Blog 137 – 10.13.15

I grew up in the South watching the New York Yankees play each Saturday afternoon throughout the season on the CBS Game of the Week. The sportscasters calling the plays with commentary were baseball greats Pee Wee Reece and Dizzy Dean. The game was sponsored by Falstaff Beer. This was years before the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta and became the darlings of the South. If you think it odd a boy raised in Chattanooga has been a life long Yankee fan you can thank Yogi Berra for that.

Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Whitey Ford are names etched in my ten and eleven year old mind. I admit that I am not the devoted baseball fan I was then. Fact is I hardly pay attention till the play offs anymore but you can be sure if the Yankees are in the play offs that I will be donning a new Yankee baseball cap and cheering for my pinstriped baseball gods.

Yogi tipped his cap to us for the last time, on this side at least, recently marking the end of a ninety year run. I hope that Yogi, who dearly loved the game, like in the movie Field of Dreams gets to play again with his buddies. Now there’s a game I’d drive all the way to Iowa to see.

Yogi is famous for his famous quotes like, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” He had a funny way with words but his real expertise was on the ball field as a player, as a coach, and as a manager. He loved the game and as a fan I am grateful that Yogi got to spend the better part of his life playing with the boys of summer. See you later, Yogi. If Heaven has a baseball team there’s a new catcher warming up in the bull pen. Burn one in Whitey so Yogi can break in his new mitt.

Your friend, fellow traveler, and fan of Yogi,
David White