Christian Science Monitor Reviews YOGI

The Christian Science Monitor reviewed YOGI: The Life and Times of An American Original on Friday, April 3, 2009.

Josh Burek is a staffer at the Christian Science Monitor. He gave an interesting review of YOGI.

Here are some quotes:

"the warts-and-all treatment largely succeeds in separating fiction from fact. That’s not an easy feat: As Yogi himself put it, “I really didn’t say everything I said.”

"for the abundance of its anecdotes, and for its effort to see the man behind the myth, it’s a pleasant trip down memory lane and a worthy tribute to a living legend."

or you can read the whole thing at:

http://features.csmonitor.com/books/2009/04/03/yogi-the-life-and-times-of-an-american-original/

Utica Observer-Dispatch Like YOGI by Carlo DeVito

By DON DRUMM
Observer-Dispatch
Posted Jan 10, 2009 @ 11:39 PM

No one who counts the digits after dollar signs would argue that baseball is in trouble.

But diehard fans of my generation still love to complain that you hardly ever see young people playing baseball for fun on the sandlots anymore. Maybe some kids aren’t allowed out of the house unsupervised. Part of it may be the competition from football, basketball, video games and other entertainment. And a whole generation of fans has been lost because the best games on TV end well past their bedtime.

Lighten up, guys. Such concerns are nothing new.

Here’s a statement made 75 years ago today:

“Public interest in baseball may be decreasing. Anyway, it’s not increasing. It’s not going ahead like golf and tennis. And the country’s financial situation has nothing to do with it.“What’s the reason? Simply this: In recent years there haven’t been enough kids playing ball. Why, when I was a boy it seemed that all the kids played. Lately, too many boys have simply been reading about it. You’ve got to play some time or other to become a red hot fan. A new generation is growing up, and the proportion of fans is too small. Unless something is done, a couple of years from now the proportion will be even smaller.”

That was said by none other than Babe Ruth, as he signed his final contract with the Yankees in the office of owner Jacob Ruppert. He may have been a bit morose as he saw his career winding down, but he promised to devote a lot of his time “trying to get more and more kids to play it.”

A newspaper clipping quoting The Babe, who once threw baseballs to a crowd from the roof of the Observer-Dispatch, was sent to us by history columnist Frank Tomaino. “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” Frank wrote.

One of Frank’s quirks when he worked here full-time was his conviction that Yogi Berra did not belong in the Hall of Fame, so it seems unfair to Frank to segue to Yogi here.

But it’s appropriate to bring in Yogi, because he’s the perfect example of a kid who played all day wherever he could find a field and with whatever equipment was available.

Carlo DeVito’s biography, “Yogi – The Life and Times of an American Original,” tells how Berra and pal Joe Garagiola led a team of mostly Italian kids on the Hill neighborhood of St. Louis. They played for themselves and for any sponsor who would give them a shirt. They painted foul lines and bases on the blacktop of Elizabeth Avenue, and during football season, Garagiola recalled, “it could have been called Zebra Drive.” In 1936, Berra even led a work party to clean up a dump, Clay Mines, to make room for a field.

It took a major summit meeting, even including the parish priest, before the school-hating Yogi persuaded his parents to let him quit school and go to work. He eventually ended up in the Navy, where boredom with the routine led him to volunteer for a dangerous job, as LCS rocket launcher. He wound up at D-Day and other dangerous missions before he returned home and began his career with the Yankees, which had signed him before the war.

Now Yogi’s in the Hall of Fame, and there’s a ballpark and museum named for him in New Jersey, where kids play in more structured fashion than he did in St. Louis.

Contact Don Drumm at ddrumm1@uticaod.com

Read more at:

http://www.uticaod.com/sports/x512382423/The-Fan-Concerns-about-baseball-old-stuff

The Oklahoman Praises YOGI

The Oklahoman

Sun August 10, 2008
Books cover most of the bases regarding America's beloved pastime

by Bob Hersom

According to Bob Hersom, YOGI is "the most thoroughly researched book written on Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra."

Thanks folks!

