BYB YANKEE ICONS: YOGI BERRA

“Half the lies they tell about me aren't true.” 

-Yogi Berra

Arguably the greatest living New York Yankee is Lawrence Peter Berra. What is there left to say about a living Yankee legend? You might know him as one of the greatest offensive catchers to ever grace the game of baseball, or the 10-time World Series rings, how 15 times he was an All-Star or even the winner of the MVP…3 times. But this Hall of Famer has some amazing facts you may not know about, check it out:

1.    Yogi was spotted in the sandlots of St. Louis by Cardinals GM Branch Rickey and was offered $250 to sign up to catch. Yogi refused and it was reported that Rickey said of Yogi, "He'll never make anything more than a Triple-A ballplayer at best.” Rickey actually had an ulterior motive: knowing he was soon to leave St. Louis to take over the operation of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and more impressed with Berra than he let on, Rickey apparently planned to hold Berra off until he could sign him for the Dodgers.

2.    At the age of 18 he voluntary joined the United States Navy and was in combat in World War II.  He volunteered for the Amphibious Assault Teams, as a gunner getting ready for the assault for the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. During the assault he said, “We stayed on the water for ten days. They gave us C-rations to eat while we were on it, slept on it...Fortunately enough, nothing happened to us. We were lucky. But, you just get so tired, you got to say that. But then, I enjoyed it. I wasn't scared. Going into, it looked like Fourth of July. It really did. Eighteen-year-old kid, going in an invasion where we had - I've never seen so many planes in my life.”

3.    After the war, Yogi returned to baseball and played with the New London, CT club. It was there that Mel Ott, the New York Giants Manager saw him play and attempted to offer the Yankees $50,000 for Yogi's contract. Yankee GM Larry MacPhail had no idea who Yogi was, but figured that if Mel Ott wanted him that badly, he had to be worth keeping.

4.    He made it to the major leagues in 1946 where he made an immediate impact hitting a home run in his first at-bat against the Philadelphia Athletics.

 

5.    He used to talk to the opposing batters in order to distract them. Hank Aaron tells the story about the 1958 World Series, with Yogi behind the plate. Yogi kept telling Aaron to 'hit with the label up on the bat'. Finally Aaron turned and said "Yogi, I came up here to hit, not to read." (HERE)

6.    Berra led all American League catchers 8 times in games caught, 6 times in double plays (a major league record), eight times in putouts, three times in assists and once in fielding percentage. Berra left the game with the AL records for catcher put outs (8,723) and he was also one of only four catchers to ever field 1.000 for a season, catching 88 error-less games.
   
So do you like a little Yankee history? We’ll try to give you some unknown facts about some of our Yankee greats as we expand here at Bleeding Yankee Blue! Who's next? We'll surprise you, but we truly hope you enjoyed our first installment with the great Yogi Berra.




--Tommy Byrne 

BYB Guest Writer