Yogi Berra, whom I will never forget

From the late 1940s to the early 1960s, the New York Yankees had a great catcher named Yogi Berra, who was selected as the regular season MVP three times and whose name will forever remain in the history of MLB.

The Yankees were in a golden age during Yogi Berra's time with the team, and he won the World Series a total of 10 times.

Yogi Berra is also an unforgettable Major League Baseball player for me. I became an avid MLB fan after watching a Yankees game live at the stadium when they visited Japan in 1955, and Yogi Berra was among the visiting team. At the time, a magazine was published introducing the Yankees' visit to Japan, and I still vividly remember the image of Yogi Berra in the magazine, standing up and holding up the catcher's mitt on his left hand. Yogi Berra was such an impressive player. Seeing him play at the stadium was also captivating.

Yogi Berra passed away in 2015 at the age of 90.

Now, Yogi Berra will go down in history for more than just his great play. He uttered many famous and perhaps strange(?) quotes. These quotes may seem full of meaning, but in fact they are just obvious things, or they don't mean anything at all, or they are simply mistakes in wording. But they are interesting. Yogi Berra's sayings have been dubbed "Yogi-isms" and have been passed down through the generations.

Here are some concrete examples: "It ain't over'til it's over" (This is a very obvious statement, but it somehow seems meaningful, doesn't it?), "You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six" (The amount of pizza is the same whether you cut it into four or six, right?), and "If people don't want to come to the ballpark, how are you going to stop them? " (I understand what he is trying to say, but the way he uses words is a bit of a problem, isn't it?).

By the way, there is a really interesting book titled "The Yogi Book" (Workman Publishing) that mainly features Yogi Berra quotes. There is one thing in this book that I think is a bit problematic. It is a quote from Nolan Ryan, the legendary pitcher who holds the Major League record for career strikeouts with 5,714, about Yogi Berra, in which he says, "If Yogi had gone to college, they would have made him talk clearer, but not better."

"THE YOGI BOOK"by Yogi Berra (WORKMAN PUBLISHING Company, 1999)

I love and respect the great Nolan Ryan, but I think this statement is a bit problematic. Isn't it a problem if studying at university only teaches you to speak clearer, but not better?  If you study at university, you should also be able to speak better. Otherwise, what's the point of studying at university?

Nolan Ryan may have simply said this to clearly convey the fun and greatness of Yogi-isms, and he may have simply brought up college education for that purpose. If that's the case, then my comment would be extremely rude. ...I'm beginning to think that this is not if, but true and that my comments are rude.

( If I've made a mistake or left out something important, please let me know. I'll try to make corrections or additions.)