TAKING YOGI BERRA TO 'MONEYBALL'

A few of my readers may not recognize the name Yogi Berra, but if you’re a baseball fan I suspect you will and appreciate his many contributions to the game. Here is a link to an article by Jason Gay that appeared in the Wall Street Journal recently, and warmly presents the real depth of this great American baseball hero who is a living legend.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204190704577022222894383202.html#printMode

I remember fondly sharing many baseball games with my late grandmother, who kept a magnificent score card and knew all the players’ batting averages. We saw all the greats of baseball back in the late 1930s and 40s. Yogi Berra joined the Yankees in 1946 was one of the best catchers I have ever seen, maybe even ranking above the great Yankee Bill Dickey.

My wife met Yogi when she worked for a television station in Norfolk, VA in the late 60s. Yogi was a coach for the New York Mets and was in town to look at talent on the Mets Triple A team there. Yogi graciously gave her autographs for her two young brothers. These were not ordinary autographs, but were personalized with their names and a note about the positions they played in Little League.

They don’t make them like Yogi anymore, because he played the game for his love of the game and certainly not for the money, which many of our modern-day prima donnas do these days.

Now that I have reached by 80th birthday I have adopted Yogi’s now famous expression “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”

COMMANDER GRANGER