Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Yankee Stadium Legacy: #27 Yogi Berra


Yogi Berra was a dominant force in the American League during the 1950's behind the dish for the New York Yankees. Berra was named the Most Valuable Player three times in the decade and was also named to the MLB All Star Game in each of those 10 seasons. Berra would start in nine of the All Star Games behind the dish for the American League as a member of the Bronx Bombers. In 1958 Berra made headlines with his glove by posting a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage as a catcher, impressive.

27 days until Yankees Opening Day

3 comments:

  1. Yogi Berra,was considered one of the best bad ball hitters in the "history of the game", as they say!
    I saw him hit one out, for the winning HR of the game against the Indians one time. The pitch was over his head and he tommy hawked it into the right field stands.
    He was one of the best clutch hitters along with being the toughest guy to Strike Out...I would say striking out 12 times in one year (500+ AB) is something special, for anyone, anytime!
    Now that...is a HoF player!

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    1. Even more than Vladimir Guerrero? lol he could hit a 40 footer out of the park. Also you say Yogi hit one over his head, Yogi was only 3' 7".... EVERYTHING waS OVER HIS HEAD.

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    2. Vladimir had long arms and always was..."see the ball hit the ball", very seldom did he draw a walk.
      Also was not that much of a real clutch hitter.
      Yogi was also..."see the ball hit the ball, if I like it"! A very good clutch hitter, and would take a walk when that was needed. From what I remember about his hitting was; He would hit the ball, if he could reach it, and make good contact, to drive in a run.
      Now the catch to all his bad ball hitting was...in my opinion...the balls were hittable but, they were not always strikes therefore, the "Bad Ball Hitter" tag was given to him. One must remember he was only 5'10" so he wasn't going to hit a ball that was too far off the plate. Pitches up and down didn't get by him unless, he was looking for a good pitch to hit. I must also point out, back in his day, NOBODY dove into a pitch as they do today...at least not twice!
      He may not look it but, he was an athlete and could run very well, well enough to play a lot of left field when Elli Howard was made the everyday Catcher...really they split the job but Elli, was the better catcher at that time in Yogis career, so he got about 66% of the time at catching.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)