The Last Yogi

In an article I read over the weekend concerning the health of one Yogi Berra, as he had a mishap, listen a fall and broken hip can be fatal to one over 80, so any time I hear Yogi ain't doing so hot, I take notice.

He is the last of breed of ballplayer, like Mantle, and Williams, and Banks, and Mays, the throwbacks, although always said he was no throwback, only when he catching that day. A woman once told Yogi he looked cool, and his remark was that she didn;t look all that hot herself. I could go on, but the point is that he is one the last of his kind. A natural born baseball player, not the multi sported athlete, who could run track, play basketball, or like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders play football and baseball. Berra was pure baseball.

A reporter asked Yogi how far he'd go just to play the game. Expecting another traditional Berra remark, Yogi just laughed, and told the reporter he would just hop a cab to Yankee Stadium, and did the guy need a lift.

Casey Stengel was asked how he won as Yankee manager, and he said he that he never played a game without "my man".  After some thought, it was Berra he was referring to, the ugly crab-like non athetic looking kid from south St. Louis. Berra played in all those great Yankee teams of the late 40's, the 50's and early 60's.
 He was much faster than many remember, he was a smart player, took the extra base, stole bases in key situations, and blocked the plate as well as the best "defensive catchers" of his era.

So whenever I read that Yogi ain't doing so hot, I know like all the greats, their time will come, and I will recall that sometimes it is over when it's over. Just not yet.