Yogi: The Life & Times of an American Original

by Carlo DeVito

A major authoritative biography of one of the greatest catchers in the history of the game—and the greatest living New York Yankee—presents Yogi Berra as he has never been seen before. Sifted from more than 4,000 newspaper and magazine articles, interviews, papers, and hundreds of memoirs and biographies, this compilation examines one of the most competitive players of his generation and one of the most unique men in baseball history.

Genres: Baseball, Biography, Sports, History

412 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Carlo DeVito is a long time wine lover, and author of books and magazine articles. He is the author of Wineries of the East Coast. He has traveled to wine regions in California, Canada, up and down the east coast, France, Spain and Chile. He was also a publisher at Running Press Book Publishers, where he published books from Wine Spectator, as well as books with Greg Moore (of Moore Bros.), Matt Kramer, Howard Goldberg, and many other wine writers. He is currently VP, Editorial Director of Sterling Epicure where his authors also include Kevin Zraly, Oz Clarke, Tom Stevenson, Terry Walters, The Fabulous Beekman Boys, and the Edible Communities cookbook program.

Mr. DeVito has also been the editor of many successful traditional trade books, including Strange Fruit by David Margolick, On the Shoulders of Giants by Stephen Hawking, and three titles by Malachy McCourt. Other authors include John and Mary Gribbin, Thomas Hoving, Philip Caputo, E. O. Wilson, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., John Edgar Wideman, Stanley Crouch, Dan Rather, Dee Brown, Susie Bright, and Eleanor Clift.

He is also the author of more than 15 books, including his highly acclaimed biographies of D. Wayne Lukas, Wellington Mara, Yogi Berra, and Phil Rizzuto.

He lives with his wife, pet publisher Dominique DeVito, and their two sons, on their farm, the Hudson-Chatham Winery in Ghent, NY.

Reviews

[Bobby Smieszny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this was a really enjoyable read. It was fun to hear about Yogi growing up in St Louis, and his journey into Major League Baseball. His Yankee years are well covered, but honestly I enjoyed reading about his time with the Mets more. As this is a biography, and not a memoir, it did feel as though there was something missing when his relationships with DiMaggio, Mantle, Martin & Steinbrenner are discussed. But all in all a solid read for baseball fans.

[Mason Pappaceno · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned quite a bit about Yogi's early years that I never knew, especially more about his relationship with Joe Garagiola. A fun read for baseball fans of a certain age (especially if they were Yankee fans as a kid)

[RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN · Rating 4 out of 5]

RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “ANY TRUE BASEBALL FAN WILL ENJOY “YOGI’S” LIFE STORY!”
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** BASEBALL HALL OF FAME ** 3 MVP AWARDS ** 21 WORLD SERIES (14 AS A PLAYER – 2 AS A MANAGER – 5 AS A COACH) ** 10 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS AS A PLAYER – 3 AS A COACH ** 15 ALL STAR GAMES ** 285 LIFETIME AVERAGE ** 358 HOMERUNS ** 1,430 RUNS BATTED IN **
That is YOGI BERRA!
** “NOBODY GOES THERE ANYMORE; IT’S TOO CROWDED!” ** “IT AIN’T OVER TILL IT’S OVER.” ** “ALWAYS GO TO OTHER PEOPLE’S FUNERALS; OTHERWISE THEY WON’T COME TO YOURS.” ** “BASEBALL IS 90 PERCENT MENTAL THE OTHER HALF IS PHYSICAL.”
This also is YOGI BERRA!
I am not a Yankee fan, but I am an “old-school” baseball fanatic. And any true “die-in-the-wool” baseball fan will enjoy this detailed recollection of when baseball truly was the “National Pastime”. This biography covers Yogi and his family’s life from the time his Italian parents landed on Ellis Island. It chronicles his growing up in a mostly Italian American neighborhood up on “The Hill” in St. Louis, where one of his best friends was a mediocre future Major Leaguer, who would hit it big in radio and TV Joe Garagiola. Joe’s future success was neatly packaged around stories of his youthful days with Yogi on “The Hill”. Yogi’s Father Pietro was hard working, loving and a stern disciplinarian in the house. He thought playing baseball was a waste of time, and of course no way to make a living. Yogi’s three older brothers, Anthony, Mike, and John, were all good baseball players and had been offered tryouts and contracts with professional teams. But Pietro would not hear of it and did not allow it. When Yogi was in the eighth grade he had no use for school and wanted to quit school and go after his dream of playing Major League baseball. Though Yogi feared his Father’s wrath he confronted him with his desire and dream. It became a family war that eventually even included the family’s priest. Pietro finally relented as long as Yogi got a regular job to contribute to the family’s livelihood while he tried to get a baseball contract. Yogi sold newspapers, where his favorite customer was his baseball idol (And my mother’s favorite player.) Joe “Ducky” Medwick. He also had a few factory jobs. Then he was signed by the New York Yankees, and the rest as they say is history. When he reached the big leagues, Joe DiMaggio was the undisputed leader of the team but within a few years as Joe’s career came to an end the Yankee torch was passed from Joe to Yogi. A lot of baseball revisionists say it went from DiMaggio to Mantle but that isn’t so. The history of uncrowned Yankee leadership actually went from Ruth to Gehrig to DiMaggio to Berra to Mantle. Yogi not only became known as one of the greatest clutch hitters in history, but he was also one of the greatest “bad ball” hitters in history, so it was extremely tough to pitch to him in crucial situations. His ten world championship rings as a player is unmatched in the annals of baseball history. One extremely sad part of this story is all the abuse Yogi took because of his looks and “supposed” lack of intellect. Yet he is probably the most successful Yankee in history after his playing days. This story also conjures up many of the old fan rivalries of the 40’s and 50’s between the Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers. Since the Dodgers and Yankees played each other seven times in the World Series during this period there is a lot of information about Yogi’s competition with Roy Campanella, another catcher with 3 MVP’s right across town in Brooklyn, and some wonderful quotes by Jackie Robinson as to Yogi’s greatness. This story covers it all from Casey Stengel to Yogi’s refusing to return to Yankee stadium for fourteen years after his firing by George Steinbrenner. Yogi was one hell of a ballplayer and reading about it was “LIKE DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN!”

