Well, that was some crummy news to wake up to.
Yogi Berra's been a part of my life for about as long as I can remember being alive, and I'm not yet able to write anything meaningful. Fortunately, there's already no shortage of worthy encomiums, a sampling of which I'll offer now...
- If you don’t have time to read my friend Allen Barra’s outstanding biography of Yogi, I highly recommend Dave Williams’ SABR BioProject article.
- Believe it or not, Yogi wasn’t a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Via The Sporting News’ Justin McGuire, here was one voter’s explanation.
- When Johnny Bench broke Yogi’s home-run record for catchers, Yogi sent Bench a telegram. As you might expect, it’s priceless.
- Interested in a healthy dose of revisionist history? The Times did its level best to figure if Yogi really said all those things he said (oh, and if this sort of thing bothers you, it’s worth noting that it didn’t bother Yogi at all; because, you know, he had a sense of humor).
- Using those things Yogi said as touchstones, Jeff Passan gives one a great idea about what made Yogi special to so many people for so many years.
- The Hall of Fame’s Jeff Idelson wrote a fine piece a decade ago about Yogi’s popularity, with a bunch of great tidbits about his long success as a top celebrity endorser.
- Did you know Yogi once filed a lawsuit against the creators of the cartoon character Yogi BEAR, who first appeared in 1958? According to Slate, Hanna-Barbera claimed there was no connection between the two. Ultimately, Yogi (the Berra) just took that claim with a grin of salt.
- Initially, the Associated Press reported that Yogi (the) Bear had passed away. You could make this stuff up, but who would?
Update: The hosannas keep coming, so here are a few more things worth your time ...
- I guess Roger Angell's probably not the only writer born before Yogi who's now written upon Yogi's passing, but it's hard to imagine another nonagenarian writing this well about Yogi.
- Writing longer than usual, Craig Calcaterra responded quickly, skilfully, and insightfully to Wednesday morning's sad news.
- A few years ago, Harvey Araton wrote about Ron Guidry's long-running and intimate spring-training relationship with Yogi.
- Wednesday, Bob Nightengale visited The Hill, the St. Louis neighborhood where Yogi (and Joe Garagiola, and Jack Buck) grew up.
- Finally, Slate's Ben Zimmer with an engaging essay on just why so many of Yogi's witticisms have stuck with us for so long.
