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Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born May 12, 1925)
is a former catcher and manager in Major League
Baseball who played almost his entire career for
the New York Yankees. He is one of only four
players to be named the Most Valuable Player of
the American League three times, and one of only
six managers to lead both American and National
League teams to the World Series. He currently
lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

Born in an area of St. Louis called "The Hill",
Berra was originally nicknamed Lawdie, a
diminutive of his name Lawrence. He picked up his
nickname from a friend who said he resembled a
Hindu holy man (yogi) that they had seen in a
movie. Young Mr. Berra apparently liked to sit on
the ground while waiting for his turn to bat with
his arms and legs crossed in a yoga-like position.
(The Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Yogi Bear was
named after Berra.) He began playing baseball in
local American Legion leagues, where he learned
the basics of play as a catcher. After rejecting
an offer from the St. Louis Cardinals, he signed
with the Yankees in 1942. His childhood friend Joe
Garagiola was considered a better prospect by the
Cardinals and was offered a better bonus, which
led to the rejection.

He is generally considered to be one of the best
catchers in history. In two recent (2004)
approaches by sabermetricians Berra is ranked
first by the Bill James Win Shares method and
third by the Total Baseball Total Player Rating
method.

Berra is also quite famous for his tendency toward
malapropism and fracturing the English language in
highly provocative, interesting ways; see
Yogiisms.

Yogi was named Wisest Fool of the Past 50 Years by
the Economist magazine in January 2005.

Playing career

Following a spell in the U.S. Navy during World
War II, he played minor league baseball with the
Newark Bears before being called up for 7 games in
the major leagues in 1946. The following season he
played 86 games for the Yankees, and he would play
more than 100 in each of the following 14 years.
During his 19-year career as a Yankee, the Bronx
Bombers dominated baseball, appearing in 14 World
Series and winning ten championships, both of
which are records. Berra himself was a 15-time
All-Star, and won the league's MVP award in 1951,
1954 and 1955. He caught Don Larsen's perfect
game in the 1956 World Series, the only no-hitter
ever thrown in postseason play.

In 1946, he wore uniform number 38 on the Yankees,
switching to 35 the next year. In 1948, he changed
to number 8, which became well-known as his number
for the rest of his career on the Yankees and
Mets. The number 8 was retired in 1972 by the
Yankees, jointly honoring Berra and Bill Dickey,
his predecessor as the Yankees' star catcher.

In 1972, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of
Fame.

Coaching career

    * 1964 – New York Yankees manager (won
American League pennant)
    * 1965–71 – New York Mets coach
    * 1972–75 – New York Mets manager (won
National League pennant in 1973)
    * 1976–83 – New York Yankees coach
    * 1984–85 – New York Yankees manager
    * 1986–92 – Houston Astros coach




Career statistics
G 	AB 	H 	2B 	3B 	HR 	R 	RBI 	BB 	IBB 	SO 	SH 	SF
	HBP 	AVG 	OBP 	SLG
2,120 	7,555 	2,150 	321 	49 	358 	1,175 	1,430
	704 	49 	414 	9 	44 	52 	.285 	.348 	.482