I started reading Yogi Berra's book, Ten Rings: My Championship Seasons, and found this far-out factoid: Berra had just won the league MVP award as the Yankees' catcher (in 1951) and got a job with Phil Rizzuto (the team's shortstop) as salesmen at a men's store in Newark. Rizzuto had won the league MVP the season before (1950). This was back in the day when pro ballplayers had to make extra money in the off-season. Can you imagine shopping for a suit and having Jimmy Rollins (2007, NL) and Ryan Howard (2006, NL) measuring you? Or Alex Rodriguez (2007, AL) wearing a sandwich board out front while Justin Morneau (2006, AL) works the cash register inside?
In fact, Yogi measured the sleeve of a 10-year-old kid that off-season and the punk ribbed him with, "Be careful, Yogi. Don't misjudge this like you did that foul ball on Ted Williams."
You may be wondering why I'm reading a book by a Yankee, but the answer is simple: I'm a baseball history fan, and I don't know much about Yogi's on-field acumen, so I was interested. The guy has written a lot of books... but judging from this one, they're not terribly insightful or developed. The book supposedly chronicles his great string of successes (10 World Series titles, 14 WS personal records, 3 MVP awards), but he writes perhaps two pages on each World Series. Very odd.
Author's note: I promise this is not becoming a baseball-only blog. If you miss my antics, read "If I Were a Silverback" from the archives.
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