Whittier College's Professor of Religious Studies and Institute for Baseball Studies Co-Director Joe Price shares his thoughts on baseball Hall of Famer Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra and his famous Yogi-isms.
It’s over. The extra innings afforded to Yogi Berra’s life finally reached an end, but his legendary wit and wisdom will endure throughout seasons to come. Yogi achieved iconographic status beyond baseball for his casually uttered aphorisms that occasionally defied logic while revealing the truth of a situation. Two poignant ones come to mind as we mourn his death. “Always go to other people’s funerals. Otherwise they won’t go to yours.” Right now Yogi’s probably in some divine dugout laughing about that one with the friends whose funerals he attended. And in his absence another of his axioms acutely describes our outlook: “The future ain’t what it used to be.” So true. Without Yogi, the future ain’t what it was when he was around.
