October 31, 2025 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Yogi Berra’s name sits beside the greatest baseball players of all time, but his story reaches beyond home runs and Hall of Fame records. Before he became a Yankees legend, Berra served his country at D-Day, carried quiet discipline into the dugout, and changed what it meant to lead from behind the plate. George Will, one of America’s most respected sportswriters, shares how Yogi’s mix of grit, humor, and loyalty turned him into an American original.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people who would surprise. Winning columnist George Will has written
extensively about baseball and has said this about America's attraction
to it. Quote sports serves society by providing vivid examples
(00:30):
of excellence. One of those examples is New York Yankee
catcher and cultural icon Yogi Bearra. Here's George Will high Drive,
that's cuddled and Yogi Da.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
They'll run high over the train and end up at
that avenue.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
It ain't over it until it's over.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Ninety per cent of his name is half metal. When
you come to the fork in the world to take it,
it's days you have roll all over again, and.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
The Yank is champions and look at Bara take you
back riding Popkadella.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
The eighteen year old US Navy en listee, thinking it
sounded less boring than the dull training he was doing
in nineteen forty four, volunteered for service on what he
thought an officer had called rocket ships. Actually they were small, slow,
vulnerable boats used as launching pads for rockets to give
close in support for troops. Assaulting beaches. The service on
(01:32):
those boats certainly was not boring. At dawn on June sixth,
nineteen forty four, that sailor was a few hundred yards
off Omaha Beach. Lawrence Peter Barrow, who died at ninety,
had a knack for being where the action was because
he stood. When he stood. As a catcher, he spent
(01:55):
a lot of time crouching at baseball's most physically and
mentally demanding position five foot seven inches. He confirmed the
axiom that the beauty of baseball is that a player
does not need to be seven feet tall or seven
feet wide. Beah's ways, and that one's been a league ballpark. Well,
what do you know, Larry beara the ballum Yogi his
(02:16):
very first time at the plate in the Major Leagues
against the A's, and what does he do?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
He hits a home run.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
The shortstop during Yogi's first Yankee years was an even
smaller Italian American one hundred and fifty pound Phil Risuto,
listed at a generous five feet six Yogi had as
sportswriter Alan Barraw says in his book Yogi Barra Eternal Yankee,
the winningess career in the history of American sports. He
(02:45):
played on Yankee teams that went to the World Series
fourteen times in seventeen years. He won ten World Series rings.
No other player is more than nine. He won three
MVP Awards. Only Barry Bonds has more, with seven, but
four of them probably painted by performance enhancing drugs. In
(03:07):
seven consecutive seasons nineteen fifty through nineteen fifty six, Yogi
finished in the top four in MVP voting. Only Bill
Russell of the Boston Celtics eleven NBA championships, fivep Awards,
and Henri Richard of the Montreal Hockey Team eleven NHL
Championships have records of winning that exceed Yogi's. He grew
(03:32):
up in what he and others called the Dago Hill
section of Saint Louis. When the Italian Americans who lived
there did not take offense at the name, they had
bigger problems. Biographer Alan Barrow notes that in an eighteen
ninety five advertisement seeking labor to build a New York reservoir,
the ad said whites would be paid a dollar thirty
(03:53):
to a dollar fifty a day, colored workers a dollar
twenty five to a dollar forty, and the Italians a
dollar fifteen to a dollar twenty five. The term wop
may have begun as an acronym for the phrase without papers,
as many Italians were when they arrived at Alas Island.
American sports and ethnicity have been interestingly entangled. The name
(04:19):
Fighting Irish was originally a disparagement by opponents of Notre Dame,
which for many years had problems filling its football schedule
because of anti Catholic bigotry, but sports also have been
stolvents of a sense of apartness felt by ethnic groups.
In nineteen twenty three, the Sporting News, which for many
(04:41):
decades was described as the Bible of baseball, except by
baseball fans, who described the Bible as the sporting News
of religion, called the national pastime the essence of the nation. Quote.
