Yogi Berra

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Yogi Berra
Yogi Berra in 2009
Yogi Berra in 2009
Catcher , outfielder , manager
Born: May 12, 1925
St. Louis , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Died on: September 22, 2015 in
Montclair , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Suggested: Left Threw: Right
Debut in Major League Baseball
September 22,  1946  with the  New York Yankees
Last MLB assignment
May 9,  1965  with the  New York Mets
MLB statistics
(until end of career)
Batting average    .285
Home runs    358
RBI    1,430
Teams

As a player

As a manager

Awards

member of
☆☆☆Baseball Hall of Fame☆☆☆
Recorded     1972
Quota    85.61%

Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born May 12, 1925 in St. Louis , Missouri , † September 22, 2015 in Montclair , New Jersey ) was an American baseball player and manager . He was u. a. famous for his humorous and sometimes provocative quotes, the so-called "Yogiisms".

From 1946 to 1965 he played professional baseball in the Major Leagues , most of the time with the New York Yankees . He started out as a catcher and is still considered one of the most attacking players of all time in this position. Towards the end of his career he preferred to play in the outfield. In total, he was on the field 2,120 times and hit 358 home runs . No other player has reached (14 times) and won (10 times) the World Series as often as Berra. He set a multitude of records, some of which still stand; He is one of the four players who have been three times Most Valuable Player of the American League , and as a manager he managed to lead both a national and an American League team to the World Series , which apart from him only five other managers succeeded. Berra is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame , which elects only the best players of all time. It is believed that the well-known cartoon character Yogi Bear was named after him; however, this has never been officially confirmed. Yogi Berra last lived in Montclair, New Jersey, where he died in September 2015 at the age of 90.

Early years

Yogi Berra was born in 1925 in the predominantly Italian-American neighborhood of "The Hill" in Saint Louis. Its original nickname was "Lawdie", a diminutive of "Lawrence"; He was nicknamed “Yogi” by a friend: Berra reminded him of a Hindu yogi , as he often sat cross-legged with crossed arms on the edge of the field when he was waiting to get back to the field. He played baseball in the amateur league of the American Legion Baseball, where he learned the basics as a catcher. After turning down an offer from the St. Louis Cardinals , he signed his first professional contract with the New York Yankees in 1942 .

In 1943, Berra joined the US Navy at the age of 18 . During World War II , Berra was involved in the storming of Normandy on D-Day on Omaha Beach , served in North Africa and Italy, and was eventually transferred back to the United States.

Player career

Yogi Berra in the Baseball Hall of Fame

After the war, he returned to baseball. He played for the team from New London , Connecticut . In 1946 he was transferred to the Minor Leagues for the Newark Bears , which were also part of the New York Yankees at the time. In the same year he was called up for seven games in the major league team of the Yankees, in the following season he played in 86 major league games and in the following 14 seasons always in more than 100 games. In his 19-year career with the Yankees, the "Bronx Bombers" (a nickname for the Yankees) dominated the Major League. They reached the World Series 14 times and won them ten times, neither of which was achieved by any other team. Berra himself took part in the All-Star Game 15 times and was three times Most Valuable Player (1951, 1954 and 1955). He was the catcher during Don Larsen's Perfect Game (there was no opposing runner on first base) in the 1956 World Series, one of only two no-hitters to have been thrown in a play-off game so far .

Yogi was known as a wild swinger , i.e. that is, he tried to hit after almost every ball. Still, he produced few strikeouts. In 1950, for example, he came to the loft 597 times and had 12 strike-outs. As a catcher, he mostly tried to distract the opposing batsman by talking to him. He is said to have told Hank Aaron during a game in the 1958 World Series that he should hold the bat with the sticker facing up, whereupon Aaron is said to have said: "Yogi, I came up here to hit, not to read." ("Yogi, I came here to hit, not to read.")

