NEW YORK (AP) — Some of the more widely quoted philosophy of Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees Hall of Fame catcher who died Sept. 22 at age 90:
On his approach to batting: “You can’t think and hit at the same time.”
On selecting a restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”
On economics: “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”
On the 1973 Mets: “We were overwhelming underdogs.”
On how events sometimes seem to repeat themselves “It’s deja vu all over again!”
On baseball attendance: “If people don’t come to the ballpark, how are you gonna stop them?”
On a slipping batting average: “Slump? I ain’t in no slump. … I just ain’t hitting.”
On travel directions: “When you come to a fork in the road take it.”
On pregame rest: “I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4.”
On battling the shadows in left field at Yankee Stadium: “It gets late early out there.”
On fan mail: “Never answer an anonymous letter.”
On being told he looked cool: “You don’t look so hot yourself.”
On being asked what time it was: “You mean now?”
On being given a day in his honor: “Thank you for making this day necessary.”
On a spring training drill: “Pair off in threes.”
On his approach to playing baseball: “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”
On death: “Always go to other people’s funerals. Otherwise they won’t go to yours.”
On learning: “You can observe a lot by watching.”
On his team’s diminishing pennant chances: “It ain’t over ’till it’s over.”
On the fractured syntax attributed to him: “I really didn’t say everything I said.”
And a few more Yogisms, courtesy of The Washington Post:
“I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.”
“We made too many wrong mistakes.”
“It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.”
“He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.”
“The future ain’t what it used to be.”
“If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.”
“Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.”