As we all wish former Met Yogi Berra a happy 86th birthday, Howard Megdal reminds us of a few of Yogi’s 9 ABs.
Specifically, May 4, 1965 was arguably Berra’s last game in the major leagues as Yogi, the all-time great catcher deservedly enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Berra caught all nine innings of the Tuesday night game against the Phillies at Shea Stadium.
Does anyone older than me know the background on why Yogi came back..and only came back for 4 games/9 ABs…and why the Mets would release him in May? It’s a weird coda on one of the all-time great baseball cards.
Per the OUTSTANDING book, “The Amazing Mets, 1962-1969” by William J. Ryczek, Casey got desperate for some offense out of the catching position and prevailed upon Yogi, his first base coach, to come out of retirement. He had hit in batting practice and Spring Training, so he gave it a go. He knew he didn’t really have it anymore, so he asked for his official release from playing. In those days, teams carried 28 players for the first month of the season, then cut down to 25. Yogi was one of the cutdowns and he amiably trotted back to the first base box.
happy b. day yogi.
i was watching espn classic game 6 NLCS.
and there was a camera shot of yogi in the astro dougout as a coach.
i totally forget he was with houston.
the sight of him not in a mets or yankee uniform yikes!!
yogi berra story
after a mets game in 1973 yogi was singing autographs in front of his riviera.
after singing my year book, i lit up a cigarett ,he looks at me and said “hey got one of them kools?”