EXTRA INNINGS A Life Lesson from Yogi Berra

Lawrence Peter Berra, nicknamed “Yogi” by a friend who thought he looked like a yoga practitioner (a yogi), dropped out of school in the eighth grade to help support his parents. Yogi kept getting fired from his jobs because he often left early to play baseball. Baseball was his passion. He and his buddy from across the street, Joe Garagiola—both sons of Italian immigrants--starred on a championship American Legion team in St. Louis, which caught the eye of baseball scouts. In 1942 Garagiola signed a contract to play for the St. Louis Cardinals, and Berra signed with the New York Yankees. Berra played a year of minor league ball, then enlisted in the Navy during World War II. He was a gunner’s mate on an attack transport during the Normandy landings, launching rockets at the German defenses while troops stormed Omaha beach. He could have easily been one of the thousands of casualties that day, but somehow survived, earning a Purple Heart for his heroics. After the war, Berra went back to the game he loved, joining the Yankees in 1946. Undersized at 5’-7”, he developed into a feared power-hitter and one of the premier catchers of all time. In 19 years with the Yankees he was named Most Valuable Player three times, played in 15 All-Star games and 14 World Series, winning 10 World Championships. A superior defensive catcher, he holds the record of 148 straight games without an error. After his playing days were over, as a manager he took the Yankees to a pennant in 1964, and the New York Mets in 1973. The Baseball Writers Association elected him to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. In 2015 he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama. Sporting News named him number 40 on their list of the 100 greatest players in history. Even with his baseball achievements, Yogi is best remembered for his personality, his quirky wisdom and his wit. Known to butcher the English language, he became well known for his malaprops and pithy statements, now called “Yogi-isms”. Yogi-isms weren’t intentional, they just came out. Some of his better- known ones are: “It ain’t over til it’s over” (when asked how the Mets could come from behind to win the pennant) “Nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded" (speaking of a restaurant in St. Louis). “When you come to a fork in the road, take it" (when giving Garagiola directions to his house). "It ain't the heat, it's the humility" (when commenting on the weather for a day game). “We made too many wrong mistakes” (following their loss to the Pirates in the 1960 World Series). “You should always go to other people's funerals, otherwise, they won't come to yours." “Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical." “You can observe a lot by just watching.” Yogi’s name became attached to a lot of other oddball sayings, to which he declared, “I never said most of the things I said." One of his sayings, though, seems almost prophetic, pointing to the coronavirus pandemic. Commenting on changes to baseball, he said, “The future ain’t what it used to be”. Today, many of us realize that the future “ain’t what it used to be”. We want our lives to return to normal, but normal will probably never be what it was. Educators, business owners, church leaders, medical professionals, and others are all grappling with what some call the “new normal”, or more accurately the “new abnormal”. No one knows what lies ahead. Faced with uncertainties, it is crucial that our foundation is on the unshakable Rock that is God. PA 5/15/20