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.

Rio Rancher Observer Excerpts YOGI

A Day in the Life of a Baseball Player
In later years Berra would become one of the best signal-callers in the game, calling unexpected pitches here and there. Sometimes he would come back with the same pitch two and three times on a hitter who would be looking for something else. Eventually, many of the pitchers followed his lead and found that the odd little man behind the plate truly knew something of the game. Between Dickey and the pitching staff, Yogi Berra was nudged toward greatness.In the end, though, the pitchers created a monster. Berra still had the immense confidence of Stengel. And in serious run-ins with Raschi and Reynolds, they found Berra could give as good as he got.

Raschi once told Berra in a mound conversation, “Just catch. I’ll pitch.”Another time he said, “Yogi, you just get your Dago ass the hell back behind the plate.”And another time he told the catcher, “Yogi, get the hell out of here with your (expletive deleted) sixth-grade education.”But Berra could get Raschi’s goat as well.“Raschi pitched better when I got him mad,” Berra once said. Berra would approach the mound, which Raschi hated.

Berra recalled one incident, saying to Raschi, “‘You’re supposed to be a pitcher. You been pitchin’ for 15 years, and you can’t even get the ball over.’ And he would get mad at me.” But Raschi would turn his fury into a winning fastball. Berra knew what he was doing.“I think you’re losing it, Vic,” Berra would say, walking toward the mound. “Yogi, you’ll lose your sorry ass right here if you don’t get behind that plate,” Raschi would respond.But their arguments would blow over after the game, and they became longtime friends.Reynolds was also headstrong and intimidating, though he was not as difficult as Raschi.

Once while playing bocce at Berra’s home, Henrich asked Reynolds how he thought he would do in an upcoming game, and when Reynolds replied that he would do well, Henrich asked him why he thought so.Reynolds answered, without a hint of affectation, “Because I am good at all sports.”“After the season I said I was going back to the reservation, and I told him to go back to Dago Hill in St. Louis,” Reynolds said years later. Berra’s relationship with Lopat was different.

Lopat was known as a junkballer who relied on throwing slow curves.“When Lopat was pitching, I didn’t need my catcher’s mitt. A Kleenex did fine. Some days, if he was throwing well, I would need more than one,” Berra said later.Lopat’s favorite game was against Cleveland. It was hot and humid, and in an attempt to get out of their hotel rooms, the players went down to the stadium in Cleveland to take some cool showers and hang around the locker room.

But the Indians were taking early batting practice when no one was around, having their pitching staff throw them slow curves and change-ups. They were knocking the ball over the second baseman’s head. What the Cleveland players didn’t know was that Lopat had seen the whole thing. When Berra came to the park, Lopat rushed to him, saying, “No slow balls today, Yogi. Don’t even call for ’em. Fastballs and sliders only.” Lopat and Berra blew through the lineup the first time through and then reverted to the usual routine when Cleveland started looking for fastballs. Lopat won 5-3.“Counting the screwball and the curve and my fastball, and the speeds I used with each, I figured I had 11 pitches,” Lopat said years later. “Yogi only counted nine. As long as he was calling the pitches and catching them, that was fine with me.”

The one thing Berra held over all their heads was his ability to have them pulled out of games. Stengel had taught Berra a signal—Berra would pick up a small handful of dirt behind the plate, and with that, Stengel would walk out to the mound and the pitcher would eventually be pulled. When Reynolds and Raschi found out, they went ballistic. Reynolds once threatened Berra, saying, “Yogi, if I ever see you give that sign again—ever, even once—I’ll kill you. I mean it, Yogi. I’ll fight you in the clubhouse.”However, neither could deny that Berra’s opinion counted when it mattered most, and he was often kind to them, which is undoubtedly one of the toughest spots a catcher is put in.Early in the season, Stengel slowly shuffled to the mound after Raschi had given up two hits and a walk.“What about him?” Stengel said to Berra, motioning to Raschi.“He’s still got some stuff,” said Berra, “but he’s getting too cautious.” Stengel lifted Raschi and called in Tom Ferrick to close out the win for Raschi.

