Study Break:

"It Ain't Over 'til It's Over."

Yogisms-Speaking as Only Yogi Berra Can

Larry "Yogi" Berra was an all-star New York Yankee catcher for nearly twenty years, a successful Major League manager and coach, probably the only baseball player to have a cartoon character named after him and a famous user, or misuser, of the English language. Yogi Berra has sixty-nine separate entries in Paul Dickson's Baseball's Greatest Quotations. Here are only a few of the innumerable Yogisms.

• The economy: "A nickel ain't worth a dime any more."
• Luggage: "Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel."
• Directions: "You've got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."
• Baseball and Mathematics: "Ninety percent of this game is half mental." "You give a hundred percent in the first half of the game, if it isn't enough, in the second half you give what's left."
• Slumber: "I usually take a two hour nap, from one o'clock to four."
• Making decisions: "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."
• At a press conference: "I wish I had an answer to that because I'm getting tired of answering that question."
• The Yankees loss in the 1960 World Series: "We made too many wrong mistakes."
• Why he didn't want to go to dinner at a particular restaurant: "Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded."
• About fellow Yankee Mickey Mantle: "Mantle's a switch hitter because he's amphibious."
• Why playing left field at Yankee Stadium is difficult in October: "It gets late early out here."
• After seeing a movie starring the late Steve McQueen: "He must have made it before he died."
• During a Game of 20 Questions: Yogi: "Is he living?" Teammate: "Yes." Yogi: "Is he living now?"
• Asked if he wanted his pizza cut into four or six pieces: "You'd better make it four. I don't think I can eat six pieces."
• Lack of fans at Kansas City baseball games: "If the people don't want to come out the park, nobody's going to stop them."
• Dinner at the White House: "It was hard to have a conversation with anyone, there were so many people talking."
• Whether a "streaker" he saw was male or female: "Don't know, they were wearing a bag over their head."
• After the New York Mayor's Wife said he looked nice and cool on a warm day: "You don't look so hot yourself,"
• Conversations: Casey Stengel: "Yogi, what would you do if you found a million dollars?" Yogi: "If the fellow who lost it was poor, I'd return it." Tom Seaver: "Hey, Yogi, what time is it?" Yogi: "You mean now?"
• Yogisms: "I really didn't say everything I said."

By the way, Yogi Berra's son Dale had a successful major league career as a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was asked if he was like his father. His response, "Our similarities are different." I guess we'll have to take his word for it.

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