Yogi Bear... or Yogi Berra !!!?

Well, now that I've already talked about Yoga Bear vs. Yoga Bare...

Of course, cartoon character Yogi Bear (Hey, BooBoo) was named after the famous (infamous?) Yogi Berra. Who was the second Yogi, you youngsters may ask?

Why, he was the most famous catcher the NY Yankees ever had!! ... and coach and manager... until he got into a row with G. Steinbrenner and had to collect his check the next a.m. after less than 20 games. (Mr. S. didn't even have the courtesy to tell YB himself he was dismissing his manager.)

How do I know all this important and earth-shaking trivia re: the Man himself? Why, I'm reading his book. What's it called, you ask? "When you get to the fork in the road, take it", of course, a choice YogiBerraism for the title.

Now, how did Yogi, the catcher, that is, get his name? No one would name his kid Yogi. The first one to mail in the answer to me, written on the back of a $20 bill wins!

Oh, too late. He got the name, the Big Y himself writes, because as a kid playing baseball he would always sit cross-legged with his arms folded intensely watching the game. Since he looked like a Hindu yogi, his buddies started calling him that, and voila, he's been Yogi ever since! (By the way, his saying for that kind of intensity is: "You can observe a lot by watching".)

Actually, while Yogi quit school after the 8th grade (due to lack of interest in school, but much interest in baseball), he manages to put a lot of down-to-earth wisdom and philosophy into his book, despite the impreciseness of his language.

A favorite Berraism of former Colo. governor Dick Owens is: "You always want to go to other people's funerals because you want them to go to yours". True... just imprecise.

If I recall correctly, Berra played with the Yankees in 14 World Series... 6 against the Brooklyn Dodgers and another against the NY Giants. They call those "Subway Series"... well, you know, you just take the subway to see either of your teams.

He knew guys like Casey Stengel, Mickey Mantle, I can't think of all the others.

He married a waitress at the local café, stayed with her ever since.

Quite a guy, quite a life... if you like baseball.

Stayed tuned for the next episode of... ? I don't know yet what it will be, probably not on Yogi any more - although you never know. I just write as the ideas and mood strike me.

Hope you like them...

He also said something like, "I know I'm ugly, but I don't hit with my face".