Happy 80th birthday, Yogi. Berra played for the Yankees between 1947-1963, in over 2,000 games. He's more appreciated now, than he was when he played. In 1969, the Baseball Writers of America selected Mickey Cochrane as the greatest catcher of all time, and Bill Dickey as the greatest catcher still alive. Somehow, Yogi improved a lot by not playing, and by 1999 was selected as one of the two catchers (with Bench) on the All-Century Team. Berra's childhood friend Joe Garagiola, when I asked him to choose between Berra and Bench said, "It depends on if you judge by results or by style. If you watched Yogi in practice, you would have to pick John Bench. But look at the results. If the game was on the line, Yogi was as tough a batter as you would ever want to see."
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<LI>"It ain't over 'til it's over."
<LI>"Never answer an anonymous letter."
<LI>"I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4."
<LI>"It's deja vu all over again."
<LI>"When you come to a fork in the road ... take it."
<LI>"I didn't really say everything I said."
<LI>On the 1969 N.Y. <ID>Mets</ID>: "Overwhelming underdogs."
<LI>When asked what time it was ... "You mean now?"
<LI>"I want to thank you for making this day necessary." (On Yogi Berra day in St. Louis in 1947)
<LI>"We made too many wrong mistakes." (On why the <ID>Yankees</ID> lost the 1960 World Series to Pittsburgh)
<LI>"You can observe a lot by watching."
<LI>"The future ain't what it used to be."
<LI>"It gets late early out here."
<LI>"If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be."
<LI>"If the people don't want to come out to the ballpark, nobody's going to stop them."
Courtesy yogiberra.com.
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