1962 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR
"Top personality among all players is Yogi Berra, the Yankee dean in service who begins his 17th campaign and his second as a full-time outfielder. One of the game's most efficient catchers, he moved to the garden with his usual good humor and team spirit. His .271 in 1961 was the third-lowest average of his career.
Born in St. Louis, Yogi holds just about all the World Series standards, having played in the most games (73) and driven in the most runs (39). He's one of the few in business to acquire more than 2,000 hits."
-Don Schiffer, The 1962 Major League Baseball Handbook
"The Hall of Fame will be beckoning to the Yankees' Larry 'Yogi' Berra before too many more years pass. The three-time Most Valuable Player in the American League and one of the all-time great catchers has abandoned the mask and shin guards to become the club's regular left-fielder. And at 37, Yogi is still one the most feared 'clutch' hitters in the game. As a rival player recently said, ' ... he's the best catcher baseball has ever seen and he breaks up more games in the late innings than anyone I know.'
Now that he's a full-time outfielder for Manager Ralph Houk, the venerable veteran hopes to lengthen his career. He already owns a host of records. He has played the most games and has the most hits of any World Series performer; he has hit a record 300 of his 340 home runs as a catcher; has the most chances accepted lifetime by a catcher (9,045); has the most hits for a career by a catcher and the most RBIs in World Series play ... among many [other records].
Berra, one of the most popular as well as one the ablest Yankees, needed only 34 more games this season to reach the 2,000 mark. He has played more full seasons with the Yankees than any other player in the club's history and isn't far behind Gehrig and Ruth in total games played.
Berra has come a long way, indeed, from his start on the 'Hill' in St. Louis. He is and has been a Yankee in the truest tradition of the name."
-The New York Yankees Official 1962 Yearbook
Named American League's Most Valuable Player, 1951.
Tied with Gus Triandos, most home runs in one season by American League catcher (30), 1952 and 1956.
Named American League's Most Valuable Player, 1954.
Named American League's Most Valuable Player, 1955.
One of seven players, six of whom are Yankees, to hit a grand slam in a World Series game, October 5, 1956, against Brooklyn.
Has hit more home runs than any major league catcher in history (300) while hitting 40 as an outfielder.
Holds record for most hits by a catcher, lifetime (2,053).
Holds record for most chances, catcher (9,045)
Has played in most World Series games, lifetime (72).
Has most hits in World Series, lifetime (71).
Has most RBIs in World Series, lifetime (39).
Has most chances, catcher, World Series,lifetime.
Has most putouts, catcher, World Series, lifetime.
Has most assists, catcher, World Series, lifetime.
-1962 New York Yankees Press-TV-Radio Guide
"One of the game's best bad ball hitters and an All-Star catcher for 12 seasons, Yogi Berra is now the Yankees' regular left fielder. The 37-year-old native of St. Louis made the switch when the Bombers needed him and did the job in style.
Berra joined New York late in the 1946 season and promptly tied a major league record by belting a home run in his first trip to the plate. He's hit a whole flock of four-baggers since that one, including 22 last season, and has 340 to his credit since reaching the big time.
A small but powerful man (5'8", 191 pounds), Yogi broke into Organized Ball with the Yankees' Norfolk farm club in 1943. He spent the next two seasons in the service and played for Newark of the International League in 1946. A .314 batting average earned him a shot with the Bombers and his .364 mark at the close of the '46 campaign solidified his position there.
Berra split the 1947 season between the outfield and catching and was the Yankees' regular backstop from '48 through '60. Under the tutelage of Bill Dickey, he developed into a first-class receiver.
His bat spoke for itself and Yogi was named Most Valuable Player in the American League three times (1951-54-55). In addition to his 340 homers, Berra has 307 doubles and 49 triples since coming to New York, and he's sent 1,367 runs across the plate.
Yogi's best year was 1950 when he batted .322, hit 28 homers and drove in 124 runs. He had 30 HRs twice, 1952 and 1956, and reached a personal high with 125 RBIs in 1954.
Berra has been a member of the American League's All-Star team in each of the past 13 campaigns and smacked a homer during one of the 1959 mid-season meetings against the National League.
The lefty slugger holds many World Series records, including most games played and most hits during the post season classic. His pinch homer against the Dodgers in '47 was the first such blow in World Series competition.
Yogi's best Series was in 1956 when he slugged three circuit clouts and drove in 10 runs while posting a .360 average. He batted better than .400 in both the 1953 and 1955 Classics.
Berra now makes his home in Montclair, New Jersey, and is the proud father of three boys. His interests include a 40-lane bowling alley (he's partners with former Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto in this enterprise) and a soft drink firm in the Garden State. Yogi's autobiography was placed before the public during the 1960-61 winter and he is in constant demand at banquets.
