Yogisms

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Yogi Berra, NY Yankees catcher, is famous for his sayings....

Here are a few of them.....

 

"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?"

"Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hitting."

"You give a hundred percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough,
in the second half you give what's left."

"Nobody goes to that restaurant anymore, it's too crowded."

Carmen Berra: "Yogi, I went to see Dr. Zhivago today."
Yogi: "Now what's wrong with you?"

Larry Berra to his father: "Hey, Dad, the man is here for the venetian blind."
Yogi: Well, go in my pocket and give him a couple of bucks for a donation and get rid of him.

"[When introduced to writer Ernest Hemingway] Yeah, what paper you write for, Ernie?"

"It gets late early out there"

"I really didn't say everything I said"

"Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical."

"You can observe a lot by watching."

"In baseball, you don't know nothing."

"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."

"It's deja vu all over again."

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it."

"Think! How the hell are you gonna think and hit at the same time?"

"I usually take a two hour nap, from one o'clock to four."

"If people don't want to come out to the park, nobody's going to stop them."

"Why buy good luggage? You only see it when you travel."

Hey Yogi, what time is it?
"You mean now?"

On being asked his cap size at the beginning of spring training.
"I don't know, I'm not in shape."

On why the Yankees lost the 1960 series to Pittsburgh:
"We made too many wrong mistakes."

On Rickey Henderson:
"He can run anytime he wants. I'm giving him the red light."

On Ted Williams:
"He is a big clog in their machine."

On being told by the wife of New York Mayor John V. Lindsay that he looked cool despite the heat:
"You don't look so hot, either."

On Yogi Berra appreciation day in St. Louis 1947:
"I want to thank you all for making this day necessary."

On the tight 1973 National League pennant race:
"It ain't over 'til its over."

On being asked why Johnny Bench hit more homeruns than he did:
"Most of his homeruns were hit on artificial turf."

"Eighty percent of putts that fall short don't go in."

Berra, "Yogi" (Lawrence P.)

Baseball

b. May 12, 1925, St. Louis, IL

After playing in the minor leagues in 1943, Berra joined the U. S. Navy. He returned to professional baseball in 1946. Called up by the New York Yankees for the last weeks of the season, he hit a home run in his first major league game.

In 1947 and 1948, Berra was a part-time catcher for the Yankees and was also often used in right field because of his hitting and strong arm. When Casey Stengel became the Yankee manager in 1949, he made Berra the starting catcher and hired former Yankee great Bill Dickey as a coach to help polish his defense.

Like Stengel, Berra was known for his malapropisms--he once said of Dickey, "He's learning me his experience"--but he was widely respected by people in the game for knowledge of baseball. Stengel called him "my assistant manager."

A left-handed hitter with power, Berra liked to swing at bad pitches, but it worked for him. He batted over .300 three times, hit 20 or more home runs nine times, and had 30 or more home runs twice.

A fine clutch hitter, he had the first pinch-hit home run in World Series history, in 1947, and he hit a grand slam home run in the 1956 series. Five times he drove in more than 100 runs.

Berra also became an outstanding defensive catcher. He once went a record 148 consecutive games without an error. His offensive and defensive skills combined to make him a three-time most valuable player, in 1951, 1954, and 1955.

During his 18 seasons with the Yankees, Berra played in a record 14 World Series, setting records for games played, 75; times at bat, 259; and hits, 71.

Immediately after retiring as a player, Berra became manager of the Yankees in 1964. He took them to a pennant that season, but was replaced after they lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. He joined the New York Mets as a coach in 1965 and became manager in 1972. The following year the Mets won the NL pennant, making Berra only the third manager in history to win pennants in both leagues.

Because of a dispute with the front office, Berra was fired during the 1975 season. He later coached with the Yankees and the Houston Astros. His son, Dale, was a major league infielder for 11 seasons.

In 2,120 games, Berra had a .285 batting average with 321 doubles, 49 triples, and 358 home runs. He drove in 1.430 runs and scored 1,175.

