The Hall of Fame honors Berra for his accomplishments as a player, including catching the only ideal game in World Series history.
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A baseball great who became known as much for his tortured use of the English language as for his exploits on the field has died. Berra was named the Mets’ manager in 1972 following the unexpected death of Hodges and guided the Amazin’s to another World Series appearance in 1973.
“Yogi Berra’s legacy transcends baseball”, Yankees co-owner Hal Steinbrenner says. How you doing?'” Kaline recalled this morning at Comerica Park.
In the 2003 interview, Berra told the CNN that his early years were very bad.
Yogi’s first game with the Yankees was in 1946 and his last game with the Mets came in 1965. He was an all-star for 15 consecutive seasons and inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972. Teammate Hector Lopez said, ‘Yogi had the fastest bat I ever saw. “We could sit down and talk and have a toddy together every once in awhile”.
During a ribbon-cutting ceremony held during the May celebration, Berra was able to see replacement items as they were revealed to the public after being stolen in a heist at the museum.
He said his fingers were so short that they had to be painted just to be more visible to pitchers. Berra was an American hero before he was an American League MVP. It was Kaline’s second full season with the Tigers, and it’s hard to imagine how he lost. He is second in RBIs and runs scored behind only Mickey Mantle. When his son collected the alleged Yogisms into a book, Yogi went along with the plan, which is why I had the opportunity to interview him for Only A Game in 1998.
I wonder if he knew where he’d end up, because when he was once asked by his wife where he wanted to be buried, Yogi replied, “I don’t know”. Kaline was the runner-up to another Yankee in 1963: Elston Howard.
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The problem is, whether or not he actually said a number of these “Yogi-isms” remains a matter of dispute. “Certainly, Yogi was a larger than life character in baseball”. That was just Yogi.
