Yogi Berra May Have Been the Greatest Catcher Ever

Combine hitting and defense and Yogi Berra, who passed away at age 90 this week, may have been the greatest catcher of all time.

I have a couple of Berra's books because how can you not love the guy for his Yogi-isms.

His most popular book was written in 1998 and titled The Yogi Book. "I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said." It was a New York Times Best-seller.

In 2008, he collaborated with Dave Kaplan for "You Can Observe a Lot by Watching." In all, Berra wrote five books, three were co-written by Kaplan.

The Yogi-isms I'll leave for another day. Those eventually overshadowed the fact that Yogi Berra was a super baseball player.

In 19 seasons (before knee savers) he was Most Valuable Player of the American League three times. Berra made a total of 18 All-Star game appearances, including 15 straight.

Career batting average was .285 and he ended his career with 358 homers and 1,430 RBI. He led the American League in assists five times, and during once stretch went 148 consecutive games without an error behind home plate

In 1950 he had one of the greatest seasons a catcher could have. Berra hit .322 with 28 homers and 124 RBI. Joe Mauer had similar numbers in his MVP year of 2009.

Ten World Series championships and four times made the Series but lost. His Yankee teams won the pennant 14 of 17 years..

Berra caught the only perfect game and no-hitter in World Series history. Don Larsen threw the no-no in 1956.

In game three of the 1947 World Series, Berra hit the first pinch hit homer in Series history against the Dodgers

Berra was well known as a bad ball hitter and hit very well in the clutch. Over 19 seasons he struck out only 414 times in more than 8,300 plate appearances.

Like so many ballplayers of his era, Berra had his career interrupted by the war. He served in the Navy and supported the D-Day invasion. In another battle he was hit by a bullet and earned a purple heart.

He and his wife, Carmen, raised three boys: Lawrence Junior, Tim (who played professional football with the Colts) and Dale (a major league infielder).

Former teammate Tony Kubek paid Berra the ultimate compliment in one of the books I have, writing that you knew if you were at third base and Berra stepped to the plate you were going to score. He said, "Yogi's only priority was to get the runner home."

I can't say I became a catcher because of Berra, because he was a bit before my time. During my teenage years I enjoyed watching Johnny Bench and Manny Sanguillen. Bucky Dent and Carlton Fisk were fun to watch. I know my dad really admired Berra for his hard-nosed style.

I took a picture of this picture from The Yogi Book. Berra says after returning from a trip to Italy that Cardinal Spellman presented him with a Christian Youth Organization award and asked Berra if he had an audience with the Pope.

Berra replied, "No, but I saw him." Berra was asked what he said to him. Berra said he really couldn't remember exactly but the Pope said "Hi Yogi" so I said "Hello Pope."

RIP Yogi. I for one will certainly miss you.