Sweeny: Happy 90th Birthday, Yogi Berra!
By Sweeny Murti
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On the occasion of Yogi Berra's 90th birthday, I offer you my favorite Yogi story.
You remember the Luis Castillo game, right? June 12, 2009, Subway Series at Yankee Stadium. The Mets were about to win 8-7 when Castillo dropped a pop-up, the sure final out of the game. The Yanks scored two runs on the play for a 9-8 walk-off win.
The next day I saw Yogi in the clubhouse. He walked in the way he normally did, through the back entrance near Derek Jeter's locker.
To backtrack a bit, a few years earlier I had the honor of playing in Yogi's golf outing in Montclair, N.J. Yogi played one hole with every group, a par 3. He would tee off with every member of the group. I popped a 6-iron right onto the green a couple feet from the hole, and Yogi was impressed. So much so, that if I hadn't seen him in a while, the next time I did see him he would ask, "You playing any golf?" This happened at least a dozen times, and I enjoyed it every time.
Anyway, this time when I saw Yogi -- the day after this incredible finish to a ballgame that I had never seen before -- I walked over to talk to the man who had seen everything in baseball.
"Yogi, what did you think of the end of the game last night?" I asked.
Almost as if he had been waiting for someone to ask him that all day, Yogi grabbed me by the arm to pull me in a little closer and said with a grin, "It ain't over till it's over."
There's nothing like getting a Yogi-ism in person.
Happy birthday, Lawrence Peter Berra!
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