The image that lingers is of Yogi Berra looking at the sky. He wears a New York Yankees jacket and a New York Yankees hat, and he seems to be shivering just slightly, though the air is warm. He looks up at the sky, and it is an unrelenting gray, not a sliver of blue anywhere in the state of New Jersey. A hesitant rain falls as if the sky itself cannot decide.
“They’ll play,” Yogi says quietly, almost a whisper. “They’ll play baseball today.”
I met Yogi at a private school picnic in the summer of 2005. We were all warned “not to bother Mr. Berra”- to give him space with his family.
Naturally, enormous lifelong Yankee fans all, we, one at a time, sort of sidled over to him and said hello and, hey, would it be okay if we took a picture with you? Four times, he said yes, sure.
After that I wandered over a couple of times to talk (what else?) baseball. “(Randy) Johnson pitched good yesterday,” I said.
“About time!”, he said, and we both laughed.
As the picnic wound down, and everyone was packing up and heading out, I carried a couple of folding chairs to our car. The Yanks were playing a day game and we all, Yogi included, were trying to pick up the score all afternoon on our various radios.
As I walked to my car, Yogi was heading back to grab some of his family’s stuff. As he passed me, he said, “we’re up, 3-2.” Just one Yankee fan to another.
This is hands-down the best Yogi remembrance I’ve read today. Thank you.
Between my tears and my smiles I think the greatest tribute a truly great athlete could ever have would be a Joe Posnanski eulogy. The richness of your writing is only equal to the fullness of their lives and accomplishments spun together through an impeccable style of creative imagery, wit, and heart. Thank you. Mr. Berra would have been pleased on all counts.
I agree with Ronee’s comment 1000%.
Thank you Rick.
Was waiting for it. Thank you Joe.
Yogi managed to be on two iconic (and old) highlights. First, there was the Larson perfect game as Yogi ran out and jumped in Larson’s arm after the final strike. Then there was Yogi turning his back and looking up (in LF) as Mazersoski’s walk off World Series HR disappeared over him and above the Forbes Field wall.
Highlights from those eras were rare. It’s amazing that Yogi was on two of them. One winning, one losing.
We kind of think of him as this older guy in commercials…. he was even before my time, who was a good ballplayer, and all. But Yogi was in the thick of the action for his entire career. The Yankees were on an unprecedented run during his career and he had three MVPS, but still managed to be overshadowed by Mantle, Dimaggio and Ford. But you could make an argument that he was the best Yankee player during his era.
Oh, and I forgot the Jackie Robinson steal of home with Yogi going ballistic. That’s in there too!
Bill Buckner had two iconic highlights, too. Obviously, there’s the ’86 Series, but he also was involved in Hank Aaron’s 715th home run. Buckner is the outfielder climbing the fence to try to catch the ball that’s at least 20 feet beyond his reach, just before you see Aaron rounding second and getting congratulated by the two hippie-looking fans in jackets. Granted, more games were televised then than in Berra’s day, but still.
“Hippie-looking”? Naw, I’m afraid that’s how we all looked in 1974. 🙂
Good call on Buckner. Baseball didn’t start televising World Series games until 1947 and that was only in the NY area. So, Baseball on TV was really in its infancy during Yogi’s era. But, of course, if he hadn’t been in NY, there would have been no highlights of him. Most of the early TV broadcasts were NY based.
When I heard Yogi had died, my first thought was the sense of loss of a true sports legend. It was quickly followed by “I can’t wait to read what Joe writes about Yogi.” It was every bit as good as I expected. Thanks Joe, and thank you, Yogi.
Joe, I have read a lot of your eulogies over the years, this is probably one of your best. What a great man, thanks for sharing his life story with the rest of us