Written by Allen Barra in 2009. A biography on Lawrence Peter Berra, better known as “Yogi” Berra. I have not read a book that I have enjoyed this much in a long time, possibly ever. GraceAnne A. DeCandido of Booklist describes it saying “Barra brings to this sporting version of the Everyman story an encyclopedic knowledge and warm understanding of the game of baseball, meticulous research into business, sociology, and history and fluid writing style…. Baseball biography taken to a higher level.” I could not agree more. The book is just over 400 pages but it reads as if it were 1,000 pages. There is so much information, stories, quotes and quite a few pictures as well.
Born May 12, 1925 Larry Berra grows up on “The Hill”, a neighborhood of Italian families in St. Louis. The story of how young Larry picked up the nickname Yogi varies depending on who tells it. A 13-14 year old Berra goes to the movies with friends to see a short film about India. A Hindu man practicing yoga in the film led his friends to say Larry looked like him while he was sitting at baseball practice later that day, and the name stuck. Around this time Yogi decided to quit school after finishing the 8th grade and pursue baseball full time. His parents were not thrilled but in 1939 it was accepted. In 1941 Yogi and his friend, Joe Garagolia try out for the St. Louis Cardinals. General Manager (GM) Branch Rickey offer both a contract but Joe got a 500 dollar signing bonus and Yogi was only offered 250. Yogi turned it down. A year later the GM of the New York Yankees signed Yogi for a 500 dollar bonus and 74 dollars a month. At the age of 18 Yogi was playing Class B baseball. The rest is history. In his Hall of Fame career he is the winningest player in baseball. He has 10 World Series rings and 3 MVPs.
The storied life of Yogi Berra cannot be accurately summed up by any book but this was a great try. There is just too many stories. The man was a purple heart recipient who served on a rocket boat at Normandy in World War 2. He was the Vice President of the Yoohoo chocolate milk company. He received and Honorary Degree from Montclair State University along side Bruce Willis who happened to be his neighbor. Martha Stewart babysat his children when she was a teenager. One of my favorite stories in the book is when he coached for the Houston Astros in the 80s. It was his idea to put Craig Biggio at 2nd base. I could go on and on. The book has play by play of World Series games. And statistics… Let me tell you. An appendix that breaks down numerically why Yogi is the best catcher of all time. I am running out of characters so I’m wrapping this up. If you like baseball, this is a must read.
