In my last post, I referenced a humorous baseball story. Given that the first part of this week witnessed the recurrence of two of Major League Baseball's annual rituals, the Home Run Derby and the All Star Game, interest in the classic American Pastime has been fairly high. I thought I would add to the hoopla with my post today.
Before being selected by fans as a member of the Major League Baseball All-Century Team back in 1999, Yogi Berra played most of his nineteen seasons as a catcher with the New York Yankees. In the process, he was named to American League All-Star teams during fifteen consecutive seasons, and was one of the few catchers ever awarded the Most Valuable Player Award, which he won three times.
He is also one of only seven Major League Baseball managers to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series. Including his time as a player, coach, or manager, Berra appeared in a total of twenty one World Series. Thirteen of these included World Series championships.
But he is perhaps best remembered for his numerous pithy and paradoxical sayings, often termed “Yogi-isms”. The folks over at Baseball Almanac have collected up quite a few of them. At least one or two of them will bring a smile to your face. Enjoy.
"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."
"Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical."
"Bill Dickey is learning me his experience."
"He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious."
"How can you hit and think at the same time?"
"I always thought that record would stand until it was broken."
"I don't know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads."
"If people don't want to come out to the ballpark, how are you going to stop them?"
"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."
"I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did."
"In baseball, you don't know nothing."
"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?"
"It ain't the heat, it's the humility."
"It gets late early out there."
"I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house."
"It's like deja vu all over again."
"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."
"Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets."
"Ninety percent of this game is half mental."
"Nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded."
"So I'm ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face."
"Take it with a grin of salt."
"The game's isn't over until it's over."
"The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase."
"You can observe a lot just by watching."
"You should always go to other people's funerals, otherwise, they won't come to yours."
"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going because you might not get there."
"We made too many wrong mistakes."
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
Lastly, and perhaps most fittingly, Yogi is said to have once quipped: "I never said most of the things I said."
And who said baseball isn’t entertaining enough?!
SOURCE: Baseball Almanac’s web site actually contains a collection of baseball related quotations spoken by Yogi Berra and about Yogi Berra. Check it out at: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quoberra.shtml.
Before being selected by fans as a member of the Major League Baseball All-Century Team back in 1999, Yogi Berra played most of his nineteen seasons as a catcher with the New York Yankees. In the process, he was named to American League All-Star teams during fifteen consecutive seasons, and was one of the few catchers ever awarded the Most Valuable Player Award, which he won three times.
He is also one of only seven Major League Baseball managers to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series. Including his time as a player, coach, or manager, Berra appeared in a total of twenty one World Series. Thirteen of these included World Series championships.
But he is perhaps best remembered for his numerous pithy and paradoxical sayings, often termed “Yogi-isms”. The folks over at Baseball Almanac have collected up quite a few of them. At least one or two of them will bring a smile to your face. Enjoy.
"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."
"Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical."
"Bill Dickey is learning me his experience."
"He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious."
"How can you hit and think at the same time?"
"I always thought that record would stand until it was broken."
"I don't know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads."
"If people don't want to come out to the ballpark, how are you going to stop them?"
"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."
"I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did."
"In baseball, you don't know nothing."
"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?"
"It ain't the heat, it's the humility."
"It gets late early out there."
"I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house."
"It's like deja vu all over again."
"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."
"Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets."
"Ninety percent of this game is half mental."
"Nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded."
"So I'm ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face."
"Take it with a grin of salt."
"The game's isn't over until it's over."
"The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase."
"You can observe a lot just by watching."
"You should always go to other people's funerals, otherwise, they won't come to yours."
"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going because you might not get there."
"We made too many wrong mistakes."
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
Lastly, and perhaps most fittingly, Yogi is said to have once quipped: "I never said most of the things I said."
And who said baseball isn’t entertaining enough?!
SOURCE: Baseball Almanac’s web site actually contains a collection of baseball related quotations spoken by Yogi Berra and about Yogi Berra. Check it out at: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quoberra.shtml.