Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry and Baseballs’ Greatest Gift
By Harvey Araton
Published (2012) by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ($26.00)
Take a first look at the cover of Driving Mr. Yogi and you’ll see two major league ballplayers, two Yankee all-stars and two sports celebrities. Take another look after you’ve begun your passage through the book and you’ll see much more. You’ll see two friends from different backgrounds and even different generations, brought together by a shared passion for baseball in general and Yankee baseball in particular – but even more closely bonded by mutual respect and genuine caring.
The book – a light (240-page), fun and feel-good summer read – ultimately is as much about friendship and loyalty as it is about baseball.
The tale begins in Yankee spring training 1999, when Yogi Berra returns to the Yankee-fold after a 14-year feud with team owner George Steinbrenner over the circumstances of Berra’s firing as Yankee manager. Guidry is asked to pick up Berra at the airport and, despite the age difference – at 74 Berra was 15 years Guidry’s senior – the two hit it off. The Berra/ Guidry camaraderie (including the annual airport pickup) becomes a true “right of spring.”
From 1999 forward, Guidry, a star in his own right, (14-year career with 170 wins and 91 losses, including 25-3 in 1978) picks up Berra at the airport in his Ford pick-up, on-time and ready to carry Berra’s luggage. During spring training, Guidry pretty much serves as Berra’s chauffer and not just from the hotel to the ballpark and back – to dinners (at Berra’s favorites), shopping malls, and the golf course. The book, however, is not about the excursions themselves, but about what Berra and Guidry learn about and from each other as their friendship grows. And, as Berra ages, Guidry’s role expands from chauffeur to protector (and always best friend.)
Driving Mr. Yogi is not always an easy task. Berra is a stickler for punctuality – on time means early and he is quick to voice his displeasure at being late. Yogi is also a creature of habit and routine, as Guidry puts it, no matter what the activity “Everything’s got to be just the way it was last time and the time before that.”
Guidry, however, knows just how to deal with Yogi – mixing the correct amounts of reverence and irreverence, in a way only true friends can. He knows when to cajole, when to tease, when and how fast to give in, how to get a smile from Berra (who when it came to grins was known for not wasting any) and, most important, when and how to say no to Berra when he wants to push himself a little too far. He also understands that Berra is a man who cares deeply about the others, who wants to earn his way and is committed to doing the right things the right way – all the time.
Oh, there’s plenty of baseball in this book as well. The drama of Yogi Berra Day (July 18, 1999) at Yankee Stadium, when all of fandom became aware that Yogi’s feud with Yankee owner George Steinbrenner was officially over. Araton takes us there as Yankee old-timer Don Larsen (who, in 1956, pitched the only perfect game in World Series history) throws out the first pitch to his battery mate for the masterpiece, Berra. Then, Araton takes us along for the tension-filled ride as Yankee pitcher David Cone tosses a perfect game of his own on this oh-so-perfect day for the Yankee faithful.
Araton alsp gives insight into other giants of Yankee lore, like Joe DiMaggio who wanted to be the last Yankee introduced at Yankee celebrations and “demanded reverence from everyone within a 200-mile radius.”
Sprinkled through the book, you’ll also find gifts for fans of Yogi’s renowned malapropisms (Yogi once described his reason for avoiding a certain St. Louis restaurant with the observation, ”Nobody ever goes there any more, it’s too crowded.”) Araton shares gems like Yogi’s comment during ceremonies at a Yankees’ Old-Timers game when the names of former Yankees who were deceased scrolled across the scoreboard – “I hope I never see my name up there.”
But mostly, this is a book about friendship, integrity, compassion, loyalty, humility and humanity. At one point in the book, Berra – who could be stubborn and set in his ways – is described as an individual who could “charm the melancholy out of anyone.” This book and its very real leading characters can do the same.
BBRT sees Driving Mr. Yogi as a good read about a couple of really good people. The baseball tie is just the icing on the cake.
