Sunday, June 28, 2009

"Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee" A Review

Thanks in part to commercials like the Aflac barbershop commercial, Yogi Berra is mostly known to this generation as a lovable clown. Most people would know a few of his most famous sayings or "Yogi-isms" but his reputation is a caricature. Yogi Berra has made a lot of money playing off that caricature and so can take a share of the blame. Now a new book by Allen Barra, "Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee," rightfully restores Yogi Berra as arguably the best catcher of the 20th Century and the most enduring symbol of the best that is the New York Yankees.

Barra, who lives close to Berra in Montclair, New Jersey, has written a true biography chronicling the early life of Lawrence Peter Berra from his youth growing up a son of Italian immigrants on "The Hill" in St. Louis. These young years are interesting and are enjoyable reading, but this reader would have liked more from these years. Yogi quit school after the eighth grade and was considered a leader by his friends at the time, but not a whole lot was written about his early baseball exploits, how he became a catcher, etc. More would have been better here.

Soon after Berra was signed by the Newark Bears, the Yankees' farm team, he enlisted into the navy since he figured he would be drafted soon anyway. Barra reveals a special force that Berra joined to board special boats ending up in the very front lines of Normandy on D-Day that paved the way (at least by a little bit) for the invasion force that is so famous today. The critical and heroic squad earned Yogi medals for his heroism. This unknown side of Yogi Berra was again fascinating and amazing. But again, this reader wanted more. For example, Barra mentions that Berra was wounded, but it does not state where or the severity of the wound or whether it was any hindrance to his baseball career.

Barra does do a great job with Berra's Yankee career and how he started as a raw catcher, how Bill Dickey "learned him all he needed to know," and how his impact was felt immediately on offense. Few would know that Yogi Berra led the Yankees through all those great years in RBIs for seven straight years. Barra also does a great job picking through the complicated relationship with Casey Stengel. The Yankee years are dealt with pretty much one by one and it's a enjoyable romp through the incredible run that the Yankees experienced during the Yogi years. As always, this section was so good that it left the reader panting for more.

A sweet subplot to Berra's transition from player to the coaching phase of his career is his relationship with Elston Howard. It is obvious from the narrative that Berra didn't have any problem's "learnin' Howard what he should know" no matter that Howard would eventually take over as catcher or that Howard was the Yankees' first African American player.

Berra had a successful run as a coach and a manager and won the league championship with the Yankees and the Mets, one of the few besides Tony LaRussa to do that. The fact that Berra lost both of those World Series contests left him one short of the dreams he hoped to accomplish in his career.

This period of time in Berra's life also deals with the rift between Berra and George Steinbrenner and showed Berra as one of the few people whoever dealt with the Yankee owner who stuck with his principles. Berra did not appear at Yankee Stadium for fourteen years until a push by a dying Joe DiMaggio pushed the Yankee owner to patch the rift with Yogi and apologize and bring him back home.

An excellent and intelligent comparison of Berra next to the greatest catchers ever to play the game was well done, fair and very comprehensive.

Throughout the book, Barra shows Berra as a man of intelligence who did well financially on and off the field, who was almost as good a manager as Gil Hodges and Casey Stengel. Barra paints a picture of a humble yet strong individual who more than any other player in Yankee history, ties the generations together with a life led with class, fun and purpose.

This writer has always loved Yogi Berra, but never more than after the full education that Allen Barra gives us. Barra uses a scholarly approach and yet gives us common prose that speeds the reader through the book with amazing ease. Along the way, he gives us a very human Lawrence Peter Berra and gives us a man much deeper, stronger and smarter than the caricature his image has become over the years. Barra's book is important and is a huge triumph.

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