“I’d have let him stay in if Yogi told me to. The kid knows what the game is about,” Stengel told the press after the game.Many years later, Stengel said, “When he had to go out to the pitcher and tell him what he was doing wrong, he wasn’t bashful and he wasn’t embarrassed and he wasn’t afraid, even if it was those big, famous fellows like Allie Reynolds and Vic Raschi. He went out and he told them, and he usually didn’t have to wait for me or anybody to tell him to do it.”

It’s been alleged that Yogi Berra once said, “All pitchers are liars and crybabies.” But the Hall of Fame catcher caught some of the greatest pitchers of his era. When he was asked to choose the best pitcher he caught in his 18 years with the Yankees, he responded,“It’s impossible to pick the best. You take your pick: Vic Raschi, Allie Reynolds, Eddie Lopat, and Whitey Ford. I wouldn’t be afraid to call on either of them.”“First and foremost, Yogi Berra was a fierce competitor. It wasn’t smart to get him riled,” Yankees pitcher Don Larsen wrote years later about Berra in his prime.“Opponents were the enemy, and we pitchers certainly weren’t immune. He would chastise all of us on occasion, trying to rev us up when we were pitching poorly.”

In the end, whatever their differences and disagreements on the field, Berra became close with many of the great pitchers of his career.

And in the end, they all spoke very kindly of him.

This excerpt from “Yogi: The Life & Times of an American Original” is printed with the permission of Triumph Books / www.triumphbooks.com.

http://www.observer-online.com/articles/2008/06/26/sports/sports1.txt

LUBBOCK AVALANCHE JOURNAL SAYS: YOGI "A SOLID HIT"

Kerns: Fresh take on Yogi Berra a solid hit
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Sunday, June 22, 2008Story last updated at 6/22/2008 - 7:42 am

url: http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/062208/liv_293696858.shtml

It did not matter that I grew up in Colorado and Wyoming. I somehow started out a Yankees fan. I had plenty of individual baseball heroes: Dodgers and Cubs, Pirates and Giants. But by the time I turned 8 or 9, I thought the New York Yankees hung the moon.

Of course, back when I was discovering baseball, the Yankees were a mainstay on Saturday afternoon's televised game of the week. They made a habit of competing for, and winning, championships. Everyone had a favorite Yankee. But all of us also liked Yogi, who became a Yankee before I was born.

Now readers can learn so much more about the recognizable baseball icon - the man as well as the ballplayer - by reading Carlo DeVito's well-written, entertaining and often enlightening biography of Lawrence Peter Berra titled "Yogi: The Life and Times of an American Original" (Triumph Books).

Books by and about Berra already are numerous and easy to find, and DeVito must have read them all, painstakingly documenting his material while separating the facts from exaggeration.
DeVito's literary look back works primarily because he paints Berra as a person rather than a clown, and as both a dangerous hitter and a ballplayer who took advantage of a later opportunity to develop into a Major League catcher.

It would not be a Berra biography without Yogi's many individual quotations; for example he would advise his friends to "always attend other people's funerals, so they will attend yours."
But books devoted solely to the funny things Yogi said already have been written.
Instead, DeVito captures a ballplayer who liked people and was smarter (see his financial investments) and more sensitive than many realized.

Berra told one reporter, "My wife, she don't like the stories which make me out a dope."
DeVito makes certain readers are aware of the insensitive remarks aimed his way.
The book does follow Berra's wartime experiences in the Navy but focuses more on how much baseball meant to him.

Readers will be dazzled by the number of offensive and defensive records broken by Berra during his career, not to mention the almost-magical way he seemed to wind up in yet another World Series.

Just as thrilling, though, are passages that find former Yankee catcher Bill Dickey hired to show Berra that there is more to baseball than hitting, and how to achieve it.

Berra, after all, was the man behind the plate for Allie Reynolds' two no-hitters.

