"He was out!": On Meeting Yogi Berra

Editor's note: I was going through boxes of old photos when I came across this gem. It's a picture of our good friend Jamie Katz in conversation with Yogi Berra. There had to be a story behind this picture so I wrote to Jamie to find out. Here's how he responded:

 

 It was a reception at Columbia University's Faculty House for the Yogi Berra Scholarship Fund, twenty or so years ago, at which Yogi met with members of the baseball varsity. I understand that he established the fund at the suggestion of the former Yankees announcer, Mel Allen, because Lou Gehrig had attended Columbia. Yogi was a sweet guy. We had a nice chat at the reception; I reminisced about playing catch with his sons Tim and Larry at the Yanks' spring training camp in the late 50s, while my stepfather Les Lieber was gathering material for magazine stories about Joe DiMaggio, Casey Stengel and Berra. ("There's No Place Like Home Plate," was the headline on that one). Then I brought up a perennial sore point.

 "So," I asked him, "in the seventh game of the '55 World Series, when Jackie Robinson stole...." 

 

"He was out!!" Yogi said fiercely, before I could finish the question.

It was as if Robinson had stolen home on them the day before. 

 

 

Here's a video of the memorable play:  

-- sdh

Comments

[C. Geronimo]

It would be great to have a hi-def clip of this. Too hard to tell in this grainy film, but Yogi does hold his glove at the plate, maybe a few inches from the tip of the plate; that is, not in front, aggressively reaching to tag JR. Maybe he got penalized for waiting and not pursuing the tag more forcefully. Also, maybe JR got his foot on the plate before Yogi got the tag down a little higher up on the leg (it seems). One of the great controversial calls in the history of the game! (And I would just like to take this opportunity to point out that Ed Armbrister did NOT interfere with Fisk in any way--dancing with Fisk was like dancing with a guy in clown shoes!)