his son Dale Berra, who was about 50 and had been a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates and briefly with the New York Yankees. Berra, the popular Hall of Fame catcher for the Yankees, died Tuesday at 90. The museum, located on the campus of Montclair State University, will hold a public memorial next Thursday. He also had success as a manager, with both the Yankees and crosstown New York Mets.

“I think Yogi would want us to go out and play and win and have fun and play with passion and joy, just like he would play”, said controversial slugger Alex Rodriguez, who returned to the Yankees this season after being suspended for all of 2014 over accusations of taking performance-enhancing drugs.

“He’s demonstrated numerous qualities of past Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients”, the White House response concluded, “so – as he might say – it ain’t over till it’s over”. Kershaw has a 1.17 ERA in 14 starts since the end of June and is up against teammate Zack Greinke and Cubs ace Jake Arrieta for the coveted pithing prize.

I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. She said, ‘Your father will be devastated.

“His numbers are incredible when you really look at them, but his presence and how he dealt with people was really the biggest thing”.

In 1999 he attained the huge honour of being selected as one of 100 players of Major League Baseball’s All-Century team.

“He would be like, “So, are we going to watch ‘Seinfeld” tonight?'” Larry Berra said. “Dad had a great way of relating to everyone. I wanted to be like him, a sensitive guy with an air of confidence and friendliness”.

Yogi-isms“, the often odd sounding, initially nonsensical, but oddly philosophical phrases that have been attributed to Berra have made a permanent home in the American lexicon.

Lindsay Berra noted that Tuesday was Carmen Berra’s birthday.

But of course, we all know Yogi first and foremost for those bungled quotes.

“Finish the job is what he would tell us”, Girardi said.

Funeral arrangements for Berra are private.

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Also notable for Coughlin was Berra’s time serving in the military, his dedication to his wife and family, and his ability to keep his focus on his career. “I always thought Yogi made people around him better and feel better about themselves.”.

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