sfgdood
Long time member 
stats geeks never played the game...that's why they don't get it and never will
Posts: 90
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Post by sfgdood on Sept 23, 2015 13:39:48 GMT -5
By all accounts a great guy, good ambassador for baseball and a genuinely hilarious nut. My favorite Yogi-ism: "Nobody goes to that restaurant anymore. It's too crowded."
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Post by klaiggeb on Sept 23, 2015 20:07:11 GMT -5
No question, he was a great guy.
Never EVER heard one guy say anything bad about him.
boly
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Post by Rog on Sept 23, 2015 20:50:36 GMT -5
My favorite was when the New York Mayor's wife complimented him on his cool summer suit, and Yogi told her, "You don't look so hot either."
It is hard to know which "Yogi-isms" are true and which are myth, but IIRC from reading a book about it a few years ago, more are true than one would think, and more are understandable with full knowledge than one would anticipate, either.
Grew up down the street from Joe Garagiola, and they were best friends as kids. One heck of a catcher, both offensively and defensively. Base stealers weren't as efficient back then, but his 49% caught stealing percentage is impressive. The league average was 45% though, so it wasn't quite as good as it looks.
Yogi also played all four corner positions over his career, almost exclusively left and right fields. His 358 home runs are very impressive for a catcher, and he walked enough to raise his .285 batting average to a .348 OBP.
In his book Levelling the Playing Field, G. Scott Thomas ranked Yogi as the 4th-greatest catcher of all time, behind only Johnny Bench, Bill Dickey and Mickey Cochrane.
Don is familiar with all four of those guys, and I would be very interested in his impressions of the quartet.
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