And who could ever forget the photograph of Berra leaping into Don Larsen's arms after catching Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series?

DeVito follows Berra through the years, leading readers into and out of ball parks. The author takes us well past Berra's managing jobs with the Yankees and Mets - he would take both to a seven-game World Series - and may be the first to explore and explain Berra's 14-year boycott of Yankee Stadium after being fired by George Steinbrenner.

Mentioned, without being emphasized, are moments when other famous Yankees reveal a lack of class in the way they treat, or speak of, a teammate named Berra.

Fans may be shocked, but there are no sacred cows in this infield. And these bits of history won't be forgotten.

One also learns more about Berra from his reactions to the deaths of too many friends.

DeVito provides the research, a ballplayer's life story, as proof - then makes his point that Joe DiMaggio never passed any legendary Yankee crown on to Mickey Mantle.

DeVito writes: "Berra was an incontrovertible link in the chain of great Yankees.
"The Yankees lineage went from Babe Ruth to Lou Gehrig to Joe DiMaggio to Berra to Mantle to Thurman Munson and Graig Nettles and Reggie Jackson to Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter."
No comparison to modern-day players (or salaries) has to be made when we learn that, in 1962, at age 37, Berra was the only Yankees catcher in a 22-inning, seven-hour game.

Happily, DeVito also recounts Berra's fascinating reunion with Larsen at Yankee Stadium in 1999. The two friends celebrated the aforementioned perfect game with a ceremonial first pitch on the first "Yogi Berra Day" - then sat back and watched Yankee pitcher David Cone toss a perfect game against the Expos.

It was a perfect time for Berra to point out, "It's like deja vu all over again."

Even fans who read "Yogi: The Life and Times of an American Original" may be startled by how little they really knew about the Yankee they remember cheering.

WILLIAM KERNS' entertainment reviews and commentary can be heard at 8:15 a.m. Monday through Friday on KLLL Radio (96.3 FM).

National Sports Review Lauds YOGI

NSR REVIEWS: Yogi: The Life and Times of an American Original
By: 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

On Friday, May 23rd, 4:40 PM ET I was on WOBM-AM and FOX 1310 AM with Kevin Williams on “The Locker Room” radio show.

Join longtime Jersey Shore Sports Personality Kevin Williams for The Locker Room weekdays 3PM-6PM on 1160 WOBM AM, Fox Sports Radio 1310 and streaming on shoresportsnetwork.com.

Williams, a nine-time New Jersey Sportscaster of the Year, will cover high school, college, regional and national sports on the talk show which will give shore-area listeners a regular opportunity to call in and express their thoughts and opinions. There will be guests, especially local coaches, athletes, members of the media and others in the news.

Williams is best known for his work on 92.7 WOBM, where he started in 1979 and 1160 WOBM-AM which has regularly broadcast high school sports for more than ten years. He teams up with Matt Harmon and Ed Sarluca to broadcast football, basketball and baseball games as well as a weekly high school football show during the fall. He has also done morning drive sports on the two stations as well as a popular feature, “The Hometown View” which will continue despite his new schedule.

“The biggest adjustment for me will not be getting up at 2:30AM which I’ve done for more than 29 years as a morning radio guy, Williams said. “But after all these years it’s exciting to be part of a new program like this, especially one that’s never been done in Ocean and Monmouth Counties.”

Matthew Sisson of Baseball Digest Daily, Talks Yogi With Carlo DeVito (Hear the Podcast!)

Matt Sisson of Baseball Digest Daily interviewed me on May 13, 2008. It was a lot of fun. Matt was well informed and had obviously read the entire book. It was really great! Thanks, Matt!

Baseball Digest Daily (http://www.baseballdigestdaily.com/) is dedicated to bringing you the best in baseball coverage. Their team of baseball fanatics combines for decades of experience. Whether you agree or disagree, they love to hear from people like yourself, who love baseball.

