Helpful Score: 1
ISBN 0393062333 If the time was ever right for a good baseball book and a positive Yankee hero, this would certainly be it, with steroids in the headlines and modern day baseball heroes fewer and farther between. A little trip back in time is a good thing sometimes and Yogi's an excellent traveling companion.
Beginning with Yogi's childhood in St Louis, back when he was still just Larry Berra, author Barra reintroduces us to one of the most well-known characters of baseball and reminds us that Berra was much more than the guy who said all those "funny" things. Over his father's almost half-hearted objections, Larry pursued baseball as a career at a time when baseball wasn't the ATM it is now. Yogi's early years in baseball and his service in the Navy are prelude to the career more people know him for: one of the top backstops in the history of baseball, for the greatest dynasty the sport has known. His jobs coaching and managing lead into his retirement from the game, when his family life finally re-emerges into the story, only to fade again in light of the Yogi Berra Museum.
Yogi Berra, often painted the lovable clown, is shown here to be so much more. A war hero; a loving son, husband and father; a reliable friend... and, of course, a baseball player more than worthy of a spot in the Hall of Fame AND his own museum. He was a Yankee, and might be the "eternal Yankee", but Yogi's fame is, oddly, bigger than that team. Even non-fans know the name, even if they can't tell you what team he played for! The author manages to paint a crisp image of a more "innocent" time without boring the reader into a pastel-colored coma and even handles the issues of prejudice - against Yogi/Italian players first, and later against black players - with some skill.
Few biographers are entirely unbiased and Barra isn't an exception. He's a neighbor and, one supposes, a friend of Berra (not a relative, though!) and his admiration is, perhaps, as much personal as it is fan-like. This isn't necessarily a negative; the end product is an old-fashioned biography of the sort that doesn't delve too deeply into Berra's personal life - something I consider a good thing, all in all - but doesn't ignore it completely. His son's drug use is mentioned, but not dwelled on, for example. Good for Barra, for not glossing over a well-known chapter, and for not providing titillating details just for the "tabloid factor".
The negatives: Berra's life with his family and friends gets too little attention. Baseball fans like books that sound like they're written by people who know the game; Barra's frequent use of the clunky-sounding "grand slammer" instead of the more commonly used "grand slam" is awkward and stilted, but it's his only sin as far as language goes. The appendixes are more argument for Berra's crown than useful or even entertaining. My copy (an ARC) has no index, which only means Barra's made a sale to me!
- AnnaLovesBooks
Beginning with Yogi's childhood in St Louis, back when he was still just Larry Berra, author Barra reintroduces us to one of the most well-known characters of baseball and reminds us that Berra was much more than the guy who said all those "funny" things. Over his father's almost half-hearted objections, Larry pursued baseball as a career at a time when baseball wasn't the ATM it is now. Yogi's early years in baseball and his service in the Navy are prelude to the career more people know him for: one of the top backstops in the history of baseball, for the greatest dynasty the sport has known. His jobs coaching and managing lead into his retirement from the game, when his family life finally re-emerges into the story, only to fade again in light of the Yogi Berra Museum.
Yogi Berra, often painted the lovable clown, is shown here to be so much more. A war hero; a loving son, husband and father; a reliable friend... and, of course, a baseball player more than worthy of a spot in the Hall of Fame AND his own museum. He was a Yankee, and might be the "eternal Yankee", but Yogi's fame is, oddly, bigger than that team. Even non-fans know the name, even if they can't tell you what team he played for! The author manages to paint a crisp image of a more "innocent" time without boring the reader into a pastel-colored coma and even handles the issues of prejudice - against Yogi/Italian players first, and later against black players - with some skill.
Few biographers are entirely unbiased and Barra isn't an exception. He's a neighbor and, one supposes, a friend of Berra (not a relative, though!) and his admiration is, perhaps, as much personal as it is fan-like. This isn't necessarily a negative; the end product is an old-fashioned biography of the sort that doesn't delve too deeply into Berra's personal life - something I consider a good thing, all in all - but doesn't ignore it completely. His son's drug use is mentioned, but not dwelled on, for example. Good for Barra, for not glossing over a well-known chapter, and for not providing titillating details just for the "tabloid factor".
The negatives: Berra's life with his family and friends gets too little attention. Baseball fans like books that sound like they're written by people who know the game; Barra's frequent use of the clunky-sounding "grand slammer" instead of the more commonly used "grand slam" is awkward and stilted, but it's his only sin as far as language goes. The appendixes are more argument for Berra's crown than useful or even entertaining. My copy (an ARC) has no index, which only means Barra's made a sale to me!
- AnnaLovesBooks