In a democratic, Catholic, real American game like baseball, there
has been no distinction raised except up pacid understanding that
(05:01):
a player of Ethiopian descent is ineligible the Mick, the Sheeni,
the Wop, the Dutch and the Chink, the Cuban, the Indian,
the Jap or the so called land glow Saxon. His
nationality is never a matter of moment if he can
pitch hitterfield ah diversity. In nineteen oh eight, The Sporting
(05:23):
News said this about a Giant's rookie Charlie buck Herzog quote,
the long nosed routers are crazy. Whenever young Herzog does
anything noteworthy, cries of Herzog, Hertzog, good boy, Hertzog go
up regularly, and there would be no let up even
if a million ham sandwiches suddenly fell among these believers
(05:44):
in percentages and bargains. David Moranas, in his biography of
Pirates the Pirates Roberto Clemente, the first Puerto Rican superstar,
notes that as late as nineteen seventy one, Clementi's seventeenth season,
one sportswriter still quoted him in phonetic English quote, if
(06:04):
I have my good armed fee ball against their a
lethal quicker. In nineteen sixty two, Alvin Dark, manager of
the San Francisco Giants, banned the speaking of Spanish in
the clubhouse. Today, with three of the most common surnames
in baseball being Martinez, Rodriguez, and Gonzales, some managers speak Spanish.
(06:26):
Yogi's great contemporary, the Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, another three
time MVP was the son of an African American mother
and Italian American father. With two Italian Americans on the
Supreme Court, it is difficult to imagine how delighted Italian
Americans were with their first national celebrity, the elegant center
(06:47):
fielder on Baseball's most glamorous team, Joe Demaggio, the son
of a San Francisco fisherman. Demaggio was Big Dago to
his teammates. Yogi was Little Dago and became aim the
nation's most beloved sports figure. As Yogi said when Catholic
Dublin elected a Jewish mayor, only in America.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And a great job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to
George will for sharing the story of Yogi Bearra indeed
only in America, Yogi Berra's story here on our American Stories.
This is Lee Habib, host of our American Stories. Every
(07:32):
day we set out to tell the stories of Americans
past and present, from small towns to big cities, and
from all walks of life doing extraordinary things. But we
truly can't do this show without you. Our shows are
free to listen to, but they're not free to make.
If you love what you hear, go to our American
Stories dot com and make a donation to keep the
(07:53):
stories coming. That's our American Stories dot com.
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people who would surprise. Winning columnist George Will has written
extensively about baseball and has said this about America's attraction
to it. Quote sports serves society by providing vivid examples
(00:30):
of excellence. One of those examples is New York Yankee
catcher and cultural icon Yogi Bearra. Here's George Will high Drive,
that's cuddled and Yogi Da.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
They'll run high over the train and end up at
that avenue.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
It ain't over it until it's over.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Ninety per cent of his name is half metal. When
you come to the fork in the world to take it,
it's days you have roll all over again, and.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
The Yank is champions and look at Bara take you
back riding Popkadella.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
The eighteen year old US Navy en listee, thinking it
sounded less boring than the dull training he was doing
in nineteen forty four, volunteered for service on what he
thought an officer had called rocket ships. Actually they were small, slow,
vulnerable boats used as launching pads for rockets to give
close in support for troops. Assaulting beaches. The service on
(01:32):
those boats certainly was not boring. At dawn on June sixth,
nineteen forty four, that sailor was a few hundred yards
off Omaha Beach. Lawrence Peter Barrow, who died at ninety,
had a knack for being where the action was because
he stood. When he stood. As a catcher, he spent
(01:55):
a lot of time crouching at baseball's most physically and
mentally demanding position five foot seven inches. He confirmed the
axiom that the beauty of baseball is that a player
does not need to be seven feet tall or seven
feet wide. Beah's ways, and that one's been a league ballpark. Well,
what do you know, Larry beara the ballum Yogi his
(02:16):
very first time at the plate in the Major Leagues
against the A's, and what does he do?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
He hits a home run.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
The shortstop during Yogi's first Yankee years was an even
smaller Italian American one hundred and fifty pound Phil Risuto,
listed at a generous five feet six Yogi had as
sportswriter Alan Barraw says in his book Yogi Barra Eternal Yankee,
the winningess career in the history of American sports. He
(02:45):
played on Yankee teams that went to the World Series
fourteen times in seventeen years. He won ten World Series rings.
