Fathers and Sons: The Berras

Written by: Drew Sarver on 14th June 2010

Fathers and Sons: The Berras | read this item

Young boys have many heroes in their lives- athletes, superheroes, cartoon characters, and Dads chief among them. Imagine growing up in a house where the guy you call “Dad” is a baseball great, a Hall of Famer, a living legend. A guy that is bigger than life. That’s what life was like for Dale Berra, son of Yankees legend Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra, growing up in Upper Montclair, NJ.

Dale was born on December 13, 1956, two months after Yogi collected his sixth World Series ring as a member of the New York Yankees. Yogi, already a three-time American League MVP, would collect three more of the baubles before he retired following the 1963 World Series (plus nine plate appearances for the crosstown New York Mets in 1965).

Yogi was everywhere when Dale was growing up. His infamous Yogi-isms were repeated with revelry. He owned local businesses and was a fixture on television and around northern NJ. While Yogi was being inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 1972, Dale was building a pretty good reputation for himself as an athlete at Montclair High School.

Dale was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates (which is kind of ironic when you think of the image of Yogi watching Bill Mazeroski’s home run end the 1960 World Series in Pittsburgh), in 1975. Not only was there the pressure of being Yogi’s son, but Dale was the 20th player selected overall!

While Dale couldn’t come close to matching Yogi’s career (who could?), he did play in parts of 11 seasons and earned a World Series ring of his own as a member of the 1979 Pirates. It would only last a short time, due to George Steinbrenner’s impatience, lack of understanding, and a thousand other reasons, but in 1985, the Berras got the chance to don the pinstripes at the same time.

For the second time in his career, Yogi (who also steered the Yankees to the 1964 AL pennant), was named the Yankees manager prior to the 1984 season. He led the team to an 87-75 record and a third place finish in the AL East.

During the following off-season, the Yankees and Pirates swung a deal that brought Dale, Jay Buhner, and Alfonso Pulido to New York for Steve Kemp and Tim Foli.

There’s pressure playing major league baseball. There’s pressure playing in New York. There’s pressure playing for your father. Dale had to deal with all three factors coming into play in 1985. Unfortunately, the experience would last only 16 games.

Yogi, despite assurances from Steinbrenner, was fired after a 6-10 start to the season. It began a rift that would keep Yogi away from the Yankees and Yankee Stadium until 1999. Many Yankees fans were loyal to their living legend and never forgave Steinbrenner for Yogi’s dismissal even after he returned to the House that Ruth Built.

Dale, of course, was conflicted. His Dad had been fired as manager, but he had to continue to give his best for the Yankees and the new/old manager Billy Martin. Never a big hitter in the majors, Dale was hitting .343 at the time of Yogi’s firing¹ , but finished the season at .229. The 1986 season was no better and Dale was released in July, 1986 and was picked up by the Houston Astros, who had a coach by the name of… Yogi Berra.

Their careers were nothing alike, but perhaps Dale does have a little bit of his Dad in him. “You can’t compare me to my father”, Dale once quipped. “Our similarities are different.”²

1 Dale Berra Wikipedia Entry
2 Dale Berra quote – Baseball Almanac

Drew Sarver is the Yankees content editor and contributor for BaseballDigest.com and blogs at My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and followed on Twitter.

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Topics: American League Mvp, Baseball Hall Of Fame, Baubles, Berras, Bill Mazeroski, Cartoon Characters, Crosstown, Dale Berra, Fathers And Sons, George Steinbrenner, Living Legend, Montclair Nj, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Pinstripes, pittsburgh pirates, Plate Appearances, Upper Montclair, World Series ring, Yogi Berra, Yogi Isms

Leslie says:

June 14, 2010 at 6:37 pm

It must be something to be a son of Yogi.
Fathers and Sons: Wendelstedt | Baseball Digest says:

December 31, 2010 at 2:30 pm

[...] of those names have been discussed right here this week. Names like Veeck, Bannister, Bavasi, and Berra have graced our pages this week. Tomorrow, Matt Wilson will take a look at one of the most famous [...]