Lawrence Peter Berra was one of the greatest baseball players of all-time. The man more affectionately known as “Yogi” spent 19 seasons as a player in Major League Baseball, and during that time, he revolutionized the game. But Berra is now subject to talked about in the past tense. Yogi Berra passed away on Tuesday September 22, 2015 at the age of 90.
Even to this day, catchers are not known for their offensive production, but Berra was one of the few that was. His numbers might not jump off the page, in fact, his 2150 hits rank him at 203rd all-time, and his 358 home runs rank him 84th, he also never hit more than 30 home runs in a season, never hit above .322, and scored 100+ runs in a season just once.
But for all of the things he never did, it’s much more important to focus on what he did accomplish.
He had nearly 300 more walks than strikeouts, never striking out more than 38 times in any season. He was named an All-Star 15 times in 19 seasons, won 3 American League MVP awards, including two consecutively. His 2116 games played as a Yankee are fourth most all-time. He’s also fifth in home runs and fifth in RBIs. His 10 World Series victories also rank most all-time. But even mentioning his ranks among all-time greats can’t do him justice.
Berra was the first catcher to record 2,000 career hits, 350 home runs, and 1,000 runs batted in. Berra was also known, and perhaps more so, for his quotes, or “Yogiisms” that would even end up being tautologies or paradoxical. His number 8 was retired by the New York Yankees, and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, his first year of eligibility.
Berra would go on to retire from playing in 1966 after 19 seasons, and then enjoyed a successful career as a manager, for three seasons with the Yankees, leading them to a 99 win season where they also won the AL Pennant, and four seasons with the Mets, where he won an NL Pennant. Part of what made Berra so special was that he was a jack-of-all-trades.
Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra died 69 years to the day of his major league debut. In that span, no catcher, on or off the field has done more to change baseball than him.
“It ain’t over til it’s over,” one of Berra’s most famous quotes, now sadly rings true.
