The Day I Met Yogi Berra

THE DAY I MET YOGI: I grew up in Montclair NJ and my boy scout patrol leader lived across the street from Yogi Berra. (I went to school with Dale Berra but didn’t really know him well.) One day, the patrol rang the bell at Yogi’s house. Now, if you know me and my upbringing, and if you know my story of not really knowing who Pete Seeger was til I met him, you will not be surprised that I had no idea who Yogi Berra was other than that he was the guy that Yogi Bear was named for. I knew nothing about baseball or Yogi’s connection with the sport.

A man answered the door. The 7 of us kids stood in the doorway and I was the first to blurt something out. “Is Yogi home? Can we see Yogi?” The man told us that Yogi was upstairs asleep in bed. The other 6 kids all laughed as the man handed us autographed postcards. As we walked away I looked at the picture on the postcard and yelled, “Hey! That man WAS Yogi.” In other words, Yogi was the man who answered the door and I didn’t know enough about who he was or what he looked like to recognize him. Then I added, “But he doesn’t look a thing like Yogi Bear!” I was so disappointed.