1961 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR
YOGI GIVES BATTERS 'SYMPATHETIC' PAINS
He Bends Their Ears- And Averts Their Minds- With Soft Talk
"Casey Stengel was gabbing about Yogi Berra. Somebody had asked Casey if the great Yankee catcher talked to opposing batters.
'Talk to 'em,' rumbled Stengel, 'I'll say he does. And when you find what he says to 'em you appreciate again just how smart this fellow is.
'He'll say to one guy, 'Does that so-and-so manager of yours still make you take that three-and-one pitch?' The guy grunts and says yes. Yogi says, 'That's not fair in my book: he ought you let make up your own mind, a good hitter like you.' The batter grumbles some more and the first thing you know the third strike's gone by or he's popped out.
'The next guy comes up and Yogi says, 'I hear you been having trouble with the front office. Them people should be paying you more money.' Now where he gets this information I don't know, but he gets it. And the guy's sore, of course, and the news is out, because he DID ask for more money and his owners didn't give it to him. So he stews and frets up there and Yogi has his mind off the pitches coming up.
'You know, of course, that they kidded me something awful when I tried Yogi at third base in spring training. Said I was nutty and a lot of other things. Maybe I was, but I noticed that a couple of fellows I had there at third were all right above the neck, but they weren't the same down below. They'd slowed up at least a step and one of them wasn't hitting.
'When I asked Yogi if he could play third base, he said yes. He never says no, of course, because he always wants to play. But he sure surprised me when he said, 'Sure, I can play third base. After all, I played second base for a few weeks once.'
'Well, he sure had me there, because it don't show in no record book. As far as the books say, Berra only played outfield or catcher. So I asked him again. 'The league was folded,' was his answer, 'but I played about 20 games at second.'
'Then I asked him if he could make the double play and he said he sure could. That's what I say about him, he really thinks he can do anything.
'And since the World Series I've been telling myself about the mistakes I made and I decided that one of them was not playing Berra in that fifth game. We lost it, you know, 5-2. I did get Yogi in as a pinch hitter in the eighth but it was too late.
'He won that final game with that three-run homer off (Roy) Face in the sixth inning (put N.Y. ahead, 4-2) but our pitchers couldn't hold it. He's just naturally got to play all the time and if I had to do it over again, he'd be in there no matter who pitches.
'Yes, he does hit at bad balls. You know that (Eddie) Yost walked 135 times in 1959. That's right, 135 bases on balls. You know how many bases on balls Yogi had one year? I'll betcha don't. It was nine; that's it, just nine. But he hits when it counts and that's why he's gotta play all the time, even if he does try to hit bad pitches.
'What's his salary? Well, you might say he and (Mickey) Mantle are pretty close. No, I ain't saying which gets the most, but they aren't far apart and Yogi's certainly worth every cent the Yankees are paying him.
'Name me just one other catcher you hear about in major league baseball these days. Yeah, that's him, the guy up there in Milwaukee. Crandall's his name. You don't find 'em saying much about anybody else, and Yogi plays outfield, too, so he's gotta be the best. They'll have a hard time keeping him in the outfield next season, as he has requested, you can be sure. He's 35, but he's still the best and will be for quite a while, I think.' "
-Braven Dyer, Los Angeles Times (Baseball Digest, February 1961)
"Berra starts his 15th season [likely] to see most of his action from the outfield. One of the all-time great catchers, his arm has lost some of its accuracy and power, but there's nothing wrong with his stick work. He hit .276 in '60 and rapped 15 homers, including a clutch circuit clout in the last game of the Series.
Born in St. Louis, Lawrence Peter had a difficult time convincing people he could make the grade as a receiver after a faulty 1947 Series job. He holds the all-time Series marks of most games played (68) and most hits (68)."
-Don Schiffer, The Major League Baseball Handbook 1961
1960
"April 24: Makes debut in right field, after virus siege; three RBIs on double and two singles in rout of Orioles.
April 26: Four RBIs on home run and two singles in loss to Red Sox.
May 22: Hits two home runs and single in 9-7 win over A's.
May 30: Beats Nats, 3-2, with two-run homer in 8th.
June 3: Beats Red Sox with triple and two singles for two RBIs.
July 2: Named American League All-Star catcher.
July 16: Hits grand slam and single in rout of Tigers.
July 29: Gets stiff neck; out for a spell.
August 18: Leads win over Red Sox with two doubles.
August 26: Beats Indians, 7-6, with second homer, in 11th.
