This was one birthday party Willie Randolph wasn’t going to miss. He had something important he wanted to tell Yogi Berra on the icon’s 90th birthday.
“I wanted to tell him I love him,’’ Randolph said Tuesday as nine large birthday candles burned brightly with Yogi sitting by the edge of the table in the theater of the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls, N.J.
“I’m here because I love him, like everybody else,’’ Randolph said.
Who doesn’t love Yogi Berra?
Yogi represents a period and time in sports that is long gone in this age of deflated balls and artificially inflated athletes.
Yogi is loved for so many reasons. There are his Yogi-isms, of course, but there is so much more. Don’t overlook how good a player Berra was; the catcher won 10 World Series rings and collected three MVP Awards with the Yankees.
MLB recently ran a promotion in which fans were asked to vote for the four most impactful players alive. The results will be announced at the All-Star Game.
You could go with a list that features Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds and Johnny Bench. Pitchers Sandy Koufax and Tom Seaver could be on the list as well.
You could put Alex Rodriguez on the list, too, but that is an argument for another day.
I like having a catcher on the list. If you go with Aaron, Mays, Bonds and Bench, you could insert Yogi ahead of Bench.
The numbers for Bench and Berra are similar, but Berra has the edge in many categories. Yogi hit .285 with 358 home runs, 1,430 RBIs, a .348 on-base percentage, a .482 slugging percentage and a .830 OPS.
Bench finished with a .267 average, 389 home runs, 1,376 RBIs, a .342 on base percentage, a .476 slugging percentage and a .817 OPS and two MVP awards.
Agree or disagree, the point is Berra was a tremendous player, and that should not be forgotten. He’s a tremendous person, and that was the theme Tuesday as he was surrounded by friends and family.
Yogi is the most beloved player alive.
The official reason for the celebration was that it was Yogi’s 90th birthday and his World Series rings that were stolen last October were returned in replica fashion by MLB, and he was given all 27 Yankees championship rings.
The stolen rings remain underground as the FBI continues its search.
Yogi’s granddaughter, Lindsay, was by his side. She is his champion, leading the petition charge to get Yogi the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Once 100,000 signatures are collected, this must be a slam dunk.
Yogi is no longer in the position to be interviewed, so I asked Lindsay what he said when he first saw his new collection of World Series rings on display.
Lindsay said her grandfather offered one word: “Pretty.’’
There is something perfect in a Yogi kind of way for selecting that word. Yogi has always seen the beauty of life and baseball — in his own unique way.
Yogi helped everyone.
Randolph remembers walking into the Yankees clubhouse in 1976. The first person who took him under his wing was Lawrence Peter Berra, and then Yogi’s close friend Elston Howard.
“Yogi was there from the beginning,’’ Randolph said. “Yogi and Elston embraced me. They made me feel like a Yankee. I’ve always been grateful for that. That internal love was always there. Even when I became manager of the Mets, Yogi would come over and talk baseball for 45 minutes before games.
“George [Steinbrenner] didn’t like that, but Yogi did it. We had that bond. I’m getting emotional now, but I love the man. He’s the best.”
Randolph added with a smile: “Although he did make me pay for a $35 cab one time as a rookie in Chicago. He’s always stayed Yogi and made you feel you were the part of the family. I’d pay for 20 more cabs if he were around for 20 more years. Yogi is a national treasure.’’
Yes he is. Let’s get that Presidential Medal of Freedom added to Yogi’s collection.