Cloudia got me researching this yesterday.
Berra-isms (colloquial expressions that lack logic) are now countless, and many of them are just attributed to Berra, even if he never actually said them. As he so perfectly put it: “I never said most of the things I said.”
1. When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
2. You can observe a lot by just watching.
3. It ain’t over till it’s over.
4. It’s like déjà vu all over again.
5. No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.
6. Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.
7. A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
8. Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.
9. We made too many wrong mistakes.
10. Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
11. You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
12. You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.
13. I usually take a two-hour nap from one to four.
14. Never answer an anonymous letter.
15. Slump? I ain’t in no slump… I just ain’t hitting.
16. How can you think and hit at the same time?
17. The future ain’t what it used to be.
18. I tell the kids, somebody’s gotta win, somebody’s gotta lose. Just don’t fight about it. Just try to get better.
19. It gets late early out here.
20. If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.
21. We have deep depth.
22. Pair up in threes.
23. Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.
24. You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.
25. All pitchers are liars or crybabies.
26. Even Napoleon had his Watergate.
27. Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.
28. He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.
29. It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.
30. I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won twenty-five games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.
31. I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.
32. I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.
33. I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
34. In baseball, you don’t know nothing.
35. I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?
36. I never said most of the things I said.
37. It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.
38. If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.
39. I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.
40. So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.
41. Take it with a grin of salt.
42. (On the 1973 Mets) We were overwhelming underdogs.
43. The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.
44. Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.
45. Mickey Mantle was a very good golfer, but we weren’t allowed to play golf during the season; only at spring training.
46. You don’t have to swing hard to hit a home run. If you got the timing, it’ll go.
47. I’m lucky. Usually you’re dead to get your own museum, but I’m still alive to see mine.
48. If I didn’t make it in baseball, I won’t have made it workin’. I didn’t like to work.
49. If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.
50. A lot of guys go, ‘Hey, Yog, say a Yogi-ism.’ I tell ’em, ‘I don’t know any.’ They want me to make one up. I don’t make ’em up. I don’t even know when I say it. They’re the truth. And it is the truth. I don’t know.
From Wikipedia...
Yogi Berra was born Lorenzo Pietro Berra in a primarily Italian neighborhood of St. Louis called The Hill. He grew up on Elizabeth Avenue, across the street from boyhood friend and later competitor Joe Garagiola, Sr. That block was also home to Jack Buck early in his Cardinals broadcasting career, and it was later renamed "Hall of Fame Place".
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14 comments:
"Pair up in threes" My class once had a substitute teacher who said that and blushed so red when we all laughed at her.
I once saw an interview with filmmaker Billy Wilder where he said number 20., except instead of ballpark he said theatre, in reference to a movie of his that had bombed at the box office.
As for Yogi Berra himself, I read an article about him in which he is quoted as saying, "A guy came up to me and asked, who came first, you or the bear?"
Thank you (and Cloudia) for the smiles. No matter who first said these gems.
I loved Yogi. He reminds me of many uncles of mine
He was certainly one of a kind.
Have you ever visited that street in The Hill? Y
A never-ending fount of something or another!
River - Berra-isms probably spread like COVID.
Kirk - The Wikipedia article tells how he got his moniker.
Sue - I assume Yogi said them first. I didn't verify each one.
Peg - They must have been fun to be around.
Kathy - I think so. A long time ago. I've been to a few parades on The Hill. So P for probably.
Deb - And the thing is, I know exactly what he really means.
Wow. I didn't realize he had that many. Nice work, Yogi.
I didn't say most of the things I said...
Matt - He didn't know either.
Mark - A lot of people are saying that these days.
"All pitchers are liars or crybabies." Are you sure he wasn't talking about MAGATs?
Quite a shock to see my name when I'm not expecting it. Lol. Glad you went off in the direction and found interesting stuff. That's what I do all day, follow interests as they emerge. With snacks, bathroom breaks, and walks of course.
Seems like you do also.(walks?)
I didn't know about him and Joe garagiola and all that or his real name. It's good to remember this stuff. Thanks
Unintentional yogiism! Good to remember all this stuff I didn't know!
Bill - Maybe they are interchangeable. MAGAts pitching lies!
Cloudia - Well, snacks anyway. Walks? Sometimes. Walgreens is about a 15 minute walk from my house. If I loop around the hospital I can double that. But the fact that I have a purpose and a destination helps me get out and do it.
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