The baseball icon, who won a record 10 World Series titles with the New York Yankees and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, passed away yesterday at age 90. Known for unintended gaffes and an original logic truly all his own, Berra always made America chuckle with his “Yogi-isms”.
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To listen to Bill (aka Jim) Littlefield’s 1998 conversation with Yogi Berra, click the play button above.
“It was fun”, he reminisced at the opening of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in New Jersey. He will be missed.
Berra is survived by his three sons, who in turn produced eleven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Like many players of his day, he went to war. For nearly seventy years, his famous quotations have endured and transcended the sport. The home was sold soon after Carmen’s death.
The Hall of Fame catcher responded with this when was asked why he didn’t want to buy new luggage.
Berra appeared in 21 World Series as a player, coach and manager – winning an impressive 13 of them. Berra his for a.305 average in his second full season playing for the Yankees, and was voted to the 2nd of a total of 15 All-Star games he would participate in during his playing career.
In 2,120 career games, Berra hit.285 with a.348 on-base percentage, a.482 slugging percentage, 358 homers and 1,430 RBIs. Also that year, his signature No. 8 jersey was retired by the Yankees. The Cooperstown Hall of Famer was also an 18-time All-Star. Simply put, Berra never met a quote he couldn’t mangle for maximum comedic effect, and the long list of malapropisms attributed to him includes “It ain’t over ’til it’s over“, “
A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore”
and “It’s déjà vu all over again“.
One afternoon, after attending a movie that had a short piece on India, a friend Jack McGuire Jr. noticed a resemblance between him and the “yogi”, or person who practiced yoga, on the screen.
“For so many of us, that felt like there’s another member of our families, and that was Yogi Berra“.
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Johnny Bench: ” @MLB @BaseballHall @Yankees Yogi sent me a telegram when I hit a HR to pass him, “I knew my record would stand until it was broken”.
