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| Yogi Berra 1953 |
Berra was also well known for his impromptu pithy comments, malapropisms, and seemingly unintentional witticisms, known as "Yogi-isms." His "Yogi-isms" very often took the form of either an apparent tautology or a contradiction, but often with an underlying and powerful message that offered not just humor, but wisdom.We managed to come up with several of them, and they had us laughing as we regaled each other with our favorites. My own favorite is told that when giving directions to Joe Garagiola Sr. to his New Jersey home, which was accessible by two routes: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Another favorite is "You can observe a lot by watching."
I didn't know much about him before looking him up at that link, but I learned that he was an amazing catcher and hitter for the New York Yankees for many seasons. He was only 5'7" tall, but apparently he was able "both to swing the bat like a golf club to hit low pitches for deep home runs and to chop at high pitches for line drives."
His combination of bat control and plate coverage made Berra a feared "clutch hitter," proclaimed by rival manager Paul Richards "the toughest man in the league in the last three innings."And he was a legendary catcher as well. All of this information was news to me, until looking him up on Google. Many books have been written about him, and in 2005, The Economist named him "The Wisest Fool of the Past Fifty Years," based on his manner of speaking. He lived a good long life and died in his sleep at the age of 90, in 2015. If you're interested, that Wikipedia link will give you much more information about this unique and delightful person.
:-)
You can indeed observe a lot by watching.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether his style of speech was planned or not? Dying in your sleep at ninety isn't a bad way to go.
I was a Yankees fan in my youth, and we all knew and loved Yogi.
ReplyDeleteI remember listening to baseball games when Yogi played. Interesting character.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with baseball in my genes! And I grew up with Yogi just as my own kids grew up with Derek Jeter (Yankees shortstop). My dad took me to ballgames at Busch Stadium many summers. Bud & I followed the Colorado Rockies for Spring Training in Tucson. We went to several AZ. D'backs games. I still love the sport very much.
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite of Yogi's statements would be "Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical." Of course, mine would have to do with the game. You couldn't help but anticipate what he would say when interviewed.
Those two yogi comments made me laugh. What a great guy with a great sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Coach on Cheers was a little like Yogi. ;)
ReplyDeleteI was never a Yankee fan but always a Yogi fan. He played the game right and his "isms" were delightful. One of my favorites was "Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours."
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourites:
ReplyDeleteI usually take a two hour nap from one til four.
A long time ago I had his baseball card:) I love Yogi isms:)
ReplyDeleteEverything I've heard about him, he was quite a character.
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