Yogi Berra, 1925-2015

[Don Wassall]

In this country of no historical memory, Yogi Berra is remembered mostly for his "Yogi-isms," rather than as one of the best catchers ever. Hardly a surprise; the despicable cultural communists at ESPN yesterday featured their story about Berra's death solely in terms of his relationship with Derek Jeter, who was born nearly a decade after the end of Berra's playing career.

The 5' 7" Berra, son of Italian immigrants, played in the World Series 14 times in 17 years, with the Yankees winning 10 of them. He was a three-time AL MVP on a team loaded with stars. He finished in the top four in MVP voting seven straight years from 1950-'56.

Berra was an excellent catcher who hit 358 homeruns and drove home 1,430 runs, and appeared in 18 All Star games.

He was also a man of the people, friendly to everyone and one of the most beloved sports figures of the last century, and one of the last links to much better days in America, when White athletes were given the respect they earned and deserved. RIP

 

[sport historian]

In childhood, I used to see Yogi Berra play on TV every weekend on what was then the Game of The Week in addition to the Yankees being in the World Series almost every year.

And in those days the World Series was THE sports event of the year.

I still remember Yogi Berra's three run homer putting the Yankees ahead 5-4 in game seven of the 1960 World Series. The Pirates won on Bill Mazeroski's HR (Yogi was playing LF and the ball sailed over him) in the bottom of the ninth.

Yogi and Johnny Bench are generally considered the two greatest catchers of all time.

 

[jaxvid]

In this country of no historical memory, Yogi Berra is remembered mostly for his "Yogi-isms," rather than as one of the best catchers ever. Hardly a surprise; the despicable cultural communists at ESPN yesterday featured their story about Berra's death solely in terms of his relationship with Derek Jeter, who was born nearly a decade after the end of Berra's playing career.

The 5' 7" Berra, son of Italian immigrants, played in the World Series 14 times in 17 years, with the Yankees winning 10 of them. He was a three-time AL MVP on a team loaded with stars. He finished in the top four in MVP voting seven straight years from 1950-'56.

Berra was an excellent catcher who hit 358 homeruns and drove home 1,430 runs, and appeared in 18 All Star games.

He was also a man of the people, friendly to everyone and one of the most beloved sports figures of the last century, and one of the last links to much better days in America, when White athletes were given the respect they earned and deserved. RIP

The article I read mentioned that he had a "homely mug", another term that can only used to describe white people. Can you imagine the outcry if a black athlete from back in the day was referred to as ugly!

Because of his advanced age he came from an era that seems to be more like another world. He left school in the eighth grade to go to work to support his family. Apart from the fact that it's now illegal to both leave school and work at that age, compare that to the pampering athletes get starting at a young age today.

He is truly one of the greats of baseball with his World Series accomplishments but since he is a representative of a dying culture his passing is merely a footnote and probably constitutes a microagression against all those black and hispanic players that were blocked from being even greater success by Berra's white privilege.

 

[Freethinker]

Seeing Yogi pass away is like seeing one of the last remaining pieces of America 1.0 die. He represented a better time in baseball and a better time in this country. I think on a visceral level alot of people realize this and have felt It. I know I have felt It and I'm too young to have ever seen Yogi play or even manage. Yet he was always around the Yankees and stories were always told of him so I felt I "got to know him". Seemed like a class act. A kinda of guy whom America is not producing very many more of these days. RIP.

In terms of Yogi's records, I don't imagine the 10 World Series rings will ever be broken by a player. Also, his record of 75 World Series games played seems impossible to top. Statistically speaking Bench would probably be better but with the number of WS rings you could argue Yogi as the best catcher ever.

As an aside, Whitey Ford is now the last star player from the legendary Yankees teams of the 1950s. At 86, one wonders how many years he'll get to hold the title of greatest living Yankees legend.