Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 160

retired by the Yankees. The club honored him with a plaque in Monument Park in 1988. Berra was named to the MLB All-Century Team in a vote by fans in 1999. For the remainder of his life, he was closely involved with the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, which he opened on the campus of Montclair State University in 1998. Berra quit school after the eighth grade. He was known for his malapropisms as well as pithy and paradoxical statements, such as "It ain't over til it's over," while speaking to reporters. He once simultaneously denied and confirmed his reputation by stating; "I really didn't say everything I said."

Berra's parents originally gave him the nickname "Lawdie", which was derived from his mother's difficulty pronouncing "Lawrence" or "Larry" correctly. He grew up on Elizabeth Avenue, across the street from boyhood friend and later competitor Joe Garagiola Sr.

That block was also home to Jack Buck early in his Cardinals broadcasting career, and it was later renamed "Hall of Fame Place." Berra was a Catholic, and he attended South Side Catholic, now called St. Mary's High School, in south St. Louis with Garagiola. Berra has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

He began playing baseball in local American Legion Baseball leagues, where he learned the basics of catching while playing