Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra was an American professional baseball catcher, who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball , all but the last for the New York Yankees. He was an 18-time All-Star and won 10 World Series championships as a player—more than any other player in MLB history. Berra had a career batting average of .285, while hitting 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. He is one of only six players to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award three times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
Berra was a native of St. Louis and signed with the Yankees in 1943 before serving in the United States Navy as a gunner's mate in the Normandy landings during World War II, where he earned a Purple Heart. He made his major-league debut at age 21 in 1946 and was a mainstay in the Yankees' lineup during the team's championship years beginning in 1949 and continuing through 1962. Despite his short stature , Berra was a power hitter and strong defensive catcher. He caught Don Larsen's perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.
Berra played 18 seasons with the Yankees before retiring after the 1963 season. He spent the next year as their manager, then joined the New York Mets in 1965 as coach . Berra remained with the Mets for the next decade, serving the last four years as their manager. He returned to the Yankees in 1976, coaching them for eight seasons and managing for two, before coaching the Houston Astros. He was one of seven managers to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series. Berra appeared as a player, coach or manager in every one of the 13 World Series that New York baseball teams won from 1947 through 1981. Overall, he appeared in 22 World Series, 13 on the winning side. He also holds the all-time record for shutouts caught, with 173.The Yankees retired his uniform number 8 in 1972; Bill Dickey had previously worn number 8, and both catchers had that number retired by the Yankees. The club honored him with a plaque in Monument Park in 1988. Berra was named to the MLB All-Century Team in a vote by fans in 1999. For the remainder of his life, he was closely involved with the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, which he opened on the campus of Montclair State University in 1998.
Berra quit school after the eighth grade. He was known for his malapropisms as well as pithy and paradoxical statements, such as "It ain't over 'til it's over", while speaking to reporters. He once simultaneously denied and confirmed his reputation by stating, "I really didn't say everything I said."
Wikipedia
“You can observe a lot by watching.”
You Can Observe a Lot by Watching: What I've Learned About Teamwork From the Yankees and Life, John Wiley & Sons, 2008, ISBN 9780470079928
Yogiisms
“No matter where you go, there you are”
Source: When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!: Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes
“If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be.”
When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!: Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes, Hyperion, 2002, ISBN 0786867752, p. 154
Yogiisms
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!: Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes, Hyperion, 2002, ISBN 0786867752, p. 1
Also in What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743244532, p. 33
Berra says this is part of driving directions to his house in Montclair, New Jersey. There is a fork in the road, and whichever way you take, you will get to his house.
Found in newspapers from as early as 1913. The earliest known published evidence connecting the saying with Berra is from 1988. See http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/07/25/fork-road/
Disputed, Misattributed
“Okay you guys, pair up in threes!”
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, , p. 123.
Yogiisms
Variant: Pair up in threes.
Speaking with teammates on July 12, 1949, during a pre-All-Star-Game clubhouse meeting, as quoted in Baseball is a Funny Game (1960) by Joe Garagiola; cited in "Point Blank" http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/69696307/ by Don Bryant, in The Lincoln Star (Sunday, June 5, 1960), p. 31.
As quoted in "Raschi Was Best Hurler: Yogi" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2rEfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PdcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1965%2C6170607 by Harry Grayson, in The Cape Girardeau Southeast Missourian (Thursday, March 17, 1960), p. 3B.
“I gotta shake hands with himǃ That's one guy I know I'm better lookin' than.”
On Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh; as quoted in "The Village Smithyː Bobby Bragan Gets Good Seat To See 'My Boys' In Series; Yogi 'Better Looking' Than Danny" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pMAbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kU4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=2519%2C1822388 by Chester L. Smith, in The Pittsburgh Press (Wednesday, October 5, 1960), p. 53
“Ninety percent of this game is half-mental.”