Berra loves all sports and is a better-than-fair golfer. He is a regular at basketball and hockey games during the off-season.
When Ralph Houk needed a left fielder last year, Mr. Berra was his man; in fact, Yogi has also seen service at first and third base during his glorious career with the Yankees. While he's no gazelle in the field, Yogi makes the plays and his arm is one of the best in the game.
Now in his 17th season with the World Champs, Yogi hopes to repeat his 1961 totals. He batted a respectable .271 and drove in 61 tallies. His 107 hits were good for 184 bases and he pilfered two bases in addition to hitting five sacrifice flies.
There have been few players who have contributed as much over the years, both to his team and the game, as Yogi Berra."
-The 1962 Jay Publishing New York Yankees Yearbook
YOGI, 37, 'NOT THINKING OF RETIRING'
Expects to Play Just as Long as N.Y. Needs Him
'I've Still Got Things I'd Like to Do in Baseball,' Veteran Star Announces
"There is a reluctant air about Yogi Berra when he is asked to recall some of the golden moments of a major league career which stretches back over 16 eventful years that include his appearance in 15 All-Star Games and 72 World Series contests.
'When you look back, you're looking ahead,' the bard of the dugout said. 'I've got things I'd like to do in baseball.'
This was at the outset of a friendly inquisition to find out how much baseball, if any, there was going to be in Yogi's future.
It didn't take long to discover that the most colorful of all Yankees in the post-Babe Ruth era was not getting ready to clean out his locker at Yankee Stadium to retire to a life of clipping coupons as lord of the manor at his palatial estate in Montclair, N.J.
Briefly, Yogi wanted to make it known- 'once and for all'- at 37 years years of age he was still a competitive asset and not a sentimental liability already well traveled on the other side of the hill.
Future Wrapped up in the Present
Yogi's future, you might say, is wrapped up in the present. That's the way he looks at, and despite the many verbal malaprops that flavor Yogi's everyday speech, no one- but no one- is any more clear or straight-ahead in his thinking than the estimable Lawrence Peter Berra.
That helps explain why Yogi has scrapped- for the time being, anyway- any plans to quit as an active player at the end of this season.
'Now don't go saying I'm not ever going to retire,' Yogi said. 'But if you want the truth, I'm not thinking about it now. And I'm not going to think about it until I feel in my heart I can't help the club anymore.'
'Maybe,' the veteran added, 'I'll change my mind, but how do I know now? The way I feel now, I'm going to keep on playing as long as they want me. You can bet nobody will ever have to tell me to get lost. I'll get lost all by myself. When I don't have it anymore, I'll be the first guy to admit it. But I ain't admitting that now because I figure I still got enough to help the Yanks win another pennant.'
There was no mistaking Yogi's enthusiasm.
'I may be 37 years old, but so what?' he said. 'Did you ever hear about Stan Musial? Anything wrong with Stan? You'd take him on your club, wouldn't you?'
The answer was 'Yes.'
'So there you go,' Yogi said. 'You don't get old by just getting more years on your back. You think old as a ball player and you get old.
'I don't mean I can play every day. But here and there I can help.'
Yogi poked a finger into my chest, then grinned.
'Remember that morning at that hotel in Detroit?
'Ah, c'mon now, you remember,' he said poking his finger with more authority.
At this point, I told Yogi that if I had his memory I, too, would have no mortgage and a swimming pool in the back yard.
'Don't change the subject,' he said. 'You gotta admit I saved you some money by not betting with you.'
It was all clear now. In the clubhouse after Yogi caught every inning of the Yankees' historic 22-inning victory over the Tigers, it was mentioned he'd pay for it the next day.
'Don't Bet,' Yogi Advised
'You'll need the trainer and a derrick to get you out of bed. I'll bet you five bucks you don't make it down to breakfast,' Yogi was told.
'Save your money,' Yogi advised at the time. 'I ain't that old.'
Just as he predicted, the next morning found Yogi as spry and as hungry as a rookie.
'I was sore a little, but not lame,' he said in recalling what he considers to be 'one of the high points' in his career.
More than anything else that has happened this season, that 22-inning stretch behind the plate proved to the veteran that if old Yogi isn't what he used to be, he still isn't ready for the old men's home.
'Don't forget,' Yogi said with justifiable pride, 'Up to the day I caught those 22 innings, I hadn't been doing much catching.'
In fact, Yogi's 22-inning marathon was only the third game he had caught in more than a year. Since the start of the 1961 season, Yogi's talents had been almost exclusively as a left fielder, right fielder and pinch hitter.
Yogi's interrogator then tried to slide the interview into another area. For instance, was he interested in managing once his active playing days were ended- whenever that might would be?