In 1946 he wore jersey number 38 for the Yankees, the following year he switched to 35, until he switched to 8 in 1948, which would accompany him until the end of his career (in baseball the coaches also wear jerseys with numbers) and the 1972 in his honor retired from the Yankees, so no Yankee will ever play that number again. On August 22, 1988, he was honored with a plaque in Monument Park , Yankee Stadium , calling him "a legendary Yankee" and quoting one of his most famous sayings: "It ain't over till it's over" (literally: "It is not." over until it's over ”, perhaps best translated with Sepp Herberger's saying“ A game lasts 90 minutes ”). In 1972 Berra was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame .

Career statistics

G FROM H 2 B 3B MR R. RBI BB IBB SO SH SF HBP AVG OBP SLG
2.120 7,555 2,150 321 49 358 1,175 1,430 704 49 414 9 44 52 .285 .348 .482

Explanation (see also baseball statistics ) : G = Games; AB = At Bats (On beat, excluding BB, HBP, SH, SF); H = hits (1st base reached without error or fielder's choice); 2B = Double (hit that reached 2nd base); 3B = triple (hit that reached 3rd base); HR = Home Run (hit at which home plate was reached); R = Run (point scored); RBI = Runs Batted In (number of runners who scored points due to the battery); BB = base on balls (walk, unimpeded advancement to first base); IBB = Intentional Base on Balls (intentional walk); SO = strike out (3 strikes); SH = Sacrifice Hit (batter out, but other runner continues); SF = Sacrifice Fly (batter out, but other runner scores point); HBP = Hit By Pitch (hit by the ball, first base free); AVG = Batting Average (hit average, hits divided by At Bats); OBP = On Base Percentage (1st Bases achieved divided by At Bats); SLG = Slugging Percentage (weighted total bases divided by At Bats).

Time as a trainer

In 1964 Yogi Berra took over the position of manager of the New York Yankees and also won the league championship (American League Pennant) that year, but was sacked after losing the World Series in seven games against the St. Louis Cardinals . In 1965 he moved to the Yankees' local rivals, the New York Mets . There he was a trainer until 1972, then a manager until 1975. In 1973 he won the league championship (National League Pennant) with the Mets . In 1976 he moved back to the Yankees. Until 1983 he worked as a trainer, 1984–1985 again as a manager. In 1986 Berra left New York to train with the Houston Astros , which he was until his retirement in 1992.

After the baseball career

After the end of his career, Yogi Berra published several books and was featured in several commercials in which he used his famous Yogiisms . At the MLB All-Star Game 2008 he threw the ceremonial first pitch together with Whitey Ford , Rich Gossage and Reggie Jackson . In 2015, Berra was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom .

Yogiisms

In addition to his outstanding baseball career , Yogi Berra is mainly known for his humorous quotes, sometimes unintentional malapropisms . Many yogiisms are oxymora , i.e. apparently contradicting statements. Berra has produced so many famous quotes over the years that even sayings by other people similar to Berra's are called yogiisms .

Examples:

  • It ain't over till it's over. (“It is not over until it is over.”)
    Probably the most famous yogiism, if not literally expressed by Yogi Berra.
  • I want to thank you for making this day necessary. ("I would like to thank you for making this day necessary.")
    From Berra in St. Louis in 1947 on the occasion of the "Yogi Berra Day", he actually wanted to say possible instead of necessary .
  • It's like déjà vu all over again. ("It's like a déjà vu again.")
  • I didn't really say everything I said. ("I didn't really say everything I said.")
  • Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded. (“Nobody has been going there for a long time, it's too crowded there.”)
    Refers to a restaurant in St. Louis that Yogi had worked for as a waiter and that became so famous that you couldn't get a table there.

Web links

Commons : Yogi Berra  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Yogi Berra  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Don Burke: Yankees legend Yogi Berra dies at the 90th New York Post, September 23, 2015, accessed September 23, 2015 .
  2. ^ Dave Brown: Yogi's famous Yogi-isms: They didn't all come from Berra himself. CBS Sports, September 23, 2015, accessed May 15, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Berra, yogi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berra, Lawrence Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American baseball player and manager
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Louis , Missouri
DATE OF DEATH 22nd September 2015
Place of death Montclair , New Jersey