YOGI - AS CLOSE TO “PERFECT” AS A MAN COULD BE

Yesterday, the Yankees and the world lost Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra, as he died at the age of 90.  He died on the same exact date that he first wore a Yankees’ uniform in 1946, playing his first game for them shortly after serving in the United States’ Navy during World War II (where he was a heroic gunner's mate on the USS Bayfield, Dwight Eisenhower’s nautical headquarters during the D-Day invasion of France).

As much as I love the Yankees, there are only a few that I place on top of a pedestal and Yogi was certainly one of them; that’s because he was not only one of the greatest catchers of all time, but he was one of the greatest human beings.  I have personally heard many positive words supporting that from a friend of a close family member of Yogi's.  Plus, whenever you listen to interviews with his former teammates, coaches, or even any of his opponents, you hear the passion in their supporting words.  He was so famously loved that  many felt that Hanna-Barbera capitalized on his popularity by naming one of their most successful cartoons, "The Yogi Bear Show", after him - something they later declared to be a coincidence.

From a pure baseball standpoint, here are just 10 of his accomplishments and keep in mind that, for most of them, he is still the only player to have accomplished such feats:

- won 10 World Series Championships (all as a NY Yankee)

- won 3 World Series Championships as a coach (Yankees 1977 & 1978 / Mets 1969)

- achieved the first pinch-hit homerun in a World Series (1947)

- fielded without an error for a full season (only 3 other catchers have achieved that)

- caught & called Don Larsen’s perfect game during the 1956 World Series (no other perfect game has been thrown in a World Series)

- caught & called 2 other no-hitter games - which were thrown by one pitcher, Allie Reynolds (1951)

- played 18 times as an All-Star, doing so for 15 consecutive years

- won an MVP award 3 times (1951, 1954, & 1955) during years Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams played

- had more home runs than strikeouts in a season 5 times (including striking out just 12 times in 597 at-bats during 1950)

- led the Yankees in RBIs for 7 consecutive seasons (1949-1955) during years Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle were on the team

As a man, he was a long-lasting husband for 65 years until his wife (Carmen) died last year. He was also successful as a loving brother, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather; earned a Purple-Heart as a war veteran; and, as noted, was clearly one of the greatest ballplayers in the history of the game.  Yogi’s accomplishments epitomized an American symbol, perhaps more than any other ballplayer has ever done.  Those accomplishments came after his immigrating parents came from Italy to America and struggled for many years, even asking Yogi to quit school in 8^th grade in order to help them survive financially.  I’m sure that upbringing helped develop Yogi’s humbleness throughout his triumphant life.  He opened the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, Montclair, NJ with the goal of it helping to teach children important values such as sportsmanship and dedication on and off the baseball diamond.  (I’ve been to that museum and it’s creditable to Yogi’s intentions.)

Yankees’ fans will never forget his second Yogi Berra Day in 1999 (he was also honored 40 years earlier) when he caught the ceremonial first pitch from none other than Don Larsen.  Yogi then returned and handed Joe Girardi his glove back.  It was eerie because Girardi’s glove went on to symbolically catch yet another perfect game - this time by another Yankees’ pitcher, David Cone.  The Cardinals’ organization should never forget how their general manager (Branch Rickey) chose to sign Joe Garagiola, not Yogi Berra.

Today, I mourn the loss of Yogi, with the constant vision of his leap into the arms of Don Larsen to celebrate a perfect game; but, I can now envision his present leap into the arms of an eternal life even more perfect.  Thanks Yogi.

Of course, I have to end this article with some of the infamous Yogi-isms attributed to Yogi’s clever quotes; enjoy:

“It ain’t over till it’s over.”

“No one goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.”

“It's déjà vu all over again.”

“Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours.”

“If you see a fork in the road, take it.”

“The future ain’t what it used to be.”

“You can observe a lot by watching.”

“We made too many wrong mistakes.”

“You can observe a lot by watching.”

“I really didn’t say everything I said.”

“90 percent of the game is half mental.”

