Phil (Scooter) Rizzuto, Charlie (King Kong) Keller, and, of course, YOGI BERRA and all the rest of the players were great to us kids looking for autographs. JOE DiMAGGIO was the only exception but, as his brother Dom told me years later, Joe just didn't know how to handle a bunch of shouting kids so he just rode out in a limo instead of walking out with the rest of the players.
Yogi and Scooter Rizzuto were our closest "friends" and, after the games we'd wait for them at the player's exit and they'd talk about the game(s) with us like we were real grown ups. We all learned a lot from them about baseball, (the same with several of the Sox players, especially Johnny Pesky, Verne (Junior) Stephens, Mel Parnell and a few others who would walk over to the fence around the parking lot to sign autographs before leaving in their cars.
Back then my buddies and I used to go to all the games of a Yankee series so we built an on going friendship with these guys. Unreserved grandstand seats were only .60 cents back then and we were even able, now and then, to get "knot hole club" tickets for only .05 cents.
They were so used to seeing us (two hours before the game) while they were warming up around the third base/left field side of the park, that Yogi and Scooter would even look for us. I recall one game we got in late and weren't able to chat with them. After the game Yogi said, "When I didn't see you I figured you were someplace else." Now, as young as we were, and as new as Yogi was to baseball, that was perfectly logical and none of us thought anything of it. It was only years later, after Yogi and his "Yogi-isms" became famous that we thought anything of it. Another one I recall was after one game there was an ice cream vendor outside the park and Yogi bought the three of us an ice cream. He said, "I love ice cream and could eat it all day long unless it was all gone."
One of my fondest memories was in Joe DiMaggio's last season. I told Yogi I had the autographs of the entire Yankee team except for Joe "D." He told me to give him my book and he'd get it signed for me. It was before the game and Joe had just gone into the Yankee's dugout. Yogi went after Joe, who signed it then looked up at me, smiled and nodded as if to say "thank you for asking" then waved as he went back to the locker room. Talk about an incredible memory. Years later I told that story to his brother Dom who said, "Joe was sometime a little shy and/or reserved, especially when it came to kids, so I can picture that very clearly."
Years later, when I had become a sportswriter covering the Sox I got a chance to meet Yogi (when he managed the Yankees,) right in his office after the game. I was with Red Hoffman, the legendary executive sports editor of the Lynn Item who was very close to Yogi. Red said, "Do you remember this guy? He used to hound you 35 years ago when he was a kid." Yogi said, "Of course I do...but you got a lot taller as you grew up." Yogi-isms were now famous and Red used that one in his column the next day. Now I had a new "old friend" and had some great chats with Yogi, now as a grown up, but, you know....he was still the same warm, fun loving friendly guy. Red told me once that Yogi felt the guys were doing him a favor by sharing old stories with him. He was so unaffected by his stardom that all you had to do was mention someone or some thing from years ago and he'd recall those days with a story (as only Yogi could). Once he even said to me, "Thanks for reminding me, those were great times. As I get older there are less and less guys around to remember those days with."
When he said that I started to think, "This is another "Yogi-ism" then realized it wasn't.....It was Yogi talking right from his heart...AND, it DID make sense.
Yogi Berra may have passed away but in his 90 years he brought so much joy, happiness, great memories to so many people, especially THIS reporter, he'll be in our hearts FOREVER.........