There are a lot of great baseball players that will be remembered for a lot of great things. Very few of the all-time greats however will be remembered for what they said as much as for what they did. Yogi Berra will always be remembered for both, and he passed away on Tuesday at 90 years old.
On the field, Berra helped the Yankees get to 14 World Series in his 18 seasons there, he won the AL MVP award 3 times, he was a 15 time All-Star, and has the distinction of playing in more World Series games than anyone else in the history of the game. Did I forget to mention he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972?
Playing from 1949 until 1965 he had the chance to play with some of the greatest players this game has ever seen, including Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Whitey Ford. Not to mention also catching the only Perfect Game in World Series history.
Of course, in spite of all his incredible accomplishments, including 10 World Championships, it will be what he said that Berra will be more remembered for, and almost rightfully so. The Master of the Malapropism, Yogi has said some of the greatest quotes in baseball history. Here are just a few of them for you to look back on and remember fondly:
“It ain’t over until it’s over”
When asked by his wife where he wanted to be buried he said, “ I don’t know, why don’t you surprise me”
“Ninety percent of this game is half mental”
“Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded”
“It’s Déjà vu all over again”
“You can observe a lot by watching”
“We made too many wrong mistakes”
“So I’m ugly, I never saw anyone hit with his face”
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it”
“Think! How the hell are you gonna think and hit at the same time?”
“I didn’t really say everything I said”
When asked how many slices they should cut his pizza into he said “You better cut it into 4, I don’t think I could eat 8”
Finally, when asked if Don Mattingly had exceeded expectations “He’s done more than that”
He has almost as many quotes in Bartlett’s Quotations (8) as he did World Championships (10). He was one of the true great characters of the game, one that will be sorely missed.