It's Over!

A multitude of memories covering most of my 72 (73 tomorrow) years were touched by grief today and a pall has covered Yankee fans of my generation.  Yogi Berra died today.  Most recognize some of his favorite malapropisms: 90% of baseball is half mental.  It ain't over til it's over.  If you come to a fork in the road, take it. and deja vu all over again.  However, those of my generation who mostly still hate the Dodgers, remember his skill as a baseball player in spite of his size.  One memory that stands out for me is his tomahawk swing for a home run in a televised (black and white) Yankees' game in the early 1950's.

The above picture shows (l. to r.) Joe Dimaggio, Yogi, and Mickey Mantle.  Mickey was my #1 favorite, Phil Rizutto was #2, and Yogi was #3.  The only disagreement my dad and I had (we didn't communicate much) was over baseball.  He hated the Yankees and I loved them.  He always rooted for the other team, no matter who the opponent was.  Some of the greatest joy of my childhood was the Yankee World Series victories in five straight years, 1949-53.  1954 was Cleveland Indians and New York Giants and included Willie Mays' amazing over-the-shoulder catch off the bat of Vic Wertz to turn a double play.  The Giants swept the Indians but I didn't care.  If the Yankees weren't in the World Series, I usually didn't even watch it.  In 1955, horror of horrors, the Dodgers finally beat the Yankees in the World Series for the first time.  We got even in 1956 and even included Don Larsen's perfect game, the only one in World Series history.  Most baseball fans have seen the film of Yogi jumping on Don Larsen after the final pitch.

The Yankees have won 27 World Series and lost 13.  No other team in the history of baseball even comes close. Yogi played in ten World Series.  In the 1950's, Sport magazine contained full page photographs of athletes and I had pictures of the most famous Yankees tacked to the wall in my bedroom.  They included Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizutto, Yogi Berra, Allie Reynolds, Whitey Ford, Billy Martin, and others.  I used to get the Yankee yearbook back then.  Sure wish I had kept them.

Don't follow baseball much any more but I do check the scores and standings for the Yankees.  Guess I always will.  Yogi, a member of my favorite baseball era, is the last great Yankee in my opinion.  I drove around the new Yankee stadium in the summer of 2014 probably just to stir up memories of the glory days of the the Yankees of the 1950's and 1960's.  Baseball is the great American past-time, you know.  But sadly, for Yogi, it's over!  Gone, but not forgotten.  You were one of a kind.  RIP Yogi....