Yogi Berra, Yankees Icon and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer, Dies at 90

“Nothing bad happens when Yogi Berra is around, ” Yankees manager Joe Torre said that day. Babe Ruth. Carlton Fisk. Men like Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio were respected, certainly.

“I love baseball, I really do”, he once said. I would fill notebooks with season stats of imagined seasons.

Berra always maintained a sunny disposition, teammates and opponents said.

He only appeared in four games for those ’65 Mets after spending 1964 managing the Yankees.

“We mourn the passing of Yankees icon and Hall of Famer Yogi Berra“, the Major League Baseball said in a tweet. Six times between 1947 and 1956, the two teams met in the World Series. It was enough to get him fired due to, allegedly, a lack of communication.

By 1946, Berra was out of the Navy and playing for the Yankees’ top minor league club in Newark. Yet even after he left, he was an indelible part of the game.

[Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra dies at 90]. She asked him if he figured he had to sign his last name so that she wouldn’t confuse him with somebody else named “Yogi”.

But no one found more success on a baseball diamond. He was the living embodiment of a golden era of America’s Pastime.

Berra played, managed, and coached for the Yankees for 19 years and is considered one of the greatest catchers in baseball history. But his skill in the batter’s box is what first made him famous – and feared.

Berra’s death comes 69 years to the day of his major league debut – a career that began with a home run at Yankee Stadium. You see, I break up the English a little bit.

“It’s déjà vu all over again”.

“Never answer an anonymous letter”. No wonder we’ve adopted Berra’s oxymoronic musings too.

On learning: “You can observe a lot by watching.”

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

He was a capable outfielder early and late in his career, and a defensive stalwart at catcher during his prime years.

“Berra could throw, he could catch the ball, he could call the game, and he knew baseball like nobody else”, James wrote. “The other half is physical”.

One iXP ad focused on budget issues faced in public safety with a line from Berra: “A nickel isn’t worth a dime anymore”. “He’s amphibious”. “But people understand me”.

“In baseball, you don’t know nothing”.

Among the more widely-quoted philosophy of Berra are the comments “when you come to a fork in the road take it” and “it ain’t over til it’s over”.

“I’m a very lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees”.

On baseball attendance: “If people don’t come to the ballpark, how are you gonna stop them?”