Comment: Berra is beginning to slow down, but is still one of the best clutch hitters."
-Joe Sheehan, Dell Sports Magazine Baseball, April 1961
"It's hardly necessary to identify the gentleman on this page. A noted literary figure, bowling alley proprietor, raconteur and part-time outfielder ... and ... oh, yes .. part-time catcher.
Yogi Berra is the veteran ace of the Yankee catching staff and senior citizen in the playing ranks- his Yankee service dates back to the end of the 1946 season. In the ensuing years, he has compiled a .288 batting average, has hit 318 home runs (298 as a catcher, the record for receivers), won the American League MVP award three times, has the most RBIs of any World Series player in history (36) and holds a host of other records. When he attains his 24th hit this season, Yogi will break Bill Dickey's record all-time hit total for catchers.
Lawrence Peter Berra has made his mark with the Yankees and is the successful author of the autobiography 'Yogi,' but right now ... well, Yogi has his goal set on helping Ralph Houk and the Yankees to the 1961 American League pennant."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Lawrence Peter Berra (OF-C) #8
Born May 12, 1925, in St. Louis, Missouri, resides in Montclair, N.J. Height: 5-8, weight: 191. Bats left, throws right.
Married and father of three boys, Larry (11), Timmy (9) and Dale (4).
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"The oldest Yankee, both in age and length of service, is 35-year-old Lawrence Peter Berra, known to all as 'Yogi.' Since joining the Bombers at the tail end of the 1946 campaign, Berra has rewritten the record books, both as a batter and a receiver.
A three-time winner of the American League's Most Valuable Player award (1951-54-55), Yogi has appeared in 1,847 contests for the Yankees. He has slammed out 318 home runs, more than any other catcher in major league history, and has driven in 1,306 runs.
Only 5' 8", the 185-pound native of St. Louis, who now makes his home in Montclair, New Jersey, was the first player to hit a pinch homer in the World Series, connecting against the Brooklyn Dodgers on October 2, 1947.
Yogi has had five 100-RBI seasons, with the 125 in 1954 being his personal high. His top home run mark was 30 (1952 and again in 1956) and his highest batting average was .322 in 1950.
Berra developed into a top-notch receiver, thanks to the tutoring of Bill Dickey. He had trouble with the Dodger base-runners in the '47 Series, but after that gained respect for his strong and accurate arm. His .995 was the top defensive average among AL catchers in 1957.
A team player, Yogi has played the outfield, first base and third base for New York. He covers the outfield in better than average fashion and will probably be used out there on a more-or-less regular basis this Summer.
Berra has appeared in more World Series games than any player in big league history. He also holds the record for most hits in the post-season classic.
The squat man has been a perennial All-Star for the Junior Circuit.
Mr. Berra is almost as busy during the off-season as he is during the Summer. His interests include a bowling alley (in partnership with Phil Rizzuto) and a soft drink firm in the Garden State. He is one of the most sought after players at banquets and a darn good golfer. And he had his autobiography, 'Yogi,' published last Winter.
Yogi attends basketball games and hockey matches regularly.
The left-handed slugger, who is the proud father of three boys, is one of the most popular players around the league. He keeps up a steady line of chatter with opposing batters and is always ready to offer sage advice to newcomers.
Last season he had a .276 average, 15 homers and 62 RBI's. If the Yog can reach these figures again this Summer, New York fans will be satisfied and so will the highest paid receiver in history."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
I WOULDN'T TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE
Yogi Takes You Along Behind The Scenes, Pointing Out The Intimate Details Of The Ballplaying Life He Leads
"I don't think there's anything better a man could say about his life than that there's nothing else he would rather be than what he is. If you can say that and mean it, you've got it made. Don't get me wrong. I'm not bragging that being Yogi Berra is better than being anybody else in the world. I don't mean that at all. What I mean is I've been blessed with being the only thing I ever wanted to be, a ballplayer, and I wouldn't trade places with anybody.
I'd rather be the Yankee catcher than the President. That makes me a pretty lucky guy because I could never get to be President, but I've been the Yankees' catcher in almost 2,000 ball games. That's one thing I always said to people when they asked me was it true that Casey Stengel liked me as much as the newspapers were always writing he did. I told them he must have because he sure played me. As Casey is always is saying, you could look it up. Twice I have caught as many as 151 games out of 154.