 


 

Year Team       G    AB     R     H   2B   3B   HR  RBI    TB    SB    BA   SP
1946 NY AL      7    22     3     8    1    0    2    4    15     0  .364 .682
1947 NY AL     83   293    41    82   15    3   11   54   136     0  .280 .464
1948 NY AL    125   469    70   143   24   10   14   98   229     3  .305 .488
1949 NY AL    116   415    59   115   20    2   20   91   199     2  .277 .480
1950 NY AL    151   597   116   192   30    6   28  124   318     4  .322 .533
1951 NY AL    141   547    92   161   19    4   27   88   269     5  .294 .492
1952 NY AL    142   534    97   146   17    1   30   98   255     2  .273 .478
1953 NY AL    137   503    80   149   23    5   27  108   263     0  .296 .523
1954 NY AL    151   584    88   179   28    6   22  125   285     0  .307 .488
1955 NY AL    147   541    84   147   20    3   27  108   254     1  .272 .470
1956 NY AL    140   521    93   155   29    2   30  105   278     3  .298 .534
1957 NY AL    134   482    74   121   14    2   24   82   211     1  .251 .438
1958 NY AL    122   433    60   115   17    3   22   90   204     3  .266 .471
1959 NY AL    131   472    64   134   25    1   19   69   218     1  .284 .462
1960 NY AL    120   359    46    99   14    1   15   62   160     2  .276 .446
1961 NY AL    119   395    62   107   11    0   22   61   184     2  .271 .466
1962 NY AL     86   232    25    52    8    0   10   35    90     0  .224 .388
1963 NY AL     64   147    20    43    6    0    8   28    73     1  .293 .497
1965 NY AL      4     9     1     2    0    0    0    0     2     0  .222 .222
  Totals     2120  7555  1175  2150  321   49  358 1430  3643    30  .285 .482

All-Star Games
Year Team       G    AB     R     H   2B   3B   HR  RBI    TB    SB    BA   SP
1948 NY AL      0     0     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0   ---  ---
1949 NY AL      1     3     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0  .000 .000
1950 NY AL      1     2     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0  .000 .000
1951 NY AL      1     4     1     1    0    0    0    0     1     0  .250 .250
1952 NY AL      1     2     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0  .000 .000
1953 NY AL      1     4     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0  .000 .000
1954 NY AL      1     4     2     2    0    0    0    0     2     0  .500 .500
1955 NY AL      1     6     1     1    0    0    0    0     1     0  .167 .167
1956 NY AL      1     2     0     2    0    0    0    0     2     0 1.0001.000
1957 NY AL      1     3     0     1    0    0    0    1     1     0  .333 .333
1958 NY AL      1     2     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0  .000 .000
1959 NY AL      0     0     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0   ---  ---
1959 NY AL      1     3     1     1    0    0    1    2     4     0  .3331.333
1960 NY AL      1     2     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0  .000 .000
1960 NY AL      1     2     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0  .000 .000
1961 NY AL      1     1     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0  .000 .000
1961 NY AL      0     0     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0   ---  ---
1962 NY AL      1     1     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0  .000 .000
  Totals       15    41     5     8    0    0    1    3     1    10  .195 .268

World Series     
Year Team       G    AB     R     H   2B   3B   HR  RBI    TB    SB    BA   SP
1947 NY AL      6    19     2     3    0    0    1    2     6     0  .158 .316
1949 NY AL      4    16     2     1    0    0    0    1     1     0  .063 .063
1950 NY AL      4    15     2     3    0    0    1    2     6     0  .200 .400
1951 NY AL      6    23     4     6    1    0    0    0     7     0  .261 .304
1952 NY AL      7    28     2     6    1    0    2    3    13     0  .214 .464
1953 NY AL      6    21     3     9    1    0    1    4    13     0  .429 .619
1955 NY AL      7    24     5    10    1    0    1    2    14     0  .417 .583
1956 NY AL      7    25     5     9    2    0    3   10    20     0  .360 .800
1957 NY AL      7    25     5     8    1    0    1    2    12     0  .320 .480
1958 NY AL      7    27     3     6    3    0    0    2     9     0  .222 .333
1960 NY AL      7    22     6     7    0    0    1    8    10     0  .318 .455
1961 NY AL      4    11     2     3    0    0    1    3     6     0  .273 .545
1962 NY AL      2     2     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0  .000 .000
1963 NY AL      1     1     0     0    0    0    0    0     0     0  .000 .000
  Totals       75   259    41    71   10    0   12   39   117     0  .274 .452