[Chuck Neumann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yogi: The Life Times of an American Original by Carlo DeVito is a fine biography of Yogi Berra. It spends a lot of time on Yogi's boyhood. I knew he was raised by Italian immigrant parents on "Dago Hill" in St. Louis, but this biography gives a more detailed account of his childhood. It also spends a great deal of time on his teenage years, forcing a showdown with his father over playing baseball for a living, striving for a professional contract equal to his boyhood friend Joe Garagiola and his time in the minors and World War II. He paints a picture of a young man taunted by others for his looks (short, homely) and lack of education. While I knew many writers didn't feel Yogi "looked like a Yankee" I didn't know it was that bad. Still, Yogi married an attractive woman well before he became a famous player and was friends with many well educated men, so I don't believe Yogi was that hurt by the comments. The early years of Yogi's career are covered in great detail, which kind of created a problem for me. Later in the book, the author skims over the years. He mentions nearly every TV appearance he made in the 1950's, yet doesn't mention a TV series where Yogi rated movies while he was a coach with Houston in the late 1980's. He goes into great detail Yogi's work with Yoo Hoo chocolate drink in the 1950's but doesn't mention his GEICO commercial seen by millions in the 2000's. It almost seemed to me that the author had to fit the story into 350 pages and realized by page 250 he was still in the early 1960's and he had to skim through the next forty years to fit it all in. I don't mean the book was not very good, it is very good, but I feel it could have been better paced. I highly recommend this book to fans of baseball and Yogi, and who isn't.

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was worthwhile because it gave me a good feel for Yogi the person and his life.
But there are other better ones about and by Yogi, in my opinion.

I really want to read Yogi. A Life Behind a Mask, and am still waiting for it from the library.
I was #5 for 3 copies for several weeks - months? -, then the library got a fourth copy of the book.
Today I'm #2. I think some people are holding on to those first 3 copies. I guess they like it.
My brother read it and says it's terrific.

While waiting, to pass time during 2020, I got other Yogi books, including this one, The Life and Times... But I'd rather review the others.

I really love Yogi's famous sayings. I've listed one I'm reading now that's all about those sayings - When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It! Since I can't review that book until I've finished it, I'll just comment her that each short chapter is a few words on life by Yogi. Each one is entitled one of his famous sayings. His warmth comes through clearly in this book, When you Come to a Fork...

[Jonathan Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.audible.com/listener/ATLA4...

[carl theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baseball stars such as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe Dimaggio
and Yogi Berra have each inspired a dozen, or two, biographies.
Yogi's story does not have the tabloid appeal of wild, carousers
like Ruth and Mantle, or the "wrapped to tight" celebrity of
a Dimaggio, so there there are no scandals to dig into, no
dalliances or marriages to movie stars or fortunes lost.

Author DeVito tells a straightforward story about a
straightforward kind of guy who grew up in the immigrant
neighborhood of 1920 America and played a game that a hard
working parents only considered a waste of time.

Naturally there's plenty of baseball in the is tale, though I liked
that the story starts in this childhood, takes him through
his young adulthood and time in the Navy during World War 2.

Throughout the book DeVito compares and contrasts Yogi
(no one calls him Berra) to his childhood friend, Joe Garagiola
who also became a big league catcher but after initial success
on the ballfield, went on to a broadcasting career, for which
he is better known, especially to TV viewers from the 1960s
through the '80s calling the 'Game of the Week'.

This is a good read complete with plenty of Yogisms, whether
he said them, or not.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you come to a fork in the road, take it. Classic Yogi and a real joy to read.

[Tim Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about one of the most beloved Yankee Greats of all time.