Randy Smith
Former New York Yankee slugger Yogi Berra turns ninety years old today. Not only is Yogi one of the all-time greats in baseball history, he may also be the most quoted player ever. He's been called the "Greatest Living Yankee" and is no doubt one of the most loved and cherished athletes of all time. We all have heard our share of "Yogi-isms." The thing about everything he said is.....it all makes sense. Here is a list of my favorite "Yogi-isms."
"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."
"I always thought that record would stand until it was broken."
"He hits from both sides of the plate.
He's amphibious."
"Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical."
"How can you hit and think at the same time?"
"Bill Dickey is learnin' me his experience."
"I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won twenty-five games. What I don't understand is how he lost five."
"I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did."
"In baseball, you don't know nothing."
(On playing on the west coast) "It gets late early out there."
"You can observe a lot just by watching."
"You should always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours."
"The game isn't over until it's over."
"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."
"It's like, deja vu all over again."
"It's too crowded. Nobody goes there anymore."
"I think the Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house."
"I don't know( If they were men or women fans running naked across the field.) They had bags over their heads"
"Why should I buy new luggage? You only use it when you travel."
"It ain't the heat. It's the humility."
"We made too many wrong mistakes."
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
(When told by one of his children that a guy was at the door "for the venetian blind" Yogi replied, "Just give him five bucks and send him on his way."
"I never said most of the things I said."
And finally, there is my favorite quote -about- Yogi Berra. From former Yankee manager Casey Stengal, " The guy could fall in a sewer, and come up with a gold watch."
Happy Birthday Yogi. I hope it's a great one!
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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. He is currently teaching Broadcasting at Coahulla Creek High School near Dalton, Ga.
His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.
He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.
In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have four grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, DellaMae and CoraLee.