“Allman and Crane in the Morning” Talk up YOGI on KFTK

On Wednesday morning at 8:10 AM, I appeared on KFTK in St. Louis, Missouri, on “Allman and Crane in the Morning.” The guys were really nice, and they spent a half-an-hour chatting with me about Yogi Berra, his early years spent on The Hill, the old Italian neighborhood, in St. Louis where Yogi grew up.

Allman was born and raised in University City. He is the youngest of six and was born essentially to be a doll for his sister when she arrived unexpectedly, so everything that Allman accomplishes is nothing short of a miracle. Allman always wanted to be in broadcasting and annoyed classmates by often speaking into a pencil pinched between the metal clips in his notebook. He wound up in college in Madison, Wisconsin where he was surrounded by lefties and covered music, movies and theater for the Badger Herald newspaper and the Wisconsin State Journal. He got into the news business by working at Wisconsin Public Radio and upon graduation got hooked up with AM Talker WTDY covering local and state politics. He then wound up in TV and eventually made it back to St. Louis in 1989 for a job at KMOV-TV. Allman has earned more Emmys than anyone in the history of local St. Louis TV. He has received fourteen Emmys for investigative and political reports as well as for writing. He has also earned five Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in broadcasting. He has been honored for his TV and community work by the St. Louis Jaycees and the Presswomen of Missouri. In between broadcasting stints he proudly served as Director of Communications for the St. Louis Archbishop. Allman has four awesome children; Ethan, age 17, Katie age 15, Aidan age 3, and Natalie born on Nov. 16. He is married to the lovely Andrea and they love travel and dining together. Allman also enjoys aggravating his teenagers and mesmerizing the baby with dangerous stunts and happy adventures.

Crane

I am a student of American history. I love this country and the virtues it was founded on as stated in our Declaration: the respect for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that the most under-appreciated citizens in America are those who have or are currently serving in the United States military. I was absolutely disgusted by the treatment of the US Military during the 90's and believe that it is one of the primary functions, if not the primary function, for a government to protect its people. That protection begins and ends with the respectable treatment of the Armed forces as well as the constitutional rights of its citizens. But I've digressed; my passion for America has been shaped first, and foremost by my family. It was strengthened by my two visits to the former Soviet Union. America is the greatest country ever to be and our form of government is the model for all freedom-loving countries. My love for country is one of the main reasons I created Nothing But Truth, which is a celebration of the American dream. A dream that I believe in and happily defend on a daily basis.
In my former career, I had the privilege to coach juniors and college players in tennis. I learned a great deal about leadership through this vocation. The greatest lesson was that actions are more powerful than words. If one advocates a healthy, honest lifestyle, then one must live a healthy, honest life.
Many in society today ask: what can they do to effect positive change? The greatest contribution a person can make is to live by example. Great leadership knows no particular race, creed, economic class, or political affiliation; it can be found anywhere. Fortunately, America is blessed with a system that encourages it. It is not an easy road — for it takes courage and the willingness to be held accountable. When it comes to leadership there is no difference between personal and private life. It is a function of one's essence.
Everybody in media has certain key issues that they promote and I am no different. My issues are the promotion of liberty and freedom, and since 9/11 the defense of gifts. There are two wars we are currently fighting. The “hot war” against Islamofacism requires vigilance and pre-emption. We cannot wait for it to touch our shores again. We are also fighting a cold war against communism/repressive regimes (China, Russia and North Korea). These wars are not mutually exclusive for they involve similar issues of nuclear proliferation and democratic reform. We cannot cower from the challenges facing us today. We need leadership, specifically President Bush to articulate a comprehensive strategy to win these protracted conflicts, but I digress.
I know this was supposed to be my bio, but if you know where I stand on issues; you will certainly understand whom I am.
On the personal side, I have friends from all over the political spectrum and have learned from them all. They have influenced me (sometimes over evening of drinking too much wine lol) in many ways and I am grateful. The values I cherish are honesty, kindness, and personal responsibility. My desire in life is to provide honest, quality entertainment that promotes my creator's virtues. As pious and self-righteous as this may sound; it is the truth. I am sincerely appreciative of your reader, listenership, thank you. God bless, and God Bless America!

