BLOG: Yogi Berra-isms
By Bill Campbell
Before we become seriously occupied with March Madness, and since we're this close to baseball, I thought a little humor might rise to the occasion.
Yogi Berra – remember him? – is now 85 years old. He took a nasty fall in the visitors' club house at the Phillies spring training site last week. There wasn't anything funny about that. But just to be safe, they admitted him to a Clearwater hospital where he was pronounced okay and released the next day.
I've known Yogi for some time and have enjoyed his play on the field almost as much as his humor off the field. When his name appeared in the news last week, I recalled many of his humorous quotations - and apparently I was not alone. I came across a fun-filled article the other day on Yogi and many of the other stars of the game, recalling some of the funny things they said over the years. A lot of them were almost as enjoyable as their skill with the bat and the glove. But since these recollections started with Berra, we'll lead the field with him.
Perhaps his most memorable comment came when someone asked for his view of the game and he replied, "Ninety percent of this game is half mental." And then there was the time someone asked him about certain opposing teams and he said that the opposing team could make trouble for his team if they could win.
Yogi, as almost every fan knows, was a catcher and a very good one. But once the Yankees had trouble keeping their third basemen healthy and Berra had to play third for a little bit. His opinion of the position was recorded for posterity, namely, "Third ain't so bad if nothing is hit to you."
But Berra was at his best when talking about his mental musings. When asked about that on one of his many conferences with the media, he exclaimed, "Think, how in the hell are you going to think and hit at the same time?" But my favorite Yogi-ism is the one about little league baseball, when he said, "Little league baseball is a very good because it keeps the parents off the street."
George Bernard Shaw in all seriousness once asked, "Who is this Baby Ruth and what does she do?" He was asking about a player named George Herman Ruth, better known as The Babe.
Although Yogi Berra might lead the league in witty observations, I discovered in my humorous research that he was not alone. In a recent piece written by Betsy Towner which appeared in AARP.org/baseball, she listed 50 notable quotables that sprung from the lips of other stars of the diamond over the years. You don't hear or remember similar quotes from participants in other sports but baseball has always seemed to produce more than its share.
Bill Klem, the revered umpire who called balls and strikes through a couple of generations once said, "It ain't nothing till I call it." Kind of hard to argue with that.
Satchel Paige, who pitched almost as long as Klem umpired, said, "I never threw an illegal pitch. The trouble is once in a while I toss one that's never been seen by this generation."
Gerald Ford, the former President of the United States, was a real baseball fan and once expressed his passion for the game by saying, "I watch a lot of baseball on the radio."
Bill Veeck, who served the game in many capacities including club owner, once complained, "If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can't get you off."
And former catcher Tim McCarver, another old friend, once claimed that, "Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher I ever saw when the other team doesn't score any runs."
George F. Will, like McCarver, is still around as an internationally acclaimed writer and radio/TV commentator, as well as a dedicated fan. He once stated, "Just about all I can remember about my wedding day in 1967 is that the Cubs lost a double-header." Wow, that was 44 years ago. Do you think March Madness will ever be taken that seriously?
Before March Madness takes over our lives, a few words about Jimmer Fredette. Since beating the Boston Celtics, the 76ers have run into some unexpected roadblocks. They were really pounded in Milwaukee. Doug Collins recently called his players a tired team and they're presently engaged on a torrid road trip.
In the college ranks, Temple blew an important game to Richmond and hopes to atone against Penn State in the NCAA-West Regional on Thursday in Tucson. Villanova hopes to atone for its season, particularly how it ended, when the Cats meet George Mason on Friday. And Drexel wasn't even picked for a slot in the post-season when it lost its league quarter-final to VCU - despite its 21 regular season wins. Among the complaints about the selection committee, and there are many, Drexel's beefs are legitimate. The Dragons weren't even picked for the NIT despite victories over teams like Louisville and Old Dominion.
But nothing features this season like Jimmer Fredette who leads the nation in scoring.
He plays at BYU. In January he scored 43 points against Number Four San Diego State and last Friday night he scored 52 against New Mexico in the Mountain West Semi-Final. I've never seen Fredette play. I have seen and broadcast a lot of great teams featuring a lot of outstanding shooters dating back to Joe Fulks. Jimmer's 52 last week broke the career scoring record of Danny Ainge.
Everyone tells me that if you haven't seen Jimmer, you haven't lived. Well now we're getting our chance. Brigham Young will play its opening round in the Southwest on Thursday night. It's the prime time slot, enabling all of us to see Jimmer Fredette at 7:15 Thursday night on CBS. Playing for BYU, he holds fast to the honor code: no booze, no tobacco, no tea, no premarital sex – which just suspended Brendon Davies, another good BYU player, for breaking the code. Jimmer Fredette is a guard. He's only 6'2" and NBA scouts say he has certain holes in his game but can make every possible shot. So stay tuned not only for Temple-Penn State and Villanova-George Mason and the others. Don't overlook Jimmer Fredette.
Stay tuned, indeed.
