Behind the Mic: Yogi

Yogi Berra, the Yankee legend and Hall of Fame catcher, passed away on Tuesday, September 22, at the age of 90.  He appeared in 14 World Series with the Yankees.  The Yankees won ten of them.

I had some ties to Yogi and his death brought those memories back. When I was doing play-by-play for the Allentown Ambassadors independent professional baseball team, I did an Ambassador – New Jersey Jackals game from (you guessed it) Yogi Berra Stadium on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls, NJ.  The stadium was dedicated to Yogi because he lived in Little Falls during his playing and managerial days with the Yankees.

While I was there to do the game, I also visited the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, which featured a reconstruction of the original scoreboard from Yankee Stadium and was loaded with Yogi memorabilia.  There was also a sky box overlooking the Stadium which Yogi often used and, in fact, at the end of this past season, where he signed autographs just prior to his death.

I also played a round of golf with Dale Berra, his son, a few years back and spent four plus hours being amused by his stories about his father and Dale’s own major league career with the Pirates and the Yankees.

So I thought it would be fitting to remember Yogi the way almost everybody remembered Yogi after his playing days were over – his famous quotes.  Some of these you have heard many, many times, but some you may never have heard.  It doesn’t matter – they still make you pause to contemplate the meaning, if, indeed, there is one.  Enjoy:

 

1. When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
2. You can observe a lot by just watching.
3. It ain’t over till it’s over.
4. It’s like déjà vu all over again.
5. No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.
6. Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.
7. A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
8. Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.
9. We made too many wrong mistakes.
10. Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
11. You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
12. You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.
13. I usually take a two-hour nap from one to four.
14. Never answer an anonymous letter.
15. Slump? I ain’t in no slump… I just ain’t hitting.
16. How can you think and hit at the same time?
17. The future ain’t what it used to be.
18. I tell the kids, somebody’s gotta win, somebody’s gotta lose. Just don’t fight about it. Just try to get better.
19. It gets late early out here.
20. If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.
21. We have deep depth.
22. Pair up in threes.
23. Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.
24. You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.
25. All pitchers are liars or crybabies.
26. Even Napoleon had his Watergate.
27. Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.
28. He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.
29. It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.
30. I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won twenty-five games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.
31. I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.
32. I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.
33. I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
34. In baseball, you don’t know nothing.
35. I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?
36. I never said most of the things I said.
37. It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.
38. If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.
39. I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.
40. So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.
41. Take it with a grin of salt.
42. (On the 1973 Mets) We were overwhelming underdogs.
43. The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.
44. Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.
45. Mickey Mantle was a very good golfer, but we weren’t allowed to play golf during the season; only at spring training.
46. You don’t have to swing hard to hit a home run. If you got the timing, it’ll go.
47. I’m lucky. Usually you’re dead to get your own museum, but I’m still alive to see mine.
48. If I didn’t make it in baseball, I won’t have made it workin’. I didn’t like to work.
49. If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.
50. A lot of guys go, ‘Hey, Yog, say a Yogi-ism.’ I tell ’em, ‘I don’t know any.’ They want me to make one up. I don’t make ’em up. I don’t even know when I say it. They’re the truth. And it is the truth. I don’t know.

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. Lafayette got a very nice win over Wagner on Saturday night. They got it done with a number of scholarship freshmen and sophomores who have been pressed into action due to a glut of injuries.  These young players are getting valuable experience and the future is looking brighter and brighter for Leopard fans.  The Patriot League season opens this Saturday night at 6:00m when the #16 team in the nation, the Fordham Rams, take the field.  It’s LIVE on RCN-TV.
2. The Eagles beat the Jets this past Sunday, but they did not look particularly good on offense – the defense and special teams carried them to this win. Only Dallas is 2-1 in the NFC East and lost QB Tony Romo.  It should be easy to stay in the race in this division.
3. The Cubs and the Pirates have clinched the National League wild card berth. The Yankees will represent the American League wild card, but their opponent is yet to be determined – Texas, Houston, Angels, Twins, or Indians.  The wild card game is one game – winner take all.
4. With Central Catholic beating Easton on Saturday night, the once-beaten Central Catholic at undefeated Freedom game looks like a good one. It will be LIVE on RCNTV this Friday followed by the Northampton at Nazareth match-up.
5. Whew! Just when I was about to throw in the towel on trying to pick the NFL this year (7-9 the second week), I have a complete turnaround and go 14-2 this week.  So I’ll keep trying.

NFL PICKS LAST WEEK – 14-2; OVERALL  30-18 (63%)
NFL PICKS (WEEK THREE)

BALTIMORE
JETS
INDIANAPOLIS
BUFFALO
CAROLINA
PHILADELPHIA
OAKLAND
ATLANTA
CINCINNATI
SAN DIEGO
GREEN BAY
ARIZONA
DENVER
DALLAS
SEATTLE