Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra — Lawrence Peter Berra — Hall of Fame catcher, coach, manager, and American vernacular philosopher, died in his sleep at an assisted-living facility in West Caldwell, New Jersey, on September 22, 2015. He was ninety. Born May 12, 1925, in St. Louis's Italian "Dago Hill" neighborhood, he left school early, served in the Navy during the D-Day invasion as a gunner's mate on a rocket boat, and then became the backbone of the postwar New York Yankees. Fifteen All-Star selections, three American League MVP awards, and ten World Series rings as a player made the statistics almost unfair. He caught Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 Series, managed both the Yankees and Mets to pennants, and later became as famous for mangled-sounding wisdom — "It ain't over till it's over" — as for framing pitches. The Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey, turned that mix of baseball and civic humor into a permanent classroom. West Caldwell was home territory after the Bronx years. Fans who never saw him catch still quoted him; players who did remembered a soft-handed receiver with a swing that crushed bad balls. He died in West Caldwell on September 22, 2015. Opening Day still feels incomplete without someone repeating one of his lines. Berra's gift was joyful competence — excellence wrapped in plain speech that became national folklore. Notice Nearby keeps the death date so September 22 remembers the St. Louis kid who caught dynasties and taught America how to laugh at itself.