Results tagged ‘ yogi berra ’

December 13 – Happy Birthday Dale Berra

Today’s pinstripe birthday celebrant was part of an exclusive club. He was the second player in Major League history to play for a team being managed by his father. The year was 1985 and Yogi Berra started that season as Yankee skipper. The previous December, New York had traded outfielder Steve Kemp and shortstop Tim Foli to the Pirates in return for a young power hitting prospect named Jay Buhner, a seldom used pitcher named Alfonso Pulido and Yogi’s youngest son, infielder Dale Berra.

Dale had been a good enough player in high school to be selected by the Pirates with the twentieth overall pick in the 1975 Major League Draft. He bounced up and down between the Minor Leagues and Pittsburgh’s big league roster for five seasons before sticking as the parent club’s starting shortstop in 1982. He wasn’t a great hitter, averaging just .238 during his tenure in the Steel City. By 1984 his weak bat and a rumored cocaine habit convinced the Pirates to give up on him.

Berra immediately thrived playing for his Dad, hitting in the high .300s during the first two weeks of the 1985 season. Unfortunately, the rest of the Yankees did not follow suit and when the team’s early-season record fell to 6-10, Steinbrenner fired Yogi, replaced him with Billy Martin, who used Bobby Meacham as the team’s shortstop for the rest of that season. The younger Berra remained in pinstripes until the 1986 All Star break when he became the second member of his family to receive his walking papers from Steinbrenner. In an embarassing prelude to that season, Berra and a bunch of ex Pirates had been suspended for their use of cocaine during the early eighties. His problem with drugs evidently continued because he was also picked up in a 1989 drug raid in his home state of New Jersey and eventually indicted.

The first MLB player to play for a club managed by his Dad was Connie Mack’s son Earle, in 1937. Others that followed Berra were Cal and Billy Ripken, Brian McRae and Moises Alou.

Another former Yankee born on today’s date led the 1970 Yankees with 29 saves. This former Yankee pitcher also share’s Berra’s birthday.

May 12 – Happy Birthday Yogi Berra

My personal memory of this great Yankee took place during a game I attended at Yankee Stadium sometime during the early 1960s, probably 1962. My Uncle always got us field box seats when he took us to the Stadium, somewhere between first base and the right field foul pole. Berra came to the plate and I vividly remember several things about the at bat. The pitch he hit was very high, especially for the short 5’8″ Berra. He hit the ball on a line. It went by me, my Uncle and my older brother like a comet, right at our eye level but still rising. When it hit the drab green painted metal facing of the Stadium’s mezzanine level in right field, it hit it so hard that the clang it made actually echoed throughout the Stadium. I did not see anyone hit a ball as hard as that one until over thirty years later when Jose Canseco hit one out of Fenway that may still have not landed. Of course Jose used steroids and the only juice a urine test might have discovered in Berra’s body was the kind you squeezed out of oranges.

Yogi Berra was a marvelous Yankee catcher who won ten championship rings. He had supreme offensive and defensive skills and his teammates loved him. He was also under appreciated as a manager, being the only field boss to win pennants for both the Yankees and Mets.

There are so many things I cherish about the game of baseball and having had the opportunity to watch number 8 play the game is high on that list. Happy 86th birthday Yogi.

Yogi shares his May 12th birthday with this former Yankee third baseman,  this war-time starting pitcher and this famous older brother.

Berra’s Yankee career record as a player:

Year Tm G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
1946 NYY 7 23 22 3 8 1 0 2 4 0 1 1 .364 .391 .682 1.073
1947 NYY 83 306 293 41 82 15 3 11 54 0 13 12 .280 .310 .464 .775
1948 NYY 125 497 469 70 143 24 10 14 98 3 25 24 .305 .341 .488 .830
1949 NYY 116 443 415 59 115 20 2 20 91 2 22 25 .277 .323 .480 .802
1950 NYY 151 656 597 116 192 30 6 28 124 4 55 12 .322 .383 .533 .915
1951 NYY 141 594 547 92 161 19 4 27 88 5 44 20 .294 .350 .492 .842
1952 NYY 142 603 534 97 146 17 1 30 98 2 66 24 .273 .358 .478 .835
1953 NYY 137 557 503 80 149 23 5 27 108 0 50 32 .296 .363 .523 .886
1954 NYY 151 651 584 88 179 28 6 22 125 0 56 29 .307 .367 .488 .855
1955 NYY 147 615 541 84 147 20 3 27 108 1 60 20 .272 .349 .470 .819
1956 NYY 140 596 521 93 155 29 2 30 105 3 65 29 .298 .378 .534 .911
1957 NYY 134 545 482 74 121 14 2 24 82 1 57 24 .251 .329 .438 .767
1958 NYY 122 476 433 60 115 17 3 22 90 3 35 35 .266 .319 .471 .790
1959 NYY 131 521 472 64 134 25 1 19 69 1 43 38 .284 .347 .462 .809
1960 NYY 120 404 359 46 99 14 1 15 62 2 38 23 .276 .347 .446 .792
1961 NYY 119 436 395 62 107 11 0 22 61 2 35 28 .271 .330 .466 .795
1962 NYY 86 263 232 25 52 8 0 10 35 0 24 18 .224 .297 .388 .685
1963 NYY 64 164 147 20 43 6 0 8 28 1 15 17 .293 .360 .497 .856
19 Yrs 2120 8359 7555 1175 2150 321 49 358 1430 30 704 414 .285 .348 .482 .830
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
NYY (18 yrs) 2116 8350 7546 1174 2148 321 49 358 1430 30 704 411 .285 .348 .483 .830
NYM (1 yr) 4 9 9 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .222 .222 .222 .444
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/12/2013.
Berra’s Yankee career record as a manager:
Rk Year Age Tm Lg G W L W-L% Finish
1 1964 39 New York Yankees AL 164 99 63 .611 1 AL Pennant
6 1984 59 New York Yankees AL 162 87 75 .537 3
7 1985 60 New York Yankees AL 1st of 2 16 6 10 .375 2
New York Mets 4 years 588 292 296 .497 3.0 1 Pennant
New York Yankees 3 years 342 192 148 .565 2.0 1 Pennant
7 years 930 484 444 .522 2.6 2 Pennants
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/12/2013.
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