Yogi Berra
Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born May 12, 1925) is a retired baseball player and, later, team manager. Born in St. Louis, he picked up his nickname from a friend who said he resembled a Hindu holy man (see yogi), and began playing baseball in local American Legion leagues, where he learnt the basics of play as a catcher. After rejecting an offer from the St. Louis Cardinals he signed with the New York Yankees in 1942.Playing Career
Following a spell in the US Navy during World War II he played minor league baseball with the Newark Bears before being called up for 7 games in the major leagues in 1946. The following season he played 86 games for the Yankees, and he would play 100+ for each of the following 14 years. During his 19-year career as a Yankee the Bronx Bombers dominated baseball, appearing in 14 World Series and winning ten championships. Yogi himself was a 15-time All-Star, and won the league MVP award three times (in 1951, 1954 and 1955) and caught Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 Series.
In 1972 he was elected to the United States Baseball Hall of Fame.
Managing Career
Yankees - Mets - Yankees - Fired by Steinbrenner - Astros,
Career Statistics
| G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | BB | IBB | SO | SH | SF | HBP | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| 2,120 | 7,555 | 2,150 | 321 | 49 | 358 | 1,175 | 1,430 | 704 | 49 | 414 | 9 | 44 | 52 | .285 | .348 | .482 |
Berra was also famous for fracturing the English language in provocative, interesting ways. See also: Colemanballs, Damaging quotation
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2 Trivia 3 See also 4 External Links |
Four books by Yogi Berra (with co-authors):
Books
Trivia
Yogi has a Hanna-Barbera cartoon character named after him. See Yogi Bear.
See also
External Links