No other player is more than nine. He won three
MVP Awards. Only Barry Bonds has more, with seven, but
four of them probably painted by performance enhancing drugs. In
(03:07):
seven consecutive seasons nineteen fifty through nineteen fifty six, Yogi
finished in the top four in MVP voting. Only Bill
Russell of the Boston Celtics eleven NBA championships, fivep Awards,
and Henri Richard of the Montreal Hockey Team eleven NHL
Championships have records of winning that exceed Yogi's. He grew
(03:32):
up in what he and others called the Dago Hill
section of Saint Louis. When the Italian Americans who lived
there did not take offense at the name, they had
bigger problems. Biographer Alan Barrow notes that in an eighteen
ninety five advertisement seeking labor to build a New York reservoir,
the ad said whites would be paid a dollar thirty
(03:53):
to a dollar fifty a day, colored workers a dollar
twenty five to a dollar forty, and the Italians a
dollar fifteen to a dollar twenty five. The term wop
may have begun as an acronym for the phrase without papers,
as many Italians were when they arrived at Alas Island.
American sports and ethnicity have been interestingly entangled. The name
(04:19):
Fighting Irish was originally a disparagement by opponents of Notre Dame,
which for many years had problems filling its football schedule
because of anti Catholic bigotry, but sports also have been
stolvents of a sense of apartness felt by ethnic groups.
In nineteen twenty three, the Sporting News, which for many
(04:41):
decades was described as the Bible of baseball, except by
baseball fans, who described the Bible as the sporting News
of religion, called the national pastime the essence of the nation. Quote.
In a democratic, Catholic, real American game like baseball, there
has been no distinction raised except up pacid understanding that
(05:01):
a player of Ethiopian descent is ineligible the Mick, the Sheeni,
the Wop, the Dutch and the Chink, the Cuban, the Indian,
the Jap or the so called land glow Saxon. His
nationality is never a matter of moment if he can
pitch hitterfield ah diversity. In nineteen oh eight, The Sporting
(05:23):
News said this about a Giant's rookie Charlie buck Herzog quote,
the long nosed routers are crazy. Whenever young Herzog does
anything noteworthy, cries of Herzog, Hertzog, good boy, Hertzog go
up regularly, and there would be no let up even
if a million ham sandwiches suddenly fell among these believers
(05:44):
in percentages and bargains. David Moranas, in his biography of
Pirates the Pirates Roberto Clemente, the first Puerto Rican superstar,
notes that as late as nineteen seventy one, Clementi's seventeenth season,
one sportswriter still quoted him in phonetic English quote, if
(06:04):
I have my good armed fee ball against their a
lethal quicker. In nineteen sixty two, Alvin Dark, manager of
the San Francisco Giants, banned the speaking of Spanish in
the clubhouse. Today, with three of the most common surnames
in baseball being Martinez, Rodriguez, and Gonzales, some managers speak Spanish.
(06:26):
Yogi's great contemporary, the Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, another three
time MVP was the son of an African American mother
and Italian American father. With two Italian Americans on the
Supreme Court, it is difficult to imagine how delighted Italian
Americans were with their first national celebrity, the elegant center
(06:47):
fielder on Baseball's most glamorous team, Joe Demaggio, the son
of a San Francisco fisherman. Demaggio was Big Dago to
his teammates. Yogi was Little Dago and became aim the
nation's most beloved sports figure. As Yogi said when Catholic
Dublin elected a Jewish mayor, only in America.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And a great job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to
George will for sharing the story of Yogi Bearra indeed
only in America, Yogi Berra's story here on our American Stories.
This is Lee Habib, host of our American Stories. Every
(07:32):
day we set out to tell the stories of Americans
past and present, from small towns to big cities, and
from all walks of life doing extraordinary things. But we
truly can't do this show without you. Our shows are
free to listen to, but they're not free to make.
If you love what you hear, go to our American
Stories dot com and make a donation to keep the
(07:53):
stories coming. That's our American Stories dot com.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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