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Title: Ten Rings : My Championship Seasons by Yogi Berra, Dave Kaplan ISBN: 0-06-051381-0 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 02 September, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Yogi Berra tells the story behind each of his "Ten Rings"
Comment: I feel that I can make the claim that Yogi Berra is the most beloved living baseball player, without the same sort of argument I would get if I happened to be making a claim about the greatest living baseball player (Mays or Bonds or Aaron?) or the most admired living baseball player (Musical or Ryan or Aaron?). But who else brings a big smile to your face when you see him still doing commercials on television almost four decades after he retired from playing baseball?
"Ten Rings: My Championship Seasons" was written by Yogi with Dave Kaplan, a former newspaper reporter who is currently the director of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, and you have the sense that Yogi was looking at his scrap books and press clippings talking about what he remembers from each of the ten seasons in which he and the Yankees won the World Series. Yogi also comments on the four years the Yankees lost the Fall Classic and the three years they did not even win the American League pennant, but the focus is mainly on what those ten seasons that ended with him receiving one of his "Ten Rings."
I have read most of the books by and about Yogi since I was given a copy of Joe Trumbell's biography in the mid-1960s, and I was rather surprised by how many new stories Yogi came up with for this trip down memory lane. Especially interesting "Ten Rings" are what he has to say about Casey Stengle during the 1949-53 seasons when the Yankees became the first team to win five World Series in a row, and his thoughts about the Brooklyn Dodgers during all their classic confrontations in the 1950s. He also provides some nice details on the end of Allie Reynolds's second no-hitter in 1951. Some readers might be dismayed that Berra has little bad to say about his teammates and opponents, although I think it is clear he felt about Yankee GM George Weiss the way many feel about the team's owner George Steinbrenner today, but clearly Yogi is long past holding grudges. He talks about some of the abuse heaped on him in the early days of his major league career and speaks modestly about his own impressive career accomplishments.
If you read between the lines the key thing you will pick up is the sense of teamwork and professionalism that existed on the Yankees during the Berra years. This book will be of some value to baseball historians in that it contains Yogi's thoughts on the key players in each championship season as well as some interesting anecdotes that show a different side of the Yankees. For example, Mickey Mantle thought calling pitches was not that hard so Yogi lets him do it during a game Whitey Ford is pitching. Then there is rookie Gil McDougald making a point to veteran pitcher Allie Reynolds. So there are a few choice tales in this rather brief book.
In the fifth grade there were three of us with the same first name and since I had a catcher's mitt, I spent a year as Yogi. It did not matter that Yogi had already retired and that I had never seen him play. I liked New York as a city and the Yankees in the Civil War, so becoming a New York Yankees fan seemed like a good idea. The fact that they had a catcher with basically the same first name and a last name starting with the same three letters as my own, was too obvious to ignore. Since then I have become much more impressed by what Berra did on the field, much more than the celebrated Yogi-isms (although I love the way the best of those make perfect sense if you pay attention to what is meant rather than what is being said). Clearly I am at the point where I will read anything Yogi happens to write, and while we are not talking classic baseball books, you are not going to be disappointed by "Ten Rings" or any of his other volumes.
Final Notes: Yes, the page numbers are superimposed on a miniature image of Yogi's ring for that particular championship season. Also, I find it somewhat ironic that the cover is done in a layout rather reminiscent of the 1965 Topps baseball cards, which was the first year in which Yogi was pictured as a player-coach for the New York Mets. The back of "Ten Rings" has an Appendix listing Yogi Berra's World Series Career Records along with his season and post-season batting stats along with line scores for all of the World Series games for those ten championship seasons.
Rating: 3
Summary: breezy fun
Comment: This light reminiscence of Yogi's ten championship seasons is a quick, pleasant read. Like a fleshed out magazine article, perhaps, it touches on a bit of history, a few sketches of famous teammates, and a recounting of the high spots of this charming hall of famer's career. A good choice for the younger fan with no memory of the game as it was in a simpler time.
Rating: 4
Summary: Yogi writes about much more than his funny one-liners
Comment: Reading 'Ten Rings' is simple fun. It's about 212 pages that feel like 80. The book has a brief introduction to Yogi's life before becoming a Yankee. There are ten chapters - one for each World Series championship season Yogi enjoyed as a Yankee - and then Yogi wraps up with a few more observations on baseball and his life.
What else are you going to get from Yogi's 'Ten Rings?' The best aspect of the book is Yogi's appraisal of two things. First, Yogi offers glimpses into the personalities of people like Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, and other Yankees. There is no tell-all or in-depth analysis of their lives, just simple commentaries on them as ballplayers and teammates. By focusing on these friends and teammates, he tries to pass on what it meant (and still means today) to be a New York Yankee and a winner. Occasionally he'll stray to comparing those ballplayers to some of today's, something he could have done much more of to add a bit more depth to the book.
Next, Yogi turns the focus back on himself. Here he is more frank - and still funny - than I expected. In each championship season he highlights the accomplishments anyone would be proud of, whether it's hitting .300 or driving in 100 RBIs. Yogi's not boastful in any way, but reading about his 'Ten Rings' you do get the sense of how underrated he was even back then. Most baseball people didn't give him enough credit unless he was winning a World Series, hitting a home run, or taking home three American League MVP awards.
'Ten Rings' is more amusing than hilarious. Yogi talks about his Yogi-isms but doesn't dwell on them. For a good laugh he has written other books filled with that stuff. This is just a simple read. I read it on three successive nights before going to bed...and I don't even like the Yankees.
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Title: The Proudest Yankees of All: From the Bronx to Cooperstown by David Hickey, Kerry Keene ISBN: 1589790081 Publisher: Taylor Pub Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Pride of October: What it Was to Be Young and a Yankee by Bill Madden ISBN: 044652932X Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Me and My Dad : A Baseball Memoir by Paul O'Neill, Burton Rocks ISBN: 0060524057 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It! Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes by Yogi Berra ISBN: 0786867752 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 23 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: What Time Is It? You Mean Now? : Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All by Yogi Berra ISBN: 0743237684 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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