NSR REVIEWS: Yogi: The Life and Times of an American OriginalBy: David Lister
Excerpts taken from: http://nationalsportsreview.com/2008/06/08/
nsr-reviews-yogi-the-life-and-times-of-an-american-original/
June 8, 2008
National Sports Review
Growing up I was a pretty big fan of Major League. It was goofy and about baseball, which seems to be a winning formula with me...
... one of the highlights of Yogi: The Life and Times of an American Original is the dialogue (and sometimes alleged dialogue) between the Hall-of-Fame catcher and fellow major leaguers of the golden era of baseball. Yes, some of the Berra stories and quotes were made up by others and by many accounts Berra could be a bit foul mouthed and surly at times, but it’s still entertaining.
One of author Carlo DeVito’s goals with this book is to separate what is fact and fiction when it comes to the legend of Yogi Berra. He does an admirable job in this, and it is clear by the end of the book that Berra isn’t exactly the silly guy you see in Afflack commercials.
Berra was born in St. Louis and the book begins by chronicling his childhood in the Midwest city, focusing quite a bit on his relationship with longtime friend and fellow ballplayer Joe Garagiola. A huge part of his early childhood was his refusal to go to high school, as well as his struggles with convincing his parents he could make a living playing baseball.
As the book goes on, DeVito discusses Berra being signed by the Yankees, his time in the Navy and his time in the minor leagues. By the time DeVito gets to Berra’s time with the big club, the book is as much about the New York media creating an image for Berra as it is about his accomplishments.
But as interesting as Berra’s playing career was, it has nothing on his coaching career. The former catcher spent more than 20 years coaching and managing, mostly for the Yankees and Mets. During this part of the book, Berra does not come off as an innocent quote-machine at all, but rather an underappreciated baseball man fighting for his baseball livelihood. It’s in here that DeVito excels at offering a different side of Yogi Berra.
...But all in all Yogi: The Life and Times of an American Original is everything you could want out of a biography. It’s thorough, full of pictures of Berra at different stages of his life and just like the man – or at least the character created by the media – it’s very entertaining.
David Lister is the web editor for the National Sports Review. You can reach him at chicagosportsreview@gmail.com