Baseball is my living, but it's still fun for me. I feel good as soon as I walk into the clubhouse. Just being with the guys is part of it, I guess. I've never known when the Yankees didn't have a happy clubhouse. In the 14 years I've been in there, I've never seen a fight. I've seen a few arguments, but never a fight. We kid each other all the time, and we make up nicknames for the guys. Like Bob Turley we call Humphrey because he looks like the character in the comic strip, 'Joe Palooka.' And Ryne Duren we call Magoo because he's blind as a bat. Andy Carey we always call Rock because he's so quiet; Ralph Houk is the Major, and Jerry Coleman was always Sweetsie because he's so good-looking. Everybody just calls me Yogi. I guess they can't improve on that.
There's always a lot of fooling around in the clubhouse. Phil Rizzuto and I used to go to work on Charlie Keller. When he'd come in, I would holler: 'Who's the strongest man in the world?' Then Phil would say: 'King Kong Keller, that's who.' Then Charlie would go over and grab Phil and pick him up like a bag of potatoes and dump him into the big trash can in the middle of the room. Charlie sure was a strong man. When I first came up, people were always mixing me up with him, mistaking us for each other. It used to drive Charlie crazy. 'My God,' he said, 'if I looked like you I'd give up.'
The spirit around the Yankees has always been good. I've never seen anybody blame anybody else for a defeat. If we lose, the place is like a morgue; nobody says much of anything. If a guy feels he did something wrong, he says so, and we'll talk about it quietly, especially if we think we can help him. But there's no blaming. And when we win, and we're all happy and joking, there's no credit-taking either. The Yankees have had a lot of great ballplayers, but I've never seen one of them who was out on his own as an individual, and that includes all the big stars from Joe DiMaggio to Mickey Mantle. There has always been a real team feeling. I remember Charlie Silvera, who never got to catch much because I was playing every day. You would think he might get sore about it, but all he ever said to me were things like, 'Keep going, Yogi. I need that World Series money. I want to build a new porch this winter.'
Ballplayers are like that. I've often thought that being on a ball club is a lot like being in the Army or the Navy. When just the guys are around it's bound to be a field day for the fellows who like to play jokes. For instance, when we went to Japan after the 1955 World Series, most of our wives came along on the trip. But they stayed in Tokyo when we went on the road.
One day we went to Osaka for a game at the U.S. Air Base. After the game they gave us a big dinner at the hotel where we were staying overnight, and gradually, along about midnight, we all headed for our rooms. The last I knew the only two guys left in the bar were Eddie Robinson and Billy Martin. I was rooming with Tommy Byrne, and it must have been about 12:30 when the telephone woke us up. I answered it, and it was Robinson down in the bar. 'Hey, Yog,' he said, really excited, 'come down here. Fast, We got a fight. Billy's on the floor and his head's split wide open.' I said I'd be right down. I tried to get Tommy out of bed, but he was half dead. All he did was roll over. So I threw on some clothes and got downstairs as fast as I could.
When I walked into the bar, there were half a dozen guys there with Robinson and Martin, and not only was Billy's head not split open but he wasn't feeling any pain at all. He was laughing. Robinson handed me a drink and we settled down.
Robinson and Martin were taking turns on the phone, and before they were through they had called everybody but Stengel. Bill Dickey was so excited he came down in just his underwear shorts. Jim Turner showed up in his pajamas. Even Bob Fishel, our publicity man, answered the bell. On his way out of the elevator, Bob stopped at the desk and asked the night clerk if it was true there was a big fight going on in the bar. We had already fixed the clerk, so he gave Bob the business. 'There sure is,' he said, acting scared. 'I don't know what I'm gonna do. Guess I better call the MPs.' Bob took off his glasses and asked the guy to keep them for him, then he came charging in just in time to have a drink shoved in his hand. Poor Bob. Without his glasses, he couldn't see a bulldozer coming at him from five feet away.
I guess we must have stayed up until three or four o'clock in the morning. We had a hell of a time. The only trouble was, we had to play a ball game the next afternoon. We were lucky, though. Hangovers and all, we won, 23-1.
Actually the Japanese weren't bad ballplayers. I would say most of them were good triple-A players. I don't know, maybe you might even give one or two of them a shot at the big leagues. They're very good fielders, but they don't have any power when it comes to hitting. They all choke up and swing short and easy, so they usually get a piece of the ball, but they don't hit it very far. They drive fastball pitchers crazy, though. The harder you throw the ball, the more they foul it off. Your best chance to get them out is with breaking stuff.
