Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra (May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–63, 1965) (all but the last for the New York Yankees). He was an 18-time All-Star and 10-time World Series champion as a player. Berra had a career batting average of .285, while compiling 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. He is one of only five players to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award three times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. Yogi Berra was a native of St. Louis, and signed with the Yankees in 1943 before serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II. He made his major-league debut at age 21 in 1946 and was a mainstay in the Yankees’ lineup during the team’s championship years beginning in 1949 and continuing thru 1962. Despite his short stature (he was 5′ 7″ tall), Berra was a power hitter and strong defensive catcher. He caught Don Larsen’s perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. After playing 18 seasons with the Yankees, Yogi Berra retired following the 1963 season. He spent the next season as their manager, then joined the New York Mets in 1965 as coach (and briefly a player again). Berra remained with the Mets for the next decade, serving the last four years as their manager. He returned to the Yankees in 1976, coaching them for eight seasons and managing for two, before coaching the Houston Astros. He was one of seven managers to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series. He appeared in 21 World Series as a player, coach, or manager and won 13 of them.

The Yankees retired his uniform number 8 in 1972; in an unusual twist, Bill Dickey also wore number 8, and both catchers had this number retired by the Yankees. The club honored him with a plaque in Monument Park in 1988. Berra was named to the MLB All-Century Team in a vote by fans in 1999. For the remainder of his life, he was closely involved with the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, which he opened on the campus of Montclair State University in 1998. Yogi Berra quit school after the eighth grade. He was known for his malapropisms as well as pithy and paradoxical statements, such as “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”, while speaking to reporters. He once simultaneously denied and confirmed his reputation by stating, “I really didn’t say everything I said.” Yogi Berra died at age 90 of natural causes in his sleep in West Caldwell, New Jersey, on September 22, 2015 – 69 years to the day after his MLB debut.