In case you’re having a hard time finding a way to giggle, I give you sayings from Yogi Berra, Baseball Hall of Famer, MVP, catcher, coach, manager, and comedian. Don’t confuse Berra with the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character, Yogi Bear, who debuted in 1958. Yogi Berra played for the New York Yankees and Mets from 1947 to 1965.
Berra was born in 1925 and was named Lorenzo Pietro Berra. He was the oldest child of Italian immigrants. When his father came to this country, he didn’t know what baseball was. Lorenzo served in the Navy during World War II and had a baseball career with the Yankees, Mets, and Astros from 1946 to 1989. He also owned a bowling alley and a fitness club. Berra and his wife Carmen were married for 65 years before she died of a stroke. Yogi Berra died at age 90 from natural causes.
In 2005, The Economist magazine called Yogi Berra “The Wisest Fool of the Past 50 Years.”
He was famous for his malapropisms, a term that refers to humorously using the wrong word. Many people call these Yogi-isms. Here are some of my favorites.
Sayings from Yogi Berra on baseball
- Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.
- I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
- Baseball is 90% mental; the other half is physical.
- How can you think and hit at the same time?
- Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.
- Yogi’s description of the 1969 NY Mets: “overwhelming underdogs”
- On why NY lost the 1960 series to Pittsburgh: “We made too many wrong mistakes.”
- If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.
- He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.
- Slump? I ain’t in no slump. I just ain’t hittin.
- If I didn’t make it in baseball, I won’t have made it workin’. I didn’t like to work.
- I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank all those who made this night necessary.
- In baseball, you don’t know nothin’.
Sayings from Yogi Berra about his life
- It gets late early out here.
- A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
- I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early.
- I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
- I usually take a two-hour nap from one to four.
- This is like deja vu all over again.
- The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.
- You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
- It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.
Conversations with Yogi Berra
- Phil Rizzuto – “Hey Yogi I think we’re lost.”
- Yogi Berra – “Ya, but we’re making great time!”
- If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.
- It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much.
- Mrs. Lindsay – You certainly look cool.
- Yogi Berra – Thanks, you don’t look so hot yourself.
- Yogi Berra, when he saw a Steve McQueen movie, said, “He must have made that before he died.”
Advice from Yogi Berra
- Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.
- It ain’t over till it’s over.
- You can observe a lot just by watchin’.
- If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.
- You got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.
- Never answer an anonymous letter.
- When you come to a fork in the road…Take it.
Out and About with Berra
- Nobody goes there anymore; it’s too crowded.
- It’s pretty far, but it doesn’t seem like it.
- If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.
- I don’t know if they (the streakers) were men or women because they had bags over their heads.
These were probably true
- The future ain’t what it used to be
- I didn’t really say everything I said.
- I don’t mean to be funny.
These Were Not Sayings From Yogi Berra
- By the way, Yogi Bear had a few words of wisdom of his own:
- It’s because I’m smarter than the average bear.
- I’m so smart and it hurts.
- I don’t think we do get smarter as we get older; I just think we run out of stupid things to do.
Let’s hope so because some days, I create my own Yogi-isms—and I’m not even trying to be funny.
USA Today – The 50 Greatest Yogi Berra Quotes
Upgrading Oneself – Top 15 Memorable Quotes From Yogi Bear For Motivation