If Your Birthday is May 12th...

...you share it with one of the most beloved players ever and the greatest catcher in Yankee history. Yogi Berra was a three-time American League MVP. Despite his 358 career home runs, he was one of the game's toughest to strike out, whiffing just 415 times in 2120 games! He holds several records, two of which might be among the hardest in all of Baseball to break: played in 75 World Series games with 71 hits (and his 39 Fall Classic RBIs are the second highest ever). He's also the most-recent player to hit to home runs in game 7 of a World Series (1956 when the Yankees closed out the Brooklyn Dodgers). Want more? Berra hit the first pinch homer in World Series history (game 3 in 1947 vs. the Dodgers). He's one of a handful of managers to lead teams in both leagues to pennants ('64  Yankees and  '73 Mets, thought both lost their series in seven games).

Not only was the St. Louis native and adopted son of New Jersey one the game's best players, he was one of its most likeable people. Down to earth, witty, and sometimes even philosophical, fans were drawn to him. The nickname helped -- Larry (or Lawrence) Berra was not as likely to inspire the name of a cartoon character. And that handle probably wouldn't have sold as many bottles of YooHoo or policies for AFLAC over the years.


It's appropriate that in Monument Park, Yogi's retired number 8 is next to Whitey Ford's 16. 

Did you know that Yogi and Dale Berra are the only father and son to both play for the Yankees? Yogi managed him for 16 games in 1985.

And one more slice of trivia: Yogi was the batter in the on-deck circle when Roger Maris hit his historic 61st home run on October 1st, 1961.

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