I'm a long time Yankee MLB fan. HOF Yogi Berra was one of my boyhood heroes. Where I grew up in NJ it seemed everyone loved Yogi.
Allen Barra wrote a great book about the really nice man and baseball legend Yogi Berra. The well written 453 page book is a page burner with no boring parts. Lots of nice B/W pictures too. I read the book in 3 days and had difficulty putting it down. The book reads smoothly and is a pleasure to read.
I just got done reading about HOF Joe Dimaggio. Both men HOF and Yankee legends. Joe D the self proclaimed "king of baseball" vs Yogi the fun loving, lovable very low ego guy. What a difference in egos!
We read Lawrence "Lawdie" Berra being brought up in the depression by his loving Italian decent parents in St. Louis, in an Italian section of "the Hill". We read "Lawdie" and other family members and having small jobs to add to the family income and "Lawdie" having boyhood fun especially baseball. "Lawdie" had little interest in school and droped out of the 9th grade. We see him eventually playing semi pro baseball and getting into the minors. Berra was an undisciplined hitter that would swing at almost anything even way out of the strike zone. Even so he develops into a good hitter with power. He is slightly clumsy and not too good at defense and doesn't develop into a catcher until many years later. He gets a very small bonus and near minimum baseball wages to join the NY Yankees.
WE see Lawrence"Yogi" Berra was a WW2 decorated( Purple heart and more) Navy Veteran that served on a small "rocket launching boat" on D day.
We see him learning baseball with great managers like Casey Stengel. Bill Dickey the Yankee great catcher takes now "Yogi" under his wing and teaches him the skills allowing Berra to use his athletic ability to become one of the greatest catchers of all ( if not the greatest). At the end of the book Allen Barra has a listing of the great catchers and their comparisons( INMO Johny Bench and Yogi were so close to being the greatest catchers of all time with Yogi the more important big game player. He played in more World Series games than any other player with ten World Series rings. Its also shown the pitchers Yogi caught and the pitchers record before and after Berra caught them and the great success these pitchers enjoyed while Berra caught them and called the pitches. Yogi is shown as a great baseball "quarterback" knowing how to pitch various pitchers in the league and calling great games. We see the only ever World Series perfect game by Don Larson and caught and called by Yogi Berra.
The book is full of the many Yankee great players that played with Berra and with other great players too. The reader will learn much more than Yogi Berra.
We see the legend of the Yogi "Isms" like "It ain't over till its over" and "If you come to and fork in the road take it" and many many more.
We see the multiple MVP awards Berra earned and eventually managing the Yankees to the pennant only to be fired for not winning the World Series. Yogi was crushed and was mad Steinbrenner didn't have the decency to fire him face to face. For about 14 plus year Yogi refuses to set foot in Yankee stadium while George Steinbrenner is in charge. With only a few months to live and dieing Joe Dimaggio influences Berra to met with Steinbrenner. Eventually Yogi forgives Steinbrenner for not firing him face to face.
We also see Berra as the Mets manager and helping them to win a pennant. Later we see him coaching with the Houston Astros.
We see Berra a national celebrity helping sell many products, doing commercials like the famous Aflac commercial, becoming a VP for the Yah Hoo chocolate soda company and even being in a movie. We see him and HOF Phil Rizzuto opening and owning a big bowling alley complex,allowing financial security for Berra's kids and beautiful, loving wife Carmin. We see Yogi developing into a very good businessman. He also had a museum named for him in Montclair NJ where he lived. Yogi loved watching movies and reading comic books.
Yogi did it all in baseball except winning the World Series as a manager. Here's is a man you loved playing the game, managing and coaching. The vast majority of players got along with him ( notable exceptions Tom Seaver and C Jones on the Mets). Yogi was a fun loving guy that millions world wide fell in love with as he was so down to earth, honest and didn't put on airs and had a very low ego.
One of my favorite Yankee MLB players, a great warm lovable low ego human being. Yogi Berra The Eternal Yankee 5 stars and recommended.
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