NEARING THE FINISH LINE

With approximately 20 games left for the MLB teams, it’s time for a last review of what is anticipated in the final weeks of regular-season baseball.  Of course, we’ll start with the Yankees:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Eastern Division:  The Yankees not only lost Mark Teixeira for the season, (so much for the Atlanta & NY doctors determining the bone wasn’t broken), but they’ve just finished losing 3 out of 4 to their only American League East competitors, the Toronto Blue Jays.  Tonight, after avoiding Toronto’s 4-game sweep, the NYY are 3 games behind the Blue Jays in the all-important loss column.  The NYY are looking way too lethargic.  They are lucky that they still have 3 games left to face the Blue Jays, but it may be too late if they don’t find a way to physically energize themselves!  Plus, the Blue Jays look unstoppable as they have been defeating everyone in sight ever since their major acquisitions (especially David Price) right before the trading deadline.  Ironically, as of now, the Yanks are just as far ahead in the wildcard race as they are behind in the division race.  So, their chances of making the playoffs are still above fair as long as they go back to winning more games than they lose!

Western Division:  The Houston Astros are barely leading this division over the Texas Rangers, while the Los Angeles Angels are hovering under a few games below the top.  It’s still anybody’s lead to be had and this division offers the only true 3-team race.

Central Division:  The only team with a comfortable first-place lead within the American League is the Kansas City Royals.  They currently lead their division by a whopping 11 games! 

The other contenders in the American League besides the Yankees, Blue Jays, Astros, Rangers, Angels, and Royals include the Indians and Twins - that’s because MLB has 2 wildcard opportunities.  Of course I’m rooting for the Yankees to win but, based on today’s records, the Royals have the advantage and if no one calms down the Blue Jays’ massive offense, they will homer their way into the pennant.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Eastern Division:  Of course, I have to start with New York’s other team, the Mets.  They have completely turned their season around thanks to the moves they made prior to the trading deadline and the “move” they chose not to make for the wrong reason.  The main players they acquired were Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson, and Tyler Clippard and each have contributed (especially Cespedes); but, what really woke them up was the last-minute decision by their GM, Sandy Alderson, to pull back their attempted trade of their second baseman/shortstop, Wilmer Flores, for centerfielder Carlos Gomez.  Most believe, including me, that they finally realized the prospective acquisition of Gomez was going to cost them too much money (a noun that affects the Wilpons like kryptonite affects Superman).   After Flores found out from the fans that he had been traded, he cried and eventually (during that game) his manager/uninformed Terry Collins had to take the emotional Flores out of the game.  Once the Mets changed their mind and pulled back the pending deal (claiming health concerns with Gomez), the Mets united as a “team” and the fans began to go nuts every time Flores came to bat thereafter.  Collectively, with the Flores issue and the acquisitions, the Mets have become one of the most winning teams.  While they have successfully beaten up on such weak teams as the Braves and the Phillies, they have also annihilated the Nationals (the most disappointing team in all of baseball).  As of today, the Mets have practically won their division with a dominating 9-game lead in the loss column.

Western Division:  The Los Angeles Dodgers are currently leading the defending champions, the San Francisco Giants, by 8 games in the loss column.  That gives them a most-probable position of victory.

Central Division:  The National League’s Central competition is between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates.  While the Cardinals have been maintaining the best record in baseball for long time, they have not been playing too well lately.  On the other hand, the Pirates have been playing very well.  The Cardinals’ 2-game lead (again, based on the loss column) over the Pittsburgh Pirates makes the NL Central a very tight race.

The only other contender in the National League besides the Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Cardinals, and Pirates is the Chicago Cubs.  The Mets have been the hottest team as of late, but they haven’t proven that they can dominate strong teams as they’ve had their way with the Braves, Phillies, and Nationals.  I personally like the Pirates as a whole team, but no one can discount the fact that the Cardinals have the best record in baseball, or the fact that Giants have excelled in the last few years during playoff contention time.  

ENABLE THE DISABLED LIST

As most MLB fans know, if a Major League player incurs an injury, his team has the option to place him on one of the designated disabled lists.  The activating date/term would standardly qualify the day after the injured player last played.  If the player continues to be inactive (essentially becoming a spectator) since he last played, his team would then have the option to begin the disabled list’s timeframe in a retroactive manner, but the retroactivity cannot exceed 5 days prior to the date they place the player on the list. 

For instance, if a player last played on August 15th, but the team contemplated their decision until August 23rd, then the team can’t choose to begin the player’s disabled time from August 15th because more than 5 days have passed.  The team would have to instead begin the activation date within the current 5 days.  In the aforementioned example, the team could either choose August 23rd as the activation date or they can choose any of the 5 days prior to August 23rd (in other words, no earlier than August 18th).

