Yogi Berra

Professional baseball career

In 1942, the St. Louis Cardinals overlooked Berra in favor of his boyhood friend Joe Garagiola, though team president Branch Rickey had an ulterior motive: Rickey planned to leave St. Louis for the Brooklyn Dodgers and wanted to sign Berra later. The Yankees signed Berra for a $500 bonus before Rickey could act. Berra played for the Norfolk Tars in 1943 before joining the U.S. Navy, serving as a gunner's mate on the attack transport USS Bayfield during the Normandy landings. He was one of six men on a Navy rocket boat firing at German defenses on Omaha Beach, was wounded, and received a Purple Heart.

He also served at Utah Beach and later in Tunisia. After returning to the U.S. in January 1945, he played semi-pro baseball at Naval Submarine Base New London and, under an assumed name, for the Cranston, Rhode Island, Chiefs for $50 a game. Honorably discharged in May 1946, Berra played minor-league baseball with the Newark Bears, where his talent surprised the manager despite his short stature. Hall of Famer Bill Dickey mentored him, and Berra later said, "I owe everything I did in baseball to Bill Dickey."

Honors

During World War II, Berra earned a Purple Heart, Distinguished Unit Citation, two battle stars, an American Campaign Medal, and a European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal. In 2009 he received the Lone Sailor Award, and in 2010 the Audie Murphy Award for his Navy service. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 on his second ballot, and that same year the Yankees retired his No. 8, jointly honoring Berra and Bill Dickey. On August 22, 1988, both catchers received plaques in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium; Berra's plaque cites his quote "It ain't over till it's over." In 1996 Montclair State University gave him an honorary doctorate and named its stadium Yogi Berra Stadium, opened in 1998.

The Sporting News ranked him No. 40 on its 100 Greatest Baseball Players list, and fan balloting placed him on the MLB All-Century Team. On July 18, 1999, Yogi Berra Day at Yankee Stadium marked his return after a decade-long absence; Don Larsen threw the ceremonial first pitch, and Yankees pitcher David Cone threw a perfect game. Berra received the Golden Plate Award in 2005, was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2008, and was the inaugural recipient of the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award in 2013.

Other activities

Berra and former teammate Phil Rizzuto were partners in a bowling alley in Clifton, New Jersey, originally called Rizzuto-Berra Lanes; they later sold their stakes, and the property was converted to retail space in 1999. He also owned Yogi Berra's Fitness & Racquetball Club in Fairfield, New Jersey, popular in the 1980s. Berra supported the National Italian American Foundation and was inducted into the Italian American Hall of Fame in 2004. He received the Boy Scouts of America's Silver Buffalo Award.

In January 2005, The Economist named him "Wisest Fool of the Past 50 Years." Berra was portrayed in the 2007 miniseries The Bronx Is Burning by Joe Grifasi and in the HBO film 61 by Paul Borghese. He appeared in the 2009 documentary A Time for Champions and was the subject of the 2022 documentary It Ain't Over. In 2013 he joined Athlete Ally as a Pro Ambassador, and the Yogi Berra Museum collaborated on the "Championing Respect" exhibit.

Did You Know?

• Berra quit school after the eighth grade.
• He and his wife Carmen were longtime residents of Montclair, New Jersey, and each of their three sons played professional sports.
• Berra's military records were burned in the St. Louis Archives fire in 1973.