An ode to Yogi

I grew up in New Jersey, across the river from New York City, in the 1940s. Everyone in my neighborhood was a passionate fan of the Yankees, Giants or Dodgers. It was our religion. I was a Giants nut, and a Willie Mays worshipper. We all — whatever our favorite team was — hated our opponents, but we all liked Yogi Berra (and respected Jackie Robinson.) Yogi was a great athlete and a great character whose twisted epigrams and malaprops [(“Even Napoleon had his Watergate”), were, and remain, charmingly funny and very quotable. Probably no one except maybe Shakespeare gets quoted as frequently; we all (trial lawyers especially) have and commonly use our favorite Yogi-isms.

{mosads}He twisted language wonderfully: “You can observe a lot by just watching” and “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” Could he truly have said all those wonderful remarks? Even his own book, The Yogi Book, has the subtitle I Really Didn’t Say Everything I Said.

The New York Times Sunday Book Review has a weekly interview of celebrities and among the questions they ask is: Who would you want to have a private dinner with? For me, it would be New York Times literary critic Michiko Kakutani and Berra: Kakutani because she knows so much about everything and Berra because he was so entertaining (and wise in a non-intellectual way.) Who else has a minor league baseball stadium and a museum named after him, as well as a cartoon character?

Berra’s athletic accomplishments are remarkable: Hall of Fame membership, three MVPs, 10 World Series rings. He managed the Mets and Yankees, both to the World Series. He served in the Navy in World War II and was wounded. Later he entered professional baseball for a $500 bonus! His name became a cultural brand, worldwide, beyond the sports world.

New Jersey has a bad rap as a place peopled by Sopranos. While its current governor has added to the late-night jeers, people forget that it was home for President Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Edison, Meryl Streep and Count Basie — I could go on. We will always remember, and claim with well-earned admiration Yogi, Berra. He may have been raised in St. Louis, but New Jersey should nominate him as its candidate for the face — with that wonderful face that made everyone smile! — on the $100 bill.

Goldfarb is an attorney, author and literary agent based in Washington and Miami.