KWRE TALKS ABOUT YOGI

KWRE is a country music station in Warrenton, MO. They are also part of the St. Louis Cardinals Radio Network.

The KWRE staff interviewed me at 1:45 on Wednsday July 2, 2008. We talked about The Hill or as it was formerly known, Dago Hill. This part of town is filled with well kept brick row homes, and is studded with wonderful little restaurants, most of which are Italian. The food is excellent!

We also talked about Yogi's growing up in St. Louis; about the disappearance of pick-up games and sandlot baseball; and about Yogi's life in the Navy and his hazzardous duty in World War II, especially his role on D-Day!

Thanks to all the folks over at KWRE!

Fordham Magazine Reviews YOGI

YOGI: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF AN
AMERICAN ORIGINAL
by Carlo DeVito, FCRH ’86, 412
pages. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2008.
$25.95.

At a recent Old-Timers Day at Yankee
Stadium, New York Yankees broadcaster
Michael Kay, FCRH ’82, described
Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra as "one of
the best-known faces in the world." Odd,
considering Berra’s iconic visage never
exactly measured up to the matinee-idol
looks of fellow Yankees Mickey Mantle or
Joe DiMaggio. Still, as author Carlo DeVito
shows—and as Berra, the beloved master of
malapropism, might say— Kay’s hyperbole
is no exaggeration.


In this comprehensive and appreciative
biography, DeVito, who has also penned
a biography of Wellington Mara, FCRH
’37, chronicles Berra’s many achievements
on and off the diamond, revealing the
man behind the impressive stats—and
unforgettable malapropisms.


As a player, Berra won 10 World Series
championships and three American League
Most Valuable Player awards. He later
became the fi rst manager to lead a team
from both leagues to the World Series, doing
it fi rst with the Yankees in 1964 and then
with the New York Mets in 1973. He also
kept company with celebrities like Ernest
Hemingway and Frank Sinatra and, most
recently, opened the Yogi Berra Museum
and Learning Center in Montclair, N.J.


Berra fans will be familiar with much
of what DeVito turns up but will still find
some interesting tidbits about the man’s
professional career and public life, like
his contentious relationship with Yankees
owner George Steinbrenner, who fi red Berra
as manager 16 games into the 1985 season.


More interesting, however, are Berra’s
entrepreneurial activities, including his
prescient investments in bowling alleys
in the 1950s and racquetball clubs in the
1970s, his lucrative partnership with
Yoo-Hoo and his decades-long success as a
pitchman, which earned the former Yankee
a successful post-baseball career as well as
international acclaim for his goofy affability.


In one humorous passage, DeVito
describes a golf game between Berra and
President Gerald Ford. Berra had just
opened a racquetball club in Fairfi eld,
N.J., and he wanted to impress the former
president. In typical Yogi fashion, as he
slipped him a card, which promised a free
game, he told Ford to stop by anytime.
On the other side of the card was stamped:
"Good Tuesdays Only."


That Berra could rub elbows with the
rich and powerful and still maintain his funloving,
everyman persona explains why he
has always been such a popular fi gure in and
around baseball, and why, even after several
of his own autobiographies, Berra is still
worth writing about.


Although Yogi isn’t exactly a home run,
DeVito does manage to hit one into the gap
by reminding readers that even today, as the
Yankees get ready to vacate the House that
Ruth Built and gear up for a new era in their
storied history, Yogi Berra remains the heart,
soul and, yes, face of the historic franchise.
—Miles Doyle, FCRH ’01

YOGI As Heard on The Sports Edge on KFNS in St. Louis

I was lucky enough to be invited on KFNS in St. Louis to speak about YOGI on The Sports Edge on June 30, 2008. We discussed Yogi's career as a player. I was aksed who didn't like Yogi, and the only answer I could come up with was the umpires, who complained he talked to much, argued too much, and complained about double headers (which he would do to anyone who would listen).

We also discussed his time with Yoo-hoo, and his selling soft ice-cream franchises and bowling alleys as well, and how he ended up one of the most successful Yankees of his generation.