Sony Pictures Classics It Ain’t Over is a new documentary feature centered on an American and baseball icon, Yogi Berra. It was written and directed by Sean Mullin while premiering at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival. In being given a limited theatrical release on May 12, 2023, It Ain’t Over pays homage to one of the most accomplished and revered figures in American sports. With a 97% critics score and 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it is a hit. However, documentaries like these are about more than just critics or audience scores. They are so much more.
Documentaries like this are meant to shed light on a beloved sports figure while broadening any preconceived notions audiences may have already had about the central figure. In this case, the documentary crew sets about proving that Yogi Berra was about more than just his famous Yogi-isms. Everybody remembers Yogi Berra by his famous sayings and his public persona. Heck, even his relation to one of the most popular cartoon characters in history. This documentary sets out to prove Lawrence Peter Berra was more than that. It gives us another reminder of simply how great of a baseball player he was.
Yogi Berra’s Baseball Accomplishments
The documentary begins with Yogi’s granddaughter Lindsey Berra recalling a 2015 poll that had fans vote on the greatest living baseball players and was unveiled before the 2015 MLB All-Star Game in Cincinnati. The four players chosen were Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Johnny Bench, and Hank Aaron. There is no clear case against these four Hall of Famers yet Lindsey felt her grandfather was being slighted, or, not remembered for the outstanding baseball player he was. In turn, this sets the tone for the rest of the documentary.
In detailing Berra’s baseball accomplishments, there is so much that just jumps off the page. Berra won 10 World Series titles as a player and tacked on three more as a manager or coach. Yogi Berra’s 13 total World Series rings are more than any other team in baseball besides the New York Yankees. In being a 3-time MVP winner, Berra is only one of 11 baseball players to accomplish that feat and one of only two catchers (Roy Campanella is the other). In a career that spanned 19 seasons, Yogi Berra was named an all-star a mind-boggling 18 times.
The documentary makes it clear that Berra won more World Series titles than the four “greatest living players” combined. More all-star appearances than two of them, as well as more MVP awards than all four. Besides the accolades, Berra is fourth all-time in home runs among catchers, first in runs batted in, seventh in hits, and sixth in WAR. He is unquestionably one of the five greatest catchers in the sport’s history.
Yogi Berra On and Off the Field
The one sad part about that opening is that Berra passed away in September 2015. This greatest living players vote could have been the league’s one last chance at honoring a legend in his final months. The documentary does a great job of proving that Yogi Berra might be the most underrated baseball player ever. It’s clear Yogi lives on in our collective memory as someone who said “It ain’t over till it’s over” or “It’s deja vu all over again.” However, he was also the child of Italian immigrants who grew up in a small town in St. Louis, Missouri. Berra enlisted in the military in 1943, even AFTER signing a contract with the Yankees. He eventually took part in one of the most historical moments in World War II, which was the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, otherwise known as D-Day.
Yogi Berra was not built like other baseball players of his generation. He was shorter, slightly more round, and unapologetically himself. Featuring interviews with many former players and celebrities, it is also clear how revered Berra still is today. We get little clips of Berra in commercials or on talk shows, getting a glimpse of his public persona away from the field. Additionally, we get an inside glimpse at what Berra was like as a father and husband through interviews featuring family members. In his later years, the documentary discusses the fourteen-year feud between Berra and Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner. The feud eventually came to an end and led to regular Yogi appearances at Yankee Stadium.
Structure
From a pure filmmaking standpoint, this documentary was very self-aware and clear in the message it was trying to tell. In terms of how it tells Yogi’s story, it is a familiar one. We start with Yogi’s younger self playing baseball on a field with friends in his town, progressing up to everything he did later in life. However, the documentary decides to include some notable Yogi-isms throughout the feature.
We are shown profound quotes from some of history’s most significant literary minds. Under those quotes is a uniquely Yogi Berra quote that is essentially his own version of a similar message. It proves that Yogi was wiser and more complex than the media would portray him. That his seemingly simple quotes about baseball or about life have been what people remember most about Yogi Berra. This type of self-awareness and pointed messaging in this documentary makes it even better.
Final Thoughts
It Ain’t Over highlights Yogi Berra as a larger-than-life figure whose baseball accomplishments have been overshadowed by his Yogi-isms and a public persona that’s defined his legacy. Yogi Berra was an American icon and baseball legend who personified greatness. He was so much more than a good bad-ball hitter. So much more than a few good quotes. He was one of the most unique people to ever play baseball. It Ain’t Over does a fantastic job paying homage to everything Yogi was while showing audiences even more. “It ain’t over till it’s over,” yet Berra’s legacy will never be over.
Photo Credit: Kim Klement- USA TODAY Sports