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743244532, p. 45. This line has been attributed to Berra and also to Philadelphia Philles manager Danny Ozark. However, it was actually first said by Major League reserve outfielder Jim Wohlford, to whom the line was attributed in April 1974. See Devin Rose, Words of Wisdom - Former Big Leaguer Jim Wohlford - Took the words right out of his mouth http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-09-21/features/0309210321_1_notable-quotables-words-contracts, Chicago Tribune (September 21, 2003) (Retrieved March 4, 2016.) and Website of etymologist Barry Popik, Entry dated September 23, 2015 http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/baseball_is_ninety_percent_mental_and_the_other_half_is_physical/. (Retrieved March 4, 2016.)
Disputed
Variant: Ninety percent of this game is mental, and the other half is physical.
Source: The Yogi Book : I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said
On the 1960 World Series; as quoted in "We Flattened 'Em, Yet We're Only Tied'" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PtpaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uWwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3807%2C3562090 by Joe Reichler (AP), in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (October 13, 1960), p. 35
“It ain't over till it's over.”
The Yogi book (1997).
Yogiisms
Variant: It ain't over till it's over.
“Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.”
The Yogi Book. New York: Workman Publishing. 1997. ISBN 0-7611-1090-9, p. 16
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743244532, p. 81.
Found in newspapers from the early twentieth century. Not attributed to Berra until 1962. See http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/08/29/too-crowded/
Disputed, Misattributed
Variant: It's so crowded, nobody goes there.
“Always go to other people's funerals; otherwise they won't go to yours.”
Yogiisms
Source: When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!: Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes, Hyperion, 2002, ISBN 0786867752, p. 163.
The Yogi book: I really didn't say everything I said!, Workman Publishing, 1997, , p. 9.
Yogiisms
“The future ain't what it used to be.”
When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!: Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes, Hyperion, 2002, ISBN 0786867752, p. 159.
Paul Valery (1937): "The future, like everything else, is no longer quite what it used to be.". Translated in English in 1948 in Our Destiny and Literature.
Disputed, Misattributed
“In theory there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice there is.”
Attributed in Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile - Things that Gain From Disorder (2012), p. 213.
The earliest known appearance of this quote in print is Walter J. Savitch, Pascal: An Introduction to the Art and Science of Programming (1984), where it is attributed as a "remark overheard at a computer science conference". It circulated as an anonymous saying for more than ten years before attributions to Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut and Yogi Berra began to appear (and later still to various others).
Disputed, Misattributed
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003,, p. 137.
Found in a poem by Jim Prior published in a Florida newspaper in 1962. Berra claimed to have made the remark around 1961; the earliest published evidence linking the saying to Berra does not appear until 1984. See http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/10/08/deja-vu-again/
Disputed
Variant: It's déjà vu all over again.
“We made too many wrong mistakes.”
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743244532, p. 75
On why the Yankees lost the 1960 series to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Yogiisms
“It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future”
The earliest citations of this proverb, from the mid-twentieth century, refer to it as Danish in origin. See http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/10/20/no-predict/
Disputed, Misattributed
“It gets late early out there.”
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743244532, p. 27
Referring to the adverse sun conditions in left field at Yankee Stadium.
Yogiisms
Variant: It gets late awfully early around here.[citation needed]
“If you ask me a question I don't know, I'm not going to answer.”
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743244532, p. 101.
Yogiisms
“If you can't imitate him, don't copy him.”
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743244532, p. 15
Yogiisms
“If you don't know where you're going, you might not get there.”
When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!: Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes, Hyperion, 2002, ISBN 0786867752, p. 53
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743244532, p. 39
Yogiisms
Variant: You've got to be careful if you don't know where you're going because you might not get there.
Variant: If you don't know where you're going, you'll wind up somewhere else.[citation needed]
Variant: You got to be careful if you do not know where you are going, because you might not get there.
“I just want to thank everyone who made this day necessary.”
The Yogi book: I really didn't say everything I said!, Workman Publishing, 1997, , p. 10.
Said on Yogi Berra day in 1947 in St. Louis. By his account, he asked a teammate to write a speech, and he misspoke, saying "necessary" instead of "possible."
Yogiisms
Variant: Thank you for making this day necessary.
“If people don't want to come to the ballpark how are you going to stop them?”