Yogi, though, wasn't ready to shift his gears.
'Boy,' he said. 'Those 22 innings were long- seven hours- getting up and down behind the plate.'
It must have been a pleasant recollection.
Yogi sat there, his face wreathed in a big smile.
'Slept Like a Baby'
'Funny thing about that,' he said, 'not only did I feel good getting up the next day, I felt real good after the game. You know what I did? A bunch of us had been invited over to my cousin's house for a big Italian feed and we all showed up, late as it was. I wasn't tired at all. I ate up everything they put in front of me, then I went back to the hotel and slept like a baby.'
Yogi paused a few seconds.
'Did you say something about managing?' he queried.
'Yes. Would you like to be a big league manager?'
'Ummm,' Yogi said, deep in thought. 'Well ... yeah, I guess I would.'
'Have you got anything in mind?' I asked.
'Wait a minute,' he shot back. 'We're just talking here about when I'm through as a ballplayer. We're not talking about next week, or next month or even next year ... there is nothing definite. Right?'
'Right!'
'Okay then, yeah, I'd like to manage, but that doesn't mean I'd jump at any job they offered me.'
'That sounds like you've already eliminated some teams,' Yogi was told.
'No,' he answered in simple logic. 'How can I do that If I don't even have any team in mind I'd like to manage?
'But I don't want anybody to come to me without giving me the whole story.'
'What's that?'
'If I manage anywhere, I've got to have things understood. I don't want anybody giving me the starting lineup- and things like that. You know what I mean. I've got to have some pretty good players, too. You know I wouldn't jump into a job like that without talking it over good- real good.'
'Would you like to coach?'
'Maybe,' he said. 'It would have to be the right spot.'
'Have you ever thought about a business career of some kind?'
Return on Investment
'Not too much,' he said. 'I got money invested that's bringing me in a little.
'But about going down to an office and stuff like that ... I haven't thought about it much.
'You know, baseball's been my life. I've been with the Yankees all my life ... It seems like that, anyway. I came up here in 1946.
'Only once in all that time did I have trouble getting the money I wanted. But we weren't apart long. Every year, though, they've been great. I got no kicks. I got only thanks.'
'How did you feel the day you first walked into the Yankee clubhouse as a player?'
'I wasn't sure I'd stay long,' he said. 'I came over from Newark where I hit pretty good (.314, 15 homers).
'I figured I'd do all right with the bat, but I wasn't sure.'
Yogi picked up some confidence the first game he played.
'We were playing the Athletics over in Philly and I got a home run off Phil Marchildon,' he recalled. 'The next day I got another homer. This time off Jesse Flores. It made me feel the first day wasn't a mistake.'
Yogi has made precious few mistakes. It's a cinch he'll be voted into the Hall of Fame.
And who in the Cooperstown shrine will be more qualified to be there than Yogi Berra?
Yogi has hit more homers than any catcher in history.
He has played in more games and has more hits in World's Series competition than any performer in history.
Copped Three MVP Awards
He was the Most Valuable Player in 1951-54-55.
He has more hits to his credit than any catcher in history.
He has accepted more chances than any catcher in history.
As everybody knows, Yogi is also a capable outfielder, author of a couple of books, raconteur par excellence, conversationalist without peer, dugout philosopher of the first magnitude and clutch hitter among the very best.
He is also an exceptional husband, father and provider to his pretty wife, Carmen, and the Berra brood- Larry (12), Timmy (10) and Dale (5).
Lawrence Peter Berra, Esq., is a bowling impresario and vice-president of the Yoohoo Chocolate Drink Company.
Mister Berra has excelled in everything he's ever tried. He'll do the same the day he manages his first ball club.
As Red Schoendienst once said, 'Put Yogi on horseback and he'll be a polo player.'"
-Til Ferdenzi, The Sporting News (August 18, 1962)
BEST EVER? '49-53 YANKEES
"Yogi Berra's best-ever Yankee list includes what he calls 'the best I ever played on.'
'I'll pick the teams of 1949, '50, '51, '52 and '53,' he said. 'How can you rate any team better than the five who won five straight world's championships. They had balance- power, defense and great pitching. Don't forget, we had Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi, Ed Lopat and Whitey Ford as starters.'"
-The Sporting News (August 18, 1962)
CATCHING LARSEN'S PERFECTO ONE OF BERRA'S TOP THRILLS
"Yogi Berra has had many thrills in baseball, but he ranks two of them 'right up near the top.'
'Every time I was elected the Most Valuable Player was a top thrill, and I got it three times,' Yogi said.
'And how about catching Don Larsen's perfect game? That's something a catcher will do once in a lifetime,' he said."
-The Sporting News (August 18, 1962)
