Today is Yogi Berra’s Birthday.
Not to be confused with Yogi Bear.
Okay, so let’s start with the truth about his name. His real FULL name is Yogi Berra. Now, who really does that to a kid. He was born in 1925, and he is a Taurus like me. Or I am a Taurus like him, more to the point.
Now believe it or not, he started out as a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman. It was his dream from the time he was a boy. As it turns out, Yogi was no good at it. He didn’t have a very good memory, and this is critical for an encyclopedia salesman, as you might imagine. To which he observed… “I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.”
One day he was tossing the ball around with some pals, and they thought he ought to try out for the big time. Yogi replied…”What the heck.” And off he went to the Big Apple.
He played in NY almost his entire 19 year career, from 1946 to 1965.
He was pretty good too. He won the AL MVP award three times. As a player, coach, or manager, he appeared in 21 World Series, winning 13 of them.
He was the first guy to pinch hit a World Series homer.
He went errorless as a catcher. His streak was 148 games.
After the game, he always enjoyed a big dinner. Once at Antonia’s Famous Pizzeria on the corner of 5th and Broad, he decided to start watching his waistline. He told the waiter… “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.”
He was a really good guy. AND, in 1972, Old Yogi, & Sandy Koufax, & Early Wynn were elected to Hall of Fame
But let’s forget about Yogi the Baseball Man. Let us regard him in a much higher sense. His philosophical Waxings. Some of my greatest life lessons I have learned from this man.
And I will share a couple with you tonight.
On life in general….
You can observe a lot by just watching.
Regarding you life purpose….
If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.
When things don’t seem confusing enough….
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.
And, why giving advice to others may be a bad idea….
There are some people who, if they don’t already know, you can’t tell ’em.
Finally…. Your life destination. The Secrets to it ALL when it comes to figuring out this thing we call life.
1. When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
2. The future ain’t what it used to be.
3. It ain’t over till it’s over.