The Yogi book: I really didn't say everything I said!, Workman Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0761110909, p. 36.
The quote "If people don’t want to come, nothing will stop them" first appears in 1952, credited to music impresario Sol Hurok. It was first attributed to Berra in 1962. See http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/10/30/stop-em/
Disputed
“If you don't know where you are going you will end up somewhere else”
Variant: If you don't know where you are going,
you'll end up someplace else.
Source: The Yogi Book : I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said
“For a while, he was far better than the team around him, and he could give me fits..”
On Alex Kellner, the pitcher Berra claimed gave him the most trouble; as quoted in The Greatest Team of All Time: As Selected by Baseball Immortals from Ty Cobb to Willie Mays (1994), compiled by Nicholas Acocella and Donald Dewey, p. 13.
“I knew the record would stand until it was broken.”
The Yogi book: I really didn't say everything I said!, Workman Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0761110909, p. 91. Originally from a congratulatory telegram to Johnny Bench on breaking his record for home runs by a catcher.
Yogiisms
From Yogi: The Autobiography of a Professional Baseball Player; reproduced in "Berra Dispels Li'l Abner Myth."
Responding, in kind, to Joe Garagiola's facetious request for Berra's opinion as to who would star in his film biography, as quoted in "Yogi Battles Third and Finds It Hot" http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/12048270/ by Arthur Daley, in The Salt Lake Tribune (Monday, March 14, 1960), p. 47.
From Yogi: The Autobiography of a Professional Baseball Player (February 1961) by Berra with Ed Fitzgerald; reproduced in "Berra Dispels Li'l Abner Myth" by Berra and Fitzgerald, in The Boston Globe (Saturday, July 2, 1961), p. A1.
As quoted in "Stupid, You Say?" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2ykxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MhAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4563%2C4702173 by Frank Litsky, in The Milwaukee Sentinel American Weekly (Sunday, September 18, 1960), p. 7.
On the two players deemed by Berra the most underrated of his era; as quoted in The Greatest Team of All Time: As Selected by Baseball Immortals from Ty Cobb to Willie Mays, p. 13.
“[What time is it? ] You mean now?”
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743244532
He was on a passenger jet at the time, so he was not sure in which time zone he was.
Yogiisms
“My ambition is to hit.400 and talk 1.000.”
As quoted in "Stupid, You Say?" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2ykxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MhAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4563%2C4702173.
“Never answer an anonymous letter.”
Berra expressly denied this widespread attribution in Yogi: It Ain’t Over (1989), p. 11, but later embraced it in The Yogi Book: I really didn’t say everything I said! (1998). Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/10/13/anon-letter/ traces this saying to the 19th century.
Disputed, Misattributed
As quoted in "Raschi Was Best Hurler: Yogi" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2rEfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PdcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1965%2C6170607.
“I looked like this when I was young, and I still do.”
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743237684
Yogiisms
I've been Yogi ever since.
As quoted in "Yogi Credits Dickey For His Climb" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ykIaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tCMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6640%2C6523488 by Harry Grayson, in The Hendersonville Times-News (Thursday, November 22, 1951), p. 8.
Al Abrams, from "Sidelight on Sports: A New One on Yogi" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kpJRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pGoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1705%2C4055373 in The Pittsburgh Press (Monday, September 15, 1952), p. 20.
“He's learning me all of his experience.”
Regarding Bill Dickey, circa spring 1949, paraphrased in "Yogi, His Autobiography: Dickey Hired as Mask Tutor" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ep5RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PmwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7202%2C853227 by Berra, with Ed Fitzgerald, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Sunday, March 5, 1961), Section 3, Page 4.
Yogiisms
What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743244532, p. 69.
Yogiisms
“Thank you for making this day necessary.”
The Yogi book: I really didn't say everything I said!, Workman Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0761110909, p. 10.
Said on Yogi Berra day in 1947 in St. Louis. By his account, he asked a teammate to write a speech, and he misspoke, saying "necessary" instead of "possible."
Yogiisms