Listen to the Interview here!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/baseballdigestdaily/2008/05/14/Interview-with-Carlo-DeVito

CARLO DEVITO TALKS YOGI WITH ED RANDALL: TALKING BASEBALL ON WFAN

On May 11, 2008 Ed Randall, the well-known baseball radio and television journalist had me on to talk about Yogi.



Ed Randall is the host of "Talking Baseball" each Sunday morning (9AM-11AM) on WFAN. Ed is held in the highest esteem as one of baseball’s foremost authorities, the result of approximately 500 compelling interviews with the Who’s Who of baseball.Ed was the New York correspondent for the ESPN-Radio Network since the night it went on the air in January 1992. Over the past three seasons alone, he covered more than 450 major league games in New York. No broadcaster in the last decade has covered more baseball in the nation’s media capital than Ed.

Thanks, Ed!

WALL STREET REVIEWS "YOGI: LIFE AND TIMES OF AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL"

The Man Behind the Malaprop
By PETE HAUSLERApril 29, 2008 11:50 a.m.
"Yogi: The Life & Times of an American Original" is biography as first-generation immigrant success story. And as such, biographer Carlo DeVito begins the story of Yogi Berra at Ellis Island in 1912, with one Pietro Berra, an Italian immigrant just arrived on an old passenger steamer. Pietro settles in St. Louis, marries an Italian girl and raises a family, including Lawrence Peter Berra, who would, in his teenage years, forever and anon become known as Yogi.

Yogi Berra during spring training with the New York Yankees in 1949.

Mr. DeVito cobbled together this biography from over 4,000 sources, including books, magazine and newspaper articles, game programs and interviews. In sifting through this wealth of material, Mr. DeVito makes what seems initially like a strange choice: He includes many stories, anecdotes, and quotes that are now widely considered to be apocryphal (his word). Mr. DeVito, in good faith, states this fact whenever he's sure that the story is not entirely true. It feels like an odd strategy for a biography, but the more these incidents appear in "Yogi," the more it makes sense to include them.

Because, as Mr. DeVito makes abundantly clear, there are and always have been two Yogi Berras: 1) the public celebrity — a goofy, good-natured, strange-looking (sportswriters at the time used far-worse adjectives), malaprop-spewing simpleton from the Italian slums of St. Louis and 2) the real person behind the public persona, a far more complex and intelligent character. Mr. DeVito mentions that one of the unwitting perpetuators of the Yogi Myth was his childhood buddy and lifelong-friend, Joe Garagiola Sr.

Mr. Berra and Mr. Garagiola grew up in a Depression-era, Italian immigrant St. Louis neighborhood called The Hill. For a long time, their two lives ran parallel; both were excellent athletes, both yearned to be professional baseball players, both were scouted, then signed to contracts as teenagers, and both broke into the majors in 1946. Mr. Garagiola eventually left baseball for a career in the broadcasting booth, and his amusing stories about his old friend Yogi from The Hill became a regular part of his shtick (like when Mr. Berra allegedly signed his first and last names to an anniversary card for his wife, Carmen).

Mr. Berra broke in with the New York Yankees, where he quickly morphed into a mainstay on one of baseball's great dynasties. Mr. Berra played with some of the most storied names in Yankee history, bridging the gap between the Joe DiMaggio era and the Mickey Mantle era. In Mr. Berra's early years in New York he was still learning the ins and outs of the catcher position. The book on him was that he was a good, raw, powerful hitter, but a liability on defense. Manager Bucky Harris's approach was to move him around to where he could do the least damage. He played nearly 40% of his games in the outfield in 1947 and 1948, the rest at catcher.

Far more startling is how viciously he was maligned for his looks. In Mr. DeVito's words: "Berra was first tormented by his own team, then later by other teams, and then by the press. … In his first few years he was called ugly, Neanderthal, caveman, gorilla, ape, nature boy, freak, Quasimodo, and many other names. Worse yet, was his own manager calling him 'the ape.'" Readers of modern-day, New York-area sports pages who think contemporary writers are a tough crowd should get a load of some of the descriptions — epithets, really — hurled Mr. Berra's way.

