It is always Bench and Berra battling for 1 and 2, but for a little while I had Fisk ahead of Berra. I added more to the formula as I thought it would make it better and Berra passed Fisk. In addition, he caught up to Bench a little, but I didn’t add these things to boost Berra.
It is hard to talk about Berra as there is so much written about him. So, I will talk to you abut two things not talked about much. The first is what Jim Bouton thought about him as a manager. He didn’t think much of Berra as a manager. I think a lack of communication was a big complaint about Yogi. However, Bouton did say Yogi had one quality that made a good manager, he was lucky. I think Bouton was saying this tongue in cheek, but also half serious. He had a pitcher of Yogi holding a great poker hand, where he talked about his luck. He also tells the story about the Yankees flying during a bad thunderstorm and fearing for their lives, when they realized that Yogi wasn’t aboard. He was always considered lucky, but he worked hard too. Bill Dickey taught him a lot about catching, but Yogi had to work hard to become better. A lot of pitchers started pitching better when they joined the Yankees. Some of the credit has to go to their catcher who worked with all those pitchers.
Number 2 Yogi Berra versus Yogi Bear. Berra came first. The creators said the name was a coincidence, but Berra might have been on their mind when they named the bear Yogi. It didn’t hurt the bear’s popularity I’m sure. Berra was going to sue, but then was reminded his real name was Lawrence. Why that should play a factor I don’t know. He was known as Yogi for years. However, to me it is just as well that Yogi didn’t sue. He made his money. The bear might have helped him in the long run.
Anyway, Yogi Bear debut on “The Huckleberry Hound Show” before having his own series. As a kid I loved Huckleberry Hound. I had a plastic Huckleberry Hound I always kept around me when I was a kid. I decided as an adult to collect Huckleberry Hound items. One reason, there wasn’t that many, so it would be a cheap hobby. So, I have a lot of Huckleberry Hounds stuff like bobbleheads, pop funko figure, giant pop funko figure, small figurines from friends, pez candy holder, stuff Huckleberry, kid books and a lot of comic books. Oh yes, I have the Huckleberry Hound game. I figure I have one of the largest Huckleberry Hound collections in the Country. I figure that because I don’t think many of us collect Huckleberry Hound items.