MLB has 3 disabled lists for teams to choose from:

7-day disabled list:

This option offers a 7-day period which can only be used for players diagnosed with concussions or concussion-like conditions.

15-day disabled list:

This option is most commonly used by teams. It is typically utilized for what is believed to be a minor injury.

60-day disabled list:

This option is obviously used for major injuries or conditions.  Common examples include broken bones, surgeries, or severe bruises or sprains.

Placing a player onto any of the above lists correlates to one or both of the team's rosters, where the player would be transferred from the roster(s) to the disabled list.  Then, upon the vacated spot, the team would gain an opening/inclusion spot for an uncounted player.

To expound more about the rosters, here are basic definitions of the two types:

25-man roster:

This roster comprises of the 25 players officially listed to the umpires before the start of each MLB game.  Most teams will typically designate 12 pitchers and 13 hitters to form the total, but teams are not confined to any specific integers to form the sum.  They can interchange the breakdown of players named before each game.  Since I am writing this in September, it's worth noting that the 25-man roster can actually have more than 25 players only from September 1st through the last day of the 162-game season.  That allows teams to include some minor league players to help rest their regulars and also offers teams and their fans to see some of their potential stars in a Major League game.

40-man roster:

This is basically the 25-player team as described above with an additional 15 players.  This roster is crucial for the present and future of a team as it designates the 40 players a team considers their best.  Players that aren't included on this roster are vulnerable to other teams' acquisitions, in certain conditions.

Now that you've (hopefully) read and (with aspirin) understood the above, I can begin my gripe.  Why do teams constantly avoid placing players onto the 15-day disabled list?  If a player's injury is questionable and he can't physically play for more than a few days, the team becomes somewhat crippled.  Of course, teams that aren't competing don't overly care; but, to competitive teams it's a huge disadvantage in close-scoring or extra-inning type of games.  They are essentially playing with only 24 players.  Additionally, if the injured player is a pitcher, being a player short could consequentially strain the pitching staff in a domino effect for their team’s forthcoming games.

Now, at last, I get to write about my disabled list gripe:  Today, the Yankees finally placed Mark Teixeira on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to August 27th).  His injury occurred all the way back on August 17th, when he fouled off a pitch into his right leg/shin.  That day, the doctors took x-rays and declared that Teixeira did not have a broken bone.  As days/games passed, the Yankees continued to analyze Teixeira’s condition on a daily basis, while playing games without the 25th player, so to speak.  Then, on August 25th (over a week after the incurred injury) Teixeira convinced the Yankees that he was able to play.  The Yankees foolishly obliged, later finding out that Teixeira’s judgment was wrong as he couldn’t bear the pain that day.  Listening to Teixeira, was the Yankees second mistake!

Their first mistake was much worse!!  They failed to place Teixeira on the disabled list initially.  8 days is way too long to compete with essentially 24 players while their opponents had 25.  Then, as a third mistake, they continued to play even more games without Teixeira able to play.  Again, the 25-man roster did expand a few days ago, but one can argue that the Yankees disabled themselves for the 17 days Teixeira was unavailable as a player!

While the Yankees are usually overprotective when it comes to reinstating or enabling their potentially recovered players, this was an instance where they uncharacteristically and clearly misjudged Mark Teixeira’s condition…twice.  As a Yankees’ fan, their failed actions clearly disappointed me.  Even if the doctors’ diagnoses are at fault regarding Teixeira’s condition, the final playing decision ultimately falls under the Yankees’ responsibility.  I expected them to act with over-precaution, as they usually do, especially for a player like Teixeira who has a medical history of taking longer than most to heal.

The Yankees and almost all of the MLB teams constantly fail to utilize the 15-day disabled list and, instead, contemplate too long.  We all make mistakes and so do our favorite teams; but, repeating the same mistake is unfathomable to me.  As a fan of a competing team (and especially as a fan of the Yankees), every win/loss can factor into making the regular or wildcard playoffs and can sometimes determine home-field advantage.  I'd rather take a chance on the negative repercussions of placing a player on the 15-day disabled list too early than the much greater repercussions of not!!!  Enable the disabled list!