Their pitchers have good control, and they're amazingly polite. If they happen to hit you with a pitch, they come right down off the mound, take off their caps and apologize. Just like Early Wynn.
The umpires take a terrible shellacking because they aren't allowed to throw the ballplayers out, so they have no defense against a beef. I didn't think that was fair, so one day I worked up a stunt with Johnny Stevens, the American League umpire, to show them how we do it home. I turned around and yelled at Johnny after a called ball. He yelled at me to shut up. Then I took off my mask and really let him have it. The people were all on my side, so I gave them a show. Then Johnny took off his mask and tore into me. He finished up by giving me the thumb. The way he threw me out of that game you could understand it in American or Japanese or Italian. I turned around, as quiet as a lamb, and walked off, and the people in the stands couldn't understand it. They had never seen that before. I hope it made them have a little more respect for umpires.
One thing I liked about Japan was the barbers. They were the best I ever saw. And cheap, too. You could get a haircut, a shave, a shampoo and a facial, be in the chair for an hour and a half, and it wouldn't cost you more than $1.50.
Another thing I liked was the way they kept feeding us in the dugout during the ball game. They kept a big tray of sandwiches and a supply of Pepsi-Cola on hand all the time.
We had so much fun in Japan we almost forgot about the seventh game of the World Series we had just lost. That was the game at Yankee Stadium that Johnny Podres beat us, 2-0, and we blew the Series to the Dodgers. But we didn't forget about it completely. We talked about the Series a lot, and we thought about what we would do differently if we got another shot at Brooklyn the next year. Which, of course, we did, and we did do it differently. We won.
When I talk about how much I like to play ball I'm talking about any day, the bad ones as well as the good. But there haven't been as many days I have enjoyed as much as the day that Don Larsen threw that perfect no-hit game at the Dodgers in 1956. I can still remember all the excitement in the clubhouse after it was all over.
The place is always a madhouse at times like that. You can hardly get your clothes off and get into the shower. There must be a hundred newspapermen and a couple of dozen photographers, not to mention all the radio and television people and their equipment, everybody from Mel Allen to Jack Lescoulie, the fellow who is always saying: 'They said it couldn't be done.' It's as hot as a Turkish bath and as crowded as the subway at five o'clock, but there's something very good about it. There is always a big crowd around the winning pitcher, and on this day, on account of what Don had done, the mob around Larsen was 12 deep. Because I was the catcher I got some of the overflow. Most of the questions didn't make much sense.
'Did you say anything in particular to him during the course of the game?' somebody wanted to know.
'I didn't have to,' I said.
'He did his own talking with his right arm, you mean.'
'That's right,' I said. What the hell else was I going to say?
I could hear Jim Turner, our pitching coach, being interviewed by somebody else. 'Jim, at any time during the ball game, between innings, did you suggest to Don that he should slow down?'
'No, sir,' Jim said, and he was really excited. 'You don't bother a man who's pitching a no-hitter, or who's getting them out that easy. I had no suggestions to make. There was nothing I could do to help him. He was strictly on his own out there.'
I heard one broadcaster ask Don to describe how he felt when the last out was made, and I was interested in what Don said. 'I don't know,' Don said. 'I don't know what I was thinking about. I was thinking about a million things and nothing, really. It was little things that popped into my mind here and there. I couldn't believe it. I was shaking a little bit, and I was so excited I could hardly talk.'
'What did Yogi say when he jumped on you at the end?'
'I don't remember. All I knew was I had a heavy load to carry.'
All I know is it was a day I'll never forget as long as I live. But the truth is that every day I put on the uniform and go out there is a good day."
-Yogi Berra, as told to Ed Fitzgerald (Sport Magazine, June 1961)
"An all-time catching star, Yogi Berra, 36-year-old southpaw batter, is the senior citizen in the Yankees' playing ranks, his New York service dating back to the 1946 season. In the ensuing years, he has hit 340 home runs (301 as a catcher, a record for receivers), won the American League Most Valuable Player award three times and has a host of other records. When he made his 24th hit of 1961, Yogi broke Bill Dickey's all-time record hit total for catchers.
Yogi sets a record every time he plays in a World Series game. He has played in more games and has more hits than any Series performer. His 36 RBI's are tops in Series play.
Lawrence Peter Berra has made his mark with the Yankees. He is the successful author of the autobiography 'Yogi.' The 5-8, 191-pounder lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and three boys."
-1961 World Series Official Souvenir Program
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