Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Farewell to Yogi

  I met Yogi Berra at my cousin Jane's wedding back in the early 1970s. He was a member of the same country club as my uncle, so he and his wife Carmen were among the guests.
  Somewhere in a photo album is a picture of my brothers and me posing with him. We were not alone among the guests who were posing for pix with the baseball legend.
  Citing the fact that Yogi had a game the next afternoon -- he was managing the Mets at the time -- the Berras departed early. My father later said that it was more likely that Yogi realized he was taking the attention away from the bride and groom.
  I'd like to say that the occasion resulted in a quotable "Yogi-ism," but such is not the case.

  With his passing, there will be no new quotes, but there are plenty that will be with us forever. For your amusement, here are some of my favorites.

On the game of baseball:
"Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical."
"I always thought that record would stand until it was broken."
"Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hitting."
"It gets late early out there."
"If people don't want to come out to the ball park, nobody's gonna stop 'em."

On life in general:
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours."
"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going because you might not get there."
"You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six."
"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
"You can observe a lot by just watching."

And the classics:
"It's like deja-vu all over again."
"I never said most of the things I said."
"It ain't over till it's over."

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