“Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.”Winston Churchill                                                                           

July 1941 – St. Louis, Missouri: Yogi Berra, 16, and Joe Garagiola, 17, took the bus to a St. Louis Cardinal baseball tryout camp. At the end of the day, Garagiola received a minor league contract and a $500 signing bonus. Yogi got some disappointing advice.

St. Louis General Manager Branch Ricky, who had a knack for discovering talent, called the young player aside and told him, “Son, what I’m going to tell you is for your own good. You’ll never be a major league ball player. Take my advice and forget about baseball. Get into some other kind of business.”

Yogi was heartbroken. Not only did his best friend land a contract, but Yogi had to face his father, Pietro, when he got home. Pietro didn’t think much of Yogi’s baseball ambitions, valuing work over sports.

That night, Yogi found himself in a family meeting at the kitchen table, his dream of playing major league baseball hanging in the balance. Present were his father, his mother, Paolina, plus his two older brothers and his uncle. Pietro’s words were familiar to his young son. “Respectable men do not play games for a living,” he stated emphatically. “You are 16, and it’s time you grew up and got a real job!”

The uncle intervened, “Son, what do you want to do?” Yogi responded, “All I want to do is play baseball, and I’m good at it. I’m better than Joe Garagiola.” Perhaps because he had forced the older boys to forget baseball and go to work, Pietro relented. “Yogi, you can continue to play baseball if you contribute to the family finances.”

Pietro and Paolina, first-generation immigrants from northern Italy, had arrived at Ellis Island alongside thousands of European immigrants. After a short stay in New York, they settled in St. Louis. Pietro laid bricks while Paolina took care of their five children. Yogi dropped out of high school after the eighth grade and went to work. He played American Legion Baseball and worked odd jobs, but he mostly played baseball.

The squatty 5’7” catcher with unusually long arms, didn’t look much like a ball player. But he was cat-quick behind the plate with a powerful right arm. As a batter, he attacked pitches. The boy could hit. A teammate gave Yogi his nickname because he sat cross-legged on the bench, waiting his turn to bat like a ‘Hindu Yogi.’ The name stuck.

Four months after the kitchen table meeting, Yogi signed a minor league contract with the New York Yankees and received a $500 signing bonus. He contributed most of his bonus to the family’s finances. He was assigned to the Yankees Class B team in Norfolk, Virginia. He made $90 a month.

Like millions of Americans, Yogi set baseball aside during World War II. He served two years in the Navy, participating in the Normandy Invasion and receiving a Purple Heart. Following the war, Yogi joined the Newark New Jersey Bears, the Yankees’ top farm team. On September 22, 1946, he made his major league debut, going 2-for-4 with a two-run homer against the Philadelphia Athletics at Yankee Stadium.

Yogi Berra played 18 seasons for the Yankees. A 15-time All-Star, he played in 10 World Series Championships, more than any player in major league baseball history. He is one of only six players to win the American League MVP three times. In 1947, he hit the first pinch-hit home run in World Series history, and in the 1956 World Series, he caught the only perfect game in series history.

From 1946 to 1985, as a player, coach, and manager, Yogi appeared in 21 World Series, also a record. As a manager, he led the New York Yankees and New York Mets to the World Series. Yogi holds the World Series records for games played, plate appearances, hits, and doubles. In 1972, he was elected to the Baseball of Fame, and on the same day, the Yankees retired his No. 8.

One of the greatest catchers and most lovable characters of all time, Yogi Berra is best known for his yogi-isms. Phrases like “It’s déjà vu all over again” and “When you come to a fork in the road, take it,” have become part of the American vernacular. Branch Rickey, one of the most renowned executives in baseball history, could have signed 16-year-old Yogi Berra for $500, but he didn’t. To that oversight, Yogi’s favorite phrase is appropriate, “Mr. Rickey, it ain’t over till it’s over.”