This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Uh This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star. and the American people. Pulitzer Prize winning columnist George Will has written extensively about baseball.
and has said this about America's attraction to it. Sport serves society by providing vivid examples of excellence. One of those examples is New York Yankee catcher and cultural icon, Yogi Berra. Here's George Will. Once I drive, that's coupled.
And Yogidera, don't run high over the screen and into Federal Avenue. It ain't over until it's over. The 90% of this game is half-meddle. When you come to the fork in the road, take it. It's deja vu all over again.
And the Yankees are champions. Look at them. Piggyback riding Boss Cadella. The 18-year-old U.S. Navy enlistee, thinking it sounded less boring than the dull training he was doing in 1944, volunteered for service on what he thought an officer had called rocket ships.
Actually, they were small, slow, vulnerable boats used as launching pads for rockets to give close-in support for troops assaulting beaches. The service on those boats certainly was not boring. At dawn on June 6, 1944, that sailor was a few hundred yards off Omaha Beach. Lawrence Peter Berra, who died at ninety, had a knack for being where the action was. Because he stood, when he stood, as a catcher, he spent a lot of time crouching at baseball's most physically and mentally demanding position.
five foot seven inches He confirmed the axiom that the beauty of baseball is that a player does not need to be seven feet tall or seven feet wide. Fair enough, Wayne's and that one's gonna leave the ballpark.
Well, what do you know? Larry Farah, the Gullum Yogi, his very first time at the plate in the major leagues against the A's. And what does he do? He hits a home hug. The shortstop during Yogi's first Yankee years was an even smaller Italian-American.
150 pound Phil Rosuto listed at a generous 5'6. Yogi had, as sports writer Alan Barra says in his book Yogi Barra Eternal Yankee, the winniness career in the history of American sports. He played on Yankee teams that went to the World Series 14 times in 17 years. He won ten World Series rings. No other player is more than nine.
He won three MVP awards. Only Barry Bonds has more, with seven, but four of them probably tainted by performance-enhancing drugs. In seven consecutive seasons, 1950 through 1956, Yogi finished in the top four in MVP voting. Only Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, 11 NBA championships, five MVP awards, and Henri Richard of the Montreal hockey team. 11 NHL championships have records of winning that exceed Yogis.
Okay. He grew up in what he and others called the Dago Hill section of St. Louis, when the Italian Americans who lived there did not take offense at the name. They had bigger problems. Biographer Alan Barra notes that in an 1895 advertisement seeking labor to build a New York reservoir.
The ad said whites would be paid $1.30 to $1.50 a day. Colored workers $1.25 to $1.40 and Italians $1.15 to $1.25. The term WAP may have begun as an acronym for the phrase without papers. as many Italians were when they arrived at Alas Island. American sports and ethnicity have been interestingly entangled.
The name Fighting Irish was originally a disparagement by opponents of Notre Dame. Which for many years had problems filling its football schedule because of anti-Catholic bigotry. But sports also have been solvents of a sense of apartness felt by ethnic groups. Yeah. In 1923, the sporting news, which for many decades was described as the Bible of baseball, except by baseball fans who described the Bible as the sporting news of religion, called the national pastime the essence of the nation.
Quote, In a democratic, Catholic, real American game like baseball, there has been no distinction raised except tacit understanding that a player of Ethiopian descent is ineligible. the mick, the sheeny, the wop, the Dutch and the chink, the Cuban, the Indian, the Jap, or the so called Anglo Saxon, his nationality is never a matter of moment if he can pitch hit or field. Ah, diversity In nineteen oh eight, the Sporting News said this about a Giants rookie, Charlie Buck Herzog, quote, The long nosed rooters are crazy whenever young Herzog does anything noteworthy. Cries of Herzog, Herzog, Goot Boy, Herzog go up regularly. and there would be no let up even if a million ham sandwiches suddenly fell among these believers in percentages and bargains.
David Moranis, in his biography of Pirate the Pirates Roberto Clementi, the first Puerto Rican superstar. Notes that as late as 1971, Clemente's 17th season, one sports writer still quoted him in phonetic English. Quote, If I have my good arm, the ball gets there a lethal quicker. In 1962, Alvin Dark, manager of the San Francisco Giants, banned the speaking of Spanish in the clubhouse. Today, with three of the most common surnames in baseball being Martinez, Rodriguez and Gonzalez, some managers speak Spanish.
Yogi's great contemporary, the Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, another three-time MVP, was the son of an African-American mother and Italian American father. With two Italian Americans on the Supreme Court, it is difficult to imagine how delighted Italian Americans were with their first national celebrity. the elegant center fielder on baseball's most glamorous team, Joe DiMaggio. the son of a San Francisco fisherman. DiMaggio was big dago to his teammates.
Yogi was little Dago, and became the nation's most beloved sports figure. As Yogis said when Catholic Dublin elected a Jewish mayor, Only in America. I did a great job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler. And a special thanks to George Will for sharing the story of Yogi Bearer. Indeed, Only in America.
Yogi Berry's story. Here. on our American story. Uh This is Lee Habib, host of Our American Stories. Every day, we set out to tell the stories of Americans past and present, from small towns to big cities, and from all walks of life, doing extraordinary things.
But we truly can't do this show without you. Our shows are free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, go to ouramericanstories.com and make a donation to keep the stories coming. That's our American stories. Dot com Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer.
Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's getreal about skincancer.com.
Upgrade to elite checking from America's Christian Credit Union and earn up to 4% APY, plus everyday perks and access to your paycheck up to two days early with early pay. Don't settle. Choose checking that rewards you and aligns with your values. Visit America's ChristianCU.com forward slash iHeart. Minimum balance of one cent required to earn advertised APY.
Early pay not guaranteed. APY equals annual percentage yield. Membership eligibility required. And CUA insured. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea.
If you travel a lot with your dog, like I do with Doug, feeding them well on the road can get surprisingly complicated, especially when you're touring 30-plus cities, staying in hotels, flying, driving, and basically living out of a suitcase. Frozen dog food sounds great until you realize you don't exactly have a freezer backstage. That's why I started bringing Just Fresh from Just Food for Dogs. It's real fresh dog food made with human-grade ingredients with meat and vegetables you can see in the bowl. But the difference is it's shelf-stable, which means I don't need a freezer or a cooler and there's no prep.
So now I can throw a few packs in my bag and Doug still gets a healthy meal wherever we are. Doug absolutely loves it and I like knowing I am feeding my baby something that's actually good for him. It's also the number one vet recommended fresh dog food made without preservatives or fillers. Go to justfoodfordogs.com and get 50% off your first order. Mom, can I have Lingo Kids?
Sats, Lingo Kids, please. When did we become the Lingo Kids house? No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs. This week it's...
Lingo Kids. Why Lingo Kids? Because it's the best thing ever. We can play games with astronauts, wild animals, and superheroes. With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs, and shows, Lingo Kids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids.
So no dinosaurs? And dinosaurs. Maybe our kids. Everything kids love. Download it for free.
