Yogi Berra
101 quotes
Biography
Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), all but the last for the New York Yankees.
"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours."
"Cut my pie into four pieces, I don’t think I could eat eight."
"90% of the game is half mental."
"Life is a learning experience, only if you learn."
"From the kids on the neighborhood Stag Athletic Club baseball team on the Hill. We went to a movie one afternoon, and there was one of those yogi characters in the picture. Coming out of the joint, one of the kids looked at me, started laughing, and said: "Hey, Berra walks just like that yogi in the movie." I've been Yogi ever since."
"What's wrong with readin' comic books? I don't understand this kiddin' about readin' comic books. When I get through with 'em the other players on our club borrow them from me. Nobody makes a fuss about that."
"I always know how Hutch did when we follow Detroit into a town. If we got stools in the dressing room, I know he won. If we got kindling, he lost."
"Rock Hudson, I suppose."
"Before the playoff game in a World Series with the Dodgers in Brooklyn, Casey Stengel said in the clubhouse, "Well, this is it. Now who do you want to pitch?" The 40 guys in the clubhouse shouted "Raschi!" so loud the Dodgers must have heard it across the way. That's what we Yankees thought of Raschi. What did Raschi have? He had a slider and a curve that wasn't too good, but what made him so rough was a fast ball that got them out. Funny thing about him was that he couldn't relieve as good as Toots Shor. The guy was built to finish what he started."
"Lopat was the cutest of the gang, the easiest to catch because he had almost perfect control of every pitch at different speeds. He made batters impatient. They couldn't wait for what looked so easy to hit and they'd swing at his motion."
"But it don't bother me. I never yet saw anybody hit the baseball with their face. Besides, I like to get kidded; that means they like me. When they stop kidding me, I'm in trouble."
"My ambition is to hit .400 and talk 1.000."
"I gotta shake hands with himǃ That's one guy I know I'm better lookin' than."
"I dunno. This game is getting funnier and funnier. We do everything but punch 'em in the nose and here we are all tied up in the Series. We flatten 'em by scores of 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0 and we still need one more to win. How do you figure that? Don't write this, but even if they beat us tomorrow, we're the better club."
"Sometimes I think there must be two Yogi Berras. There is the one who grew up on the Hill in St, Louis, who's been playing ball for the Yankees for fourteen years, has a beautiful wife named Carmen and three boys, Larry, Timmy, and Dale, and lives in a nice house in Montclair, N. J. That's me. Then there's the one you read about in the papers who is a kind of a comic-strip character, like Li'l Abner or Joe Palooka. [...] I don't know that Yogi at all, because he doesn't exist."
"People seem to find it hard to believe, but I'm a very serious person. It wasn't luck that I became a ballplayer. I never wanted to be anything else and I never considered anything else and I worked my tail off for it. To say that I don't have any worries or nerves is the opposite of the truth. I worry about not being able to get around on the fast ball any more, I worry about getting hurt and having to quit playing before my time. I worry about the bowling alley I own with Phil Rizzuto making money. I worry about keeping Carm happy so she won't be sorry she married me, about the kids growing up good, and about keeping out of trouble with God. I worry a lot. I'm nobody's mascot, either. Sure, I like to get along with people and I hope I've made friends, but that's different."
"Look, I was surprised when they offered me the job and I knew they weren't fooling, but this is not a joke. It will have to be fun for me to want to keep it, but I am not a joke."
"For a while, he was far better than the team around him, and he could give me fits."
"It's unbelievable that Phil had to wait so long to get in to the Hall of Fame. Maris's home run record in 1961 has become something of a curse. He wasn't just a home run hitter, he could do everything—hit in the clutch, field, throw and run."
"Dickey's teaching me all of his experience."
"I knew the record would stand until it was broken."
"I looked like this when I was young, and I still do."
"I really didn't say everything I said. [...] Then again, I might have said 'em, but you never know."
"If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be."
"If you ask me a question I don't know, I'm not going to answer."