Rud Rennie of the New York Herald-Tribune told Mr. Harris, "He doesn't even look like a Yankee." Arthur Daley once wrote, albeit jokingly, "Yogi Berra is barred from baseball for life because he isn't photogenic enough." Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the scribes' mob-like vitriol is its casual insidiousness. Even when writing about Mr. Berra's 1950 contract negotiation, John Drebinger of The New York Times can't help himself in describing Yogi thusly: "The gnome-like backstop never has, and likely never will, look like a ballplayer." And this ad hominem attack came after Mr. Berra had proven himself, as he was becoming a popular standout in the Yankees lineup and in baseball.

Mr. DeVito particularly shines in his depictions of Mr. Berra's yearly ritual of the contract negotiation. The multi-year deal is such a given nowadays, it's hard to image a time when it didn't exist. Mr. Berra's annual scenes at the proverbial bargaining table are usually played for laughs here, in a "ha-ha, here we go again" kind of way. But they serve to show a determined and financially shrewd Mr. Berra whom money men would underestimate at their own risk.
Mr. Berra's dogged approach to his contract negotiations were a product of both a hardscrabble childhood and a perceived contractual slight early in his professional career (a minor-league signing bonus that never materialized, due to small-print technicalities). The negotiations grew more cordial over time, as Yogi's importance to the Yankees, and his popularity with fans, became more apparent. But his first three or four contracts were contentious (including a couple of hold-outs), with Mr. Berra often feeling he was being low-balled by George M. Weiss, the Yankees' notoriously thrifty general manager. And through this repetition, Mr. DeVito depicts an era where every player negotiated without agents, going mano a mano with management every year, whether you were Mr. DiMaggio or a utility infielder.

This astute-businessman aspect of Mr. Berra meshes with a recurring thread of "Yogi," that there is far more to the man than the veneer of his affable, water-off-the-back persona. Mr. DeVito excels at depicting the success of Yogi Berra the Product Pitchman. He has touted dozens of products over the years, but perhaps his most fascinating was his deal with the chocolate drink maker Yoo-hoo. Mr. Berra wasn't merely a paid celebrity talking head. He actually invested in the company (both personally and as a go-between for other interested investors), pitched the product, and convinced his Yankee teammates to do the same. With Mr. Berra as the celebrity face of the drink, Yoo-hoo became in the late 1950s, "one of the most famous product launches in American advertising and snack-food history."

Today, the name Yogi Berra transcends baseball, and the face that was once cruelly mocked, is now beloved and recognized worldwide.

TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLES AND EXCERPT GO TO:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120940717399550193.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r1:c0.0391649

Write to Pete Hausler at pete.hausler@wsj.com

Courier-Press Loves YOGI

From the Courier-Press (Evansville, KY)

April 20, 2008

"Yogi: The Life & Times Of An American Original" by Carlo DeVito -- A fascinating portrait of one of the finest catchers in baseball history draws on hundreds of articles, interviews, biographies, and other sources to provide an authoritative biography of Yankee great Yogi Berra, detailing his remarkable career as a player, coach, and manager while celebrating his role as a much-quoted humorist.

Listen to Mark Malusis and Carlo DeVito Talk About YOGI on WFAN

I was on with Mark Malusis April 19, 2008, Saturday night and Sunday morning on the overnight with Mark Malusis. Mark is a first rate announcer. He's a great host and had obviously read the book. It was a tremendous amount of fun talking with him on the show.

LISTEN TO THE WFAN INTERVIEW HERE:

http://www.wfan.com/pages/744549.php

Marc "Moose" Malusis has made a respected name for himself at the FAN. He hosts 3 overnights shows per week at the station. He also serves as a 20-20 anchor and station reporter. Prior to, Marc worked on the popular afternoon drive show, Mike and the Mad Dog, for 6 years. He was the producer for Mike and Chris up until January 2007.

