RIP Yogi Berra, 90

Third. Wells' came the year before.

 

Yup, my mistake. I flip-flopped the two. Thought Cone was the year before Wells.

 

I do the same. I also sometimes think it happened a year earlier than they did. So instead of 98 and 99, I remember it as 97, 98.

 

That was actually the mistake I made, thinking Cone was in '97. I always remember Wells was '98 because I went to a game later that season in which Wells was perfect into the seventh inning against Oakland and the Stadium was buzzing at the possibility of a second perfecto. It was early September (Sept. 6, 1998, I think). We skipped classes, drove to the city and watched a taping of Letterman before hopping on the subway and getting to the Stadium just in time for the anthem. That day is pretty well etched in my memory and, by extension, Wells' perfecto is as well.

EDIT: It was Sept. 1, 1998. Wells pitched a two-hit shutout and struck out 13. Best pitching performance I've seen in person.

 

I've always thought Yogi, not DiMaggio or Mantle, was the perfect Yankee.

Yogi and Gehrig. Hall of Famers in every way.

 

Not disagreeing in any way, but I'm curious what made you think that? I've never thought about it that way, so I'm wondering how you came to that opinion.

 

While remembered as a catcher, and rightfully so, this also was a part of his story: Watching Mazeroski's home run sail over his head in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series.



RIP to a class act all the way around. I never tire of that clip of him screaming at umpire Bill Summers after Jackie Robinson stole home in the '55 World Series.

 

Reminds me of another line credited to him. He did a broadcast interview and afterward received a check that said "Pay to Bearer." And he tells the interviewer, "Geez, you've known me all these years and you still don't know how to spell my name?"

 

I'm not sure if this line was attributed to him, or someone else, but it sounds like it was said by him.

As a kid, someone asked him how he liked school.

He responded, "Closed."

 

Vigoda passed one of his sternest tests. Anyhoo, Commissioner Manfred's statement indicated Berra was helpful in the integration of baseball. I was not aware of that.

 

Michael Kay, the museum is in Little Falls, not Little Ferry.

 

So going back, looking at the numbers in baseballreference, Berra's case as the greatest catcher ever sure looks like a strong one. Better than Dickey's or Hartnett's. That leaves Campanella, Bench, Piazza and Pudge, I think. I always used to say Bench, but looking again, I might have been putting what I saw against what I saw as a little kid, and even then only in World Series.