My Wrong Mistake

I woke up a week ago today and found out about Yogi Berra's death from my friend Vin on Facebook.  I was really sad as I had always liked Yogi Berra.  I mentioned him and his service to our country in World War II to my classes that day.  And I looked back at the blog and realized that I hadn't included him in my post of my favorite Cold War baseball players.  And then if you check out the post where I completed the All-Jim Team, I added Roy Campanella and Mike Scioscia.  How did I leave Yogi Berra out?  Terrible job by me in that scenario.  Mike Scioscia did play an important role on the 1988 Dodgers, but he's been the manager of the Angels long enough that he's getting bumped for Yogi.  So let me edit my favorite Cold War players list.  I like Joe Torre more for his role as a manager than as a player (although he did have a great line after hitting into a record four double plays in a game: "I'd like to thank Felix Millan for making of of this possible" after Felix Millan had four singles in that game).  And Duke Snider is one of the three greatest Dodgers of all time so he's staying at number 5.  I'll put Campanella at number 6 and Berra at number 7 in between Campanella and Torre.

Let's review the All-Jim Team:

Starting Lineup:

1.  Jackie Robinson 2B
2.  Derek Jeter SS
3.  Babe Ruth RF
4.  Ted Williams LF
5.  Lou Gehrig 1B
6.  Ken Griffey Jr. CF
7.  Joe Torre 3B
8.  Roy Campanella C
9.  Sandy Koufax P

Other Pitchers: Grover Cleveland Alexander, Walter Johnson, Johnny Podres, Roy Halladay, Mariano Rivera, Clayton Kershaw, Orel Hershiser

Other Outfielders: Stan Musial, Duke Snider, Hank Aaron, Torii Hunter Sr.

Other Infielders:  none

Backup Catcher:  Yogi Berra

That's 21 players.  I took Matt Kemp off because he's not on the Dodgers anymore.  Gil Hodges was my other infielder.  He's a great Dodger, but I have to give Keith Hernandez a spot.  I have to.  Jose Canseco was on the list, but he's permanently suspended and I gave Tony Gwynn his spot (I wanted to give Andre Ethier Kemp's spot, but I have enough outfielders).  I need a middle infielder and I want another pitcher.  I had added Don Drysdale, but if Zack Greinke helps the Dodgers win the World Series this year, he's getting that spot.  So that leaves one spot for a middle infielder.  It's too early to give it to Corey Seager (but that could change soon also).  It's between Rogers Hornsby, Honus Wagner, and Pee Wee Reese.  Rogers Hornsby is the best of them.  I think Honus Wagner was considered the anti-Ty Cobb and he has the most valuable baseball card of all time.  But Pee Wee Reese was a Dodger and he served in the Navy during World War II.  He gets the spot.  That gives me nine Dodgers and sixteen other players.

Here it is again in an easier form:

Pitchers:  Sandy Koufax, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Walter Johnson, Johnny Podres, Don Drysdale, Roy Halladay, Mariano Rivera, Clayton Kershaw, Orel Hershiser (by the way, I think Kershaw's done enough to take the top spot from Hershiser on my list of favorite post-Cold War players, maybe I'll have another post on Kershaw before the playoffs start)

Catchers:  Roy Campanella and Yogi Berra

Infielders:  Jackie Robinson, Derek Jeter, Lou Gehrig, Joe Torre (he played catcher more than any other position, but he played more combined games at first base and third base combined than catcher), Keith Hernandez, Pee Wee Reese

Outfielders:  Ted Williams, Ken Griffey Jr., Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, Duke Snider, Hank Aaron, Torii Hunter Sr., and Tony Gwynn

Anyway, let's get back to Yogi.  I have a Quote of the Week in my classroom every week.  I was planning on using one from Yogi in October for the playoffs.  I moved that up to this week and rather than just picking one, I picked as many as I could fit on my board.  Earlier this year, I did a post with my 19 favorite Winston Churchill quotes (which turned into 20 because I'm an idiot).  I'll finish this with my 14 favorite Yogi Berra quotes:

14.  "Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded."

13.  "We made too many wrong mistakes." (hence the title of this post)

12.  "Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical."

11.  "Even Napoleon had his Watergate."

10.  "A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore."

9.  "I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did."

8.  "I always thought that record would stand until it was broken."

7.  "I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4."

6.  "You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you."

5.  "You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six."

4.  "If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else."

3.  "It ain’t over till it’s over."

2.  "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

1.  "You should always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise, they won’t come to yours."

Rest in peace, Yogi.  Jackie Robinson was safe.