He is a huge Redskins and Yankees fan. Marc roots for the Rangers and Knicks as well. One of his greatest sports moments is being in the Super Dome when Syracuse beat Kansas to win the NCAA National Championship. Marc was given the tag of "Moose" by Joe Benigno on the first overnight he produced for Joe in September of 2000.

You can go to his webpage on WFAN at:

http://www.wfan.com/pages/119281.php?contentType=4&contentId=234573

SHEA NATION Blog Reviews YOGI

March 14, 2008
by David Rubin, Shea Nation, http://sheanation.blogspot.com/#

Off-Season Reading: David's Guide To Recently Released (or Recently Read) Baseball Books: Part One

Yogi: The Life and Times on an American Original By Carlo DeVitoI am partial to this book for two reasons; first, I absolutely love Yogi, always have, since I can remember, as he was the “Yoo Hoo” pitchman when I began watching baseball, in 1968, and that fondness only grew when he succeeded the late Gil Hodges as manager of the Mets, who lost the World Series to the Oakland A’s under Yogi; second, I have read a number of books about Yogi over the years, both written by him as well as others, but this is the first book that really paints an accurate portrait of Yogi and not just what he did say, but what he didn’t say but has been attributed to him over the years! Sadly, Yogi was subject to all kinds of ridicule, due to his physical looks and seemingly simple intelligence, yet Yogi, through hard work and determination earns 10 World Series rings (tops of all players), 3 MVPs and the designation as one of the 2 or 3 greatest catchers of all time! He was also a master at making money, as his numerous commercial ventures will attest, and ended up as the most successful former Yankee after his playing career was over, at least as far as remaining in the public eye and being paid for it! Yogi is a deeply principled man, and his refusal to return to Yankee Stadium after being treated poorly by owner George Steinbrenner was particularly interesting and poignant. Equally interesting was the portrayal of life-long friend, Joe Garagiola, and how he perpetuated many of the false statements attributed to his friend. Overall, this was one of the most entertaining and informative baseball bios I’ve read in a long time, right up there with Montville’s “The Big Bam.” Remember- “baseball is 90% mental – the other half is physical!”

WASHINGTON TIMES REVIEWS YOGI

Baseball rules
By Larry Thornberry

April 6, 2008
Washington Times

Baseball is back. And not a minute too soon for the millions of fans of the Grand Old Game. Now mornings can begin as they were meant to begin, with coffee, toast (a bagel if you prefer) and box scores in the morning paper.

Triumph Books has brought out two volumes by two veteran sportswriters that make fine companions to the return of the national pastime.

"The Code" is a behind-the-scenes look that will help even veteran baseball viewers better understand the games they're watching, particularly those close pitches, hard slides at second, charging the mound, and catcher/runner collisions at home plate that sometimes lead to bench-clearing brawls. (OK, they're usually more shoving and shouting sessions than real brawls — players today make too much money to suffer a season-ending injury in a brawl — but occasionally someone does get his lights punched out). And "Yogi" is a pleasant trip through the life of one of the game's best players and most recognizable and revered characters, Yogi Berra....

Yogi, on the other hand, is no enigma. He's one of those one-name people who almost everyone, even those who don't follow baseball, recognizes at once. He was born to poor Italian immigrant parents in the "Dago Hill" section of St. Louis (later changed to "The Hill" to satisfy political correctness).

He survived the Great Depression and a loving but no-nonsense father who considered baseball a frivolous pastime to go on to become one of the best catchers and most feared clutch hitters the game has ever seen. He coached and managed (the Yankees and the Mets) into his seventies, and retired finally as one of the most popular men to every wear Yankee pinstripes. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Mr. DeVito doesn't break any new ground in his book, but he covers well, with about the right amount of detail and the right number of anecdotes, the basics of the well-lived life (which thankfully, goes on — at 82, Yogi is still with us) of an iconic American character. He separates Berra the cartoon creation of sports writers from Berra the baseball player, husband, father, savvy businessman, and good friend to many.

