Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 158

into the next season. He finished his career as a coach with the NL’s Houston Astros.

During his playing career Yogi Berra won three MVP’s, was an All-Star 15 consecutive times, set a career home run record for catchers and holds or shares six World Series records. He played on 14 Pennant winners and ten World Championship teams, and was a part of seven more flag winners and three more World Series Champions as a coach and manager. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972 and remains one of baseball’s most entertaining and loved figures.

During the 1947 World Series, Game 3, Yogi Berra pinch hit for Sherm Lollar and hit a home run off Ralph Branca in the seventh inning, the first pinch hit home run ever hit in World Series history.

Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra, born Lorenzo Pietro Berra, had a career batting average of .285, while hitting 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. He is one of only six players to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award three times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history.

Berra was born in St. Louis, in an Italian community, and signed with the Yankees in 1943 before serving in the United States