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Yogi Berra

Baseball is an outdoor sport in which a pitcher pitches a hard, fist sized ball to the hitting area of a batter. The batter hits the hard ball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made up of wood or metal. The batsman scores by running counter-clockwise within the four markers called the bases arranged at the corners of a diamond. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball.

Yogi Berra was born on May 12, 1925, in St. Louis, Missouri. Berra was 21 years old when he broke into the big leagues on September 22, 1946, with the New York Yankees. His height is five foot eight inches with weight 194 lbs.

Perhaps one of the most popular players in major league history, Yogi Berra was also a brilliant catcher and dominant hitter during his 19-year career with the New York Yankees. Berra was named to the American League All-Star team every year from 1948 to 1962. He topped the 100-RBI, Run Batted In mark four years in a row and became a three-time American League MVP, Most Valuable Player in a career that featured 14 league pennants and 10 World Series championships. Yogi continued in baseball as a manager and coach for several teams.

During his 19-year career as a Yankee, Berra's teams dominated baseball. Berra appeared in 14 World Series and winning ten championships, both of which are records. Because Berra's playing career coincided with the Yankees' most consistent period, it enabled him to establish the major league records for World Series games 75, at-bats 259, hits 71, doubles 10, singles 49, games caught 63, and catcher putouts 457. He received MVP votes in 15 consecutive seasons, tied with Barry Bonds and second only to Hank Aaron's 19 straight seasons with MVP support.

After Berra's playing career ended after the 1963 World Series, he was hired as the manager of the Yankees. Berra was eventually elevated to Yankee manager before the 1984 season. Berra agreed to stay in the job for 1985 after receiving assurances that he would not be fired, but the impatient Steinbrenner did fire Berra after the 16th game of the season.

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