Young Americans, even young baseball fans, think of Mr. Berra, who last played in 1963, as a somewhat odd-looking, old pitchman for various products on TV, and the author of various mangled but funny sayings such as, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it," or, "Baseball is 90 percent mental, and the other half is physical." But baseball fans over 60 remember Yogi as an outstanding catcher and about the last man opposing pitchers wanted to see at the plate when the game was on the line.

Most of Yogi's 358 life-time homers seemed to come when it really mattered. His malapropisms were more than offset by his clutch hits, his deft calling of games, his toughness on plays at the plate, and his crackling, on-the mark throws to nab larcenous base runners. Laugh all you want at the Yogisms; this guy was a ball player.

Yogi's story is also baseball's and America's story, from the Depression years when young "Lawdie" Berra was playing sandlot ball with his pal-for-life, Joe Garagiola, to the post-everything years of drugs and steroids and preposterous player salaries. Yogi's career crosses paths with the game's greats. He was teammates with such as Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, and Mickey Mantle. His personal coach who helped him hone his catching skills was Hall of Fame Yankee catcher Bill Dickey, teammate of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. In 1985, his final year managing the Yankees, Yogi's team included Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield, Lou Piniella, and Ken Griffey Sr.

That's a lot of baseball, American and Berra history. Mr. DeVito captures much of this. And Yogi Berra, to paraphrase one of Yogi's famous fractured sayings, was the guy who made it all necessary.

Larry Thornberry is a writer living in Tampa.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE GO TO:http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080406/BOOKS/744697590/1010

SACRAMENTO BEE PRAISES "YOGI"

Curveballs and high counts: Baseball's latest notorious era is reflected in this year's lineup of books
Bruce Dancis Apr 06, 2008 (The Sacramento Bee - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --

Baseball's steroids scandal and the publication of former Sen. George Mitchell's report on the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs affects how we fans look at our national pastime. It also affects how we look at some of this season's baseball books in our 18th annual guide....

Among the new biographies of great ballplayers from the past, consider: Charles C. Alexander's "Spoke: A Biography of Tris Speaker" (Southern Methodist University Press, $25.95, 360 pages), on the great center fielder whose 22-year career (mostly with the Red Sox and Cleveland Indians) led him to be among the first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and Carlo DeVito's "Yogi: The Life & Times of an American Original" (Triumph, $25.95, 400 pages), a useful reminder that the Yankees' Yogi Berra not only provided baseball with some its greatest quotes and malapropisms but was one of the greatest catchers of all time.

Columbus Dispatch Reviews YOGI

BATTER UP!
Baseball fans can head for home with books about the game
Sunday, March 30, 2008 3:19 AM
By Bill Eichenberger
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The second-most beautiful words in the English language: Pitchers and catchers report.
The most beautiful words in the English language: Play ball!

It reminds me of something Rogers Hornsby, a Hall of Fame second baseman who played from 1915 to 1937, once said: "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."

Well, spring is nigh because major leaguers are playing spring-training games and book publishers are sending out new baseball titles faster than a Nolan Ryan heater streaking toward home plate.

Here are a few titles to warm you up for the season:

• Yogi: The Life and Times of an American Original, Carlo DeVito (Triumph, 412 pages, $25.95)
Mickey Mantle once speculated that New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra said only about a third of the things attributed to him.

"(St. Louis Cardinals catcher and Berra boyhood pal Joe) Garagiola made up a third," Mantle said, "and the (sports) writers made up the rest."

DeVito proposes in Yogi to cut through the tall tales and the myth to uncover the man "genuinely one of the greatest players ever to pick up a bat and ball. . . . And no matter how humorous his remarks are, his accomplishments were hard-earned and fairly won."

Read the rest at: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/arts/stories/2008/03/30/2_BASEBALL_BKS.ART_ART_03-30-08_E4_KS9O3D3.html?sid=101