{"id":28115,"date":"2015-09-30T08:26:09","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T15:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/yogi-berra-remembered-at-funeral-by-family-sports-royalty\/"},"modified":"2015-09-30T08:26:09","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T15:26:09","slug":"yogi-berra-remembered-at-funeral-by-family-sports-royalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/yogi-berra-remembered-at-funeral-by-family-sports-royalty\/","title":{"rendered":"Yogi Berra remembered at funeral by family, sports royalty"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTCLAIR, N.J.<\/strong> \u2014 A gold catcher\u2019s mitt was placed on top of his remains. But on a day filled with stories from a lifetime in baseball, Yogi Berra was remembered for being more than one of the game\u2019s greats.<\/p>\n

He was the man who served his country courageously on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in 1944. He was the man who delighted in the joys of family and someone who brought roaring laughter with his words wherever he went.<\/p>\n

The beloved New York Yankees catcher \u2014 a three-time American League MVP and Hall of Famer who played on 10 World Series championship teams \u2014 also brought out sports royalty from all corners to an overflowing church, much in the way he helped fill ballparks for a generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always so good, so honest, so human and so real,\u201d former Yankees manager Joe Torre said in his eulogy. \u201cYou didn\u2019t have to be a baseball fan to know who Yogi was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berra, who in Torre\u2019s words \u201cpersonified the American dream,\u201d died a week ago at 90 years old. He was cremated and his remains were placed by the altar, an American flag prominently displayed.<\/p>\n

Among those at the service were ex-Yankees Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada and club president Randy Levine. Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson, was there as was football Hall of Famer Harry Carson.<\/p>\n

Torre, now MLB\u2019s chief baseball officer, recalled for the gathering at the Church of the Immaculate Conception one of many spring training car trips with Berra. As they were riding along, Berra asked that they pull over.<\/p>\n

\u201cYogi gets out of the car in uniform,\u201d Torre says. \u201cPeople saw him in his No. 8 uniform and were saying, \u2018No, this isn\u2019t happening.\u2019 Yogi went in unassuming and asked, \u2018Can I use your bathroom?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Torre also added to the lexicon that has made Berra a linguistic treasure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were going to play golf together, but then he had to cancel because he said he was shooting a commercial,\u201d Torre said. \u201cI asked Yogi what the commercial was for. He said, \u2018Amtrak.\u2019 It was Aflac. I think Amtrak sent him a check, too. Yogi Berra personified the American dream. You were a champion for every one of those 90 years. \u201c<\/p>\n

Torre called Berra a \u201cgood-luck charm for us\u201d because on the day in 1999 that Berra returned to Yankee Stadium after ending a 14-year feud with late owner George Steinbrenner, David Cone pitched a perfect game. Current Yankees manager Joe Girardi was catching then, using a mitt Berra used to catch a ceremonial first pitch from Don Larsen, the pitcher who threw a perfect game to Berra during the 1956 World Series.<\/p>\n

The good luck didn\u2019t stop there. Torre spoke of a playoff series in Oakland in 2001 when the Yankees lost the first two games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI threw a hat in the bag to go to Oakland, and I was talking to my team before the third game and I was wearing \u2018It Ain\u2019t Over \u2018Til It\u2019s Over\u2019 hat,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember the team meeting and talked about just winning one game. That\u2019s when Jeter had the flip play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Yankees won the pennant that year, but lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series in seven games.<\/p>\n

Torre said Berra\u2019s old friend Joe Garagiola from his St. Louis days \u2014 son Joe Garagiola, Jr. represented his father at the funeral \u2014 used to refer to Yogi as his \u201c3 a.m. buddy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMeaning,\u201d Torre said, \u201che\u2019s the guy who you might not talk to for six months, but you\u2019d get on the phone at 3 a.m. to call and he\u2019d be right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York drew similarities between Berra and a visitor who just left the United States and returned to Rome.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hosted a man named Pope Francis who has simplicity and a loyalty to kindness,\u201d Dolan said. \u201cThink about it. The two have the same smile, the open face, the \u2018Aw shucks\u2019 attitude, the exciting grasp of life. They even have the same big ears. Are they not similar? One\u2019s a pope, the other\u2019s a catcher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolan, an avid baseball fan, ended his homily by melding two of Berra\u2019s most celebrated remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no fork in the road to eternal life,\u201d Dolan said. \u201cIn that respect, it ain\u2019t over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark gave the final blessing. Dolan shared a word with the family before leaving and hugged Berra\u2019s eldest son, Larry.<\/p>\n

There was a military presentation of colors, with two members of the U.S. Navy unfurling a flag while a bugler played \u201cTaps.\u201d The flag was presented to Larry Berra, and Tim Berra carried the remains of his father out of the church.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story has been corrected to show Berra played on 10 World Series championship teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTCLAIR, N.J. \u2014 A gold catcher\u2019s mitt was placed on top of his remains. But on a day filled with stories from a lifetime in baseball, Yogi Berra was remembered for being more than one of the game\u2019s greats. He was the man who served his country courageously on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-28115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28115"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=28115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}