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The Indiana Daily Student

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Yogi Berra passes away a legend

On Tuesday, former New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra died.

Yogi was arguably the greatest catcher to ever play the game of baseball.

I, however, would go as far to say that Yogi Berra was the greatest Yankee in baseball history.

Even though Berra had one of the most decorated careers in baseball history, he will be remembered for more than just his baseball legacy.

He will be remembered for his child-like and innocent personality and, of course, his unforgettable quotes.

Even if some of them were just too good to be true:

“Baseball is 90 percent mental, the other half is physical.”

“I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.”

“Cut my pie into four pieces. I don’t think I can eat eight.”

“If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.”

“Nobody goes there 
anymore, it’s too crowded.”

“The future ain’t what it used to be.”

Some of Berra’s quotes are still used today in college commencement speeches.

Most people even commonly quote Yogi’s most famous redundancies and might not even know it was he who first said it.

“It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

Berra was one of the greatest players but also one of the greatest characters.

His quotes, also known as Yogi-isms, are used more times in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations than any other athlete or any United States president.

But as Berra put it: “I never said most of the things I said.”

It was these kind of responses that produced the amiable, animated character Yogi Bear, who made his debut in 1958.

The character version of Yogi Berra might have overshadowed Yogi Berra the ballplayer, taking away from what a remarkable athlete Bera really was: a man who hit 358 home runs, won MVP three times and finished top-four in MVP voting four other times and made 19 All-Star teams.

In five different seasons, Berra had more home runs than strikeouts, and in 1950, he struck out just 12 times in 656 plate appearances.

He had 71 base hits in the World Series, more than any other player in history.

A famous picture shows him leaping onto and wrapping his body around Don Larson after catching the only perfect game in World Series history.

He is also the only player in the history of baseball to win 10 World Series rings.

Berra was the original “Mr. October.”

ESPN reporter Tim Kurkjian said former Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams said the person he feared the most in the big situation was not Mickey Mantle or Joe DiMaggio, but Yogi Berra.

He was just such a complete ballplayer, such a complete catcher.

“Berra knows how to pitch to everyone in the league, except himself,” former manager Casey Stengel said.

Berra’s triumph on the diamond would see him inducted in the National Baseball League Hall of Fame in 1972.

If you ever got the chance to see Berra play, you saw a great player. But if you ever got the chance to meet Berra, you’re lucky, because you met an 
amazing person.

Looking back at some of Berra’s quotes, they sort of make sense, even if you have to take a minute and scratch your head: “If the world was perfect, it wouldn’t be.”

The world is far from perfect today, as the baseball community says goodbye to one of the greatest and most unusual players to ever step foot onto the 
diamond.

There was nothing he loved more than being around people and playing baseball.

He was a legend of a man who lived behind the plate.

No matter where he was going, no matter where he ended up, he’s making somebody laugh while holding a catchers mitt and a baseball in his hands.

micbhern@indiana.edu

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