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    Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball's Greatest Gift
    Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball's Greatest Gift
    Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball's Greatest Gift
    Audiobook7 hours

    Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball's Greatest Gift

    Written by Harvey Araton

    Narrated by Peter Berkrot

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    It happens every spring. Yankees pitching great Ron Guidry arrives at the Tampa airport to pick up Hall of Fame catcher and national treasure Yogi Berra. Guidry drives him to the ballpark. They watch the young players. They talk shop. They eat dinner together and tease each other mercilessly. They trade stories about the greats they have met along the way. And the next day they do the same thing all over again.

    As every former ballplayer can appreciate, in that routine, every spring, there emerges a certain magic.

    Driving Mr. Yogi is the story of how a unique friendship between a pitcher and catcher is renewed every year. It began in 1999, when Berra was reunited with the Yankees after a long self-exile, the result of being unceremoniously fired by George Steinbrenner fourteen years before. A reconciliation between Berra and the Boss meant that Berra would attend spring training again. Guidry befriended “Mr. Yogi” instantly. After all, Berra had been a mentor in the clubhouse back when Guidry was pitching for the Yankees. Guidry knew the young players would benefit greatly from Mr. Yogi’s encyclopedic knowledge of the game, just as Guidry had during his playing days. So he encouraged him to share his insights. Soon, an offhand batting tip from Mr. Yogi turned Nick Swisher’s season around. Stories about handling a hitter like Ted Williams or catching Don Larsen’s perfect game captured the players’ imagination. And in Yogi, Guidry found not just an elder companion or source of amusement—he found a best friend.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateApr 17, 2012
    ISBN9781469201160
    Author

    Harvey Araton

    Harvey Araton has been a sports columnist for The New York Times since 1991. The author or coauthor of three other books, he lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and two hoop-loving sons.

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    Reviews for Driving Mr. Yogi

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Many baseball fans hate the New York Yankees because, at least until recent years, they seemed to own October, but was there anyone who didn't love Yogi Berra, the Yankees' human mascot whose 10 World Series rings were the most earned by anyone?So, however you may feel about the Yankees, you will probably enjoy "Driving Mr. Yogi," Harvey Araton's 2013 bestseller that focuses on Berra's later years when, with Ron Guidry, another Yankee great, as his driver, protector, dining partner and best friend, he traveled to Tampa every spring to help the team's catchers prepare for the season ahead.Berra actually boycotted the Yankees for a number of years, refusing even to attend any games or appear at Old Timers Day, a Yankee institution. When he had been Yankee manager, he expected to be fired one day. Managers always get fired sooner or later, and usually sooner when working for George Steinbrenner. But Berra objected to the way he was fired, through a third party rather than by Steinbrenner face to face, and after a successful season as well. Araton tells how Steinbrenner finally came to Berra, apologized and invited him back into the fold. The old catcher happily relented and was a Yankee for the rest of his life.Berra, like a lot of old men, was a creature of habit. He liked to eat the same things at the same restaurants on the same day every week, and he wanted to be picked up on time every time. This routine might have driven a lot of companions crazy, but Guidry, whom Berra called Gator because he lives in Louisiana, possessed the right combination of humor, firmness and patience to build a close and lasting relationship. Berra, for all the special privileges he enjoyed, wanted to be treated as just one of the guys, even when he was in his 80s and most of the other guys were in their 20s, and Guidry had the knack for helping the oldtimer fit in.One reason Berra, who died in September at the age of 90, was so well loved was his many quotable lines, like "When you come to a fork in the road, take it" and "A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore." One of his sons once said of him, "He's the most quoted man in the world, and he never says anything." Yes, he rarely had much to say, but young players learned that when Berra did say something to them, it was worth listening to. He possessed a great baseball mind long after his body began to fail him.
    • 5/5
      You don’t have to be a Yankee fan or even a baseball fan to enjoy this tale. Yogi Berra was indeed a legend in baseball, but Ron Guidry was also one of baseball’s outstanding players. This is the story of the friendship that developed when Ron started driving Yogi to the ballpark to watch and advise the young players every spring. Yogi was showing his age, but Ron knew Yogi still had knowledge that would benefit the players. Their unique relationship is just part of this book. There are the recollections of past games and famous plays. There was the 14 year feud with George Steinbrenner that ended with a carefully orchestrated reconciliation. There are the many dinners, award programs, and behind-the-scenes conversations with other players. Yogi was certainly a scholar when it came to anything baseball and usually a gentleman, unless he was righting a wrong. Ron Guidry, though much younger than Yogi also possesses those qualities. This audio book was expertly performed by Peter Berkrot who added much to its enjoyment.
    • 4/5
      I suspect that Driving Mr. Yogi will almost exclusively be read by baseball fans, particularly fans of the love-them-or-hate-them New York Yankees. And that's a shame, because the book is actually a rather beautiful portrayal of love, respect, loyalty, and the powerful impact of mentoring by one generation of another. Yes, as its subtitle makes clear, this is a book about two of the greatest Yankees ever to play the game: catcher Yogi Berra and pitcher Ron Guidry, two men with little in common other than their outstanding ability to play the game of baseball. But playing baseball is the smallest part of this story.Yankee owner George Steinbrenner was not known for his social skills, and Yogi Berra was a man with a long memory and the ability to hold a grudge indefinitely (neither of which make it easy to work for someone like Steinbrenner). Baseball managers are "hired to be fired," of course, and Yogi never objected to the fact that Steinbrenner fired him. But he took offense to how Steinbrenner handled the firing - and refused to return to Yankee Stadium, or speak to Steinbrenner, for fourteen long years. It was the vain Steinbrenner who cracked first, and decided to visit Yogi in New Jersey to work things out.So when Berra arrived in Florida for his first Yankee Spring Training in fourteen years, Ron Guidry, a Berra protégé and sometime Yankee pitching coach, was eager to meet him at the airport to help his old coach get settled in. Little did Guidry know at the time, that this would be the beginning of perhaps the most beautiful friendship he would ever experience. What began as a courtesy on Guidry's part, one stemming from his immense respect for Berra, would evolve into a deep friendship that made the lives of both men better. If the truth were known, it probably made them both better men. But over time, as Berra aged and became feeble, the relationship evolved into one in which Guidry was his friend’s protector, always there to ensure that Yogi did not suffer a crippling fall or otherwise endanger himself. Theirs was almost a father-son relationship.Driving Mr. Yogi might be specifically aimed at baseball fans, but it is also perfect for anyone interested in the aging process or in dealing with an aging parent of their own. The book is filled with insights beautifully presented via the many little personal moments that Ron and Yogi shared with author Harvey Araton. We can all learn something from their story.Rated at: 4.0
    • 4/5
      This is a feel-good book, especially if you were, like me, a kid in New York whose interest in baseball and baseball players only grew stronger after the Dodgers and Giants deserted the city for the Pacific Coast. Not a bad move for baseball, but it meant that thousands of former Dodger fans had to listen to and watch Yankees games to get their baseball fix. I did, from about 1958 to 1962. Then I switched to the Mets, but during those few years, I developed a fan boy's love for those magic names: Ford, Mantle, Berra--sure there were others, but why list them for you? Of them all, I identified the most with Yogi Berra, because of a photograph of him reading a comic. Berra's stature and myth have grown over the decades, and this book is really an ode to him and to the Yankee legends, focusing as it does on Berra's friendship with Ron Guidry with side glances at Berra and Jeter, Berra and Steinbrenner, Berra and Swisher. Araton has let his fan boy out and this book is the result. It's a perfect short summer read between watching your favorite team's games.