By TYLER KEPNER
NEW YORK TIMES
BRADENTON, Fla., March 13 턠It was 8:30 on Monday morning, and the greatest
living Yankee was watching a DVD in his underwear.
Yogi Berra, two months from his 81st birthday, had the seat at Joe Torre's
desk in the manager's office at Legends Field in Tampa. He was wearing a
gray Spalding T-shirt, white undershorts and navy blue baseball socks pulled
up to his knees. It is the clubhouse apparel of a baseball lifer, and Berra
is still in his element.
As players filed in for a bus trip to McKechnie Field here, Berra and others
watched a collection of highlights narrated by Mickey Vernon, a star of
Berra's era for the Washington Senators. Berra was enthralled.
"I've got to get a copy of that," he said. "It's got old guys and presidents
throwing out the first ball and everything. That was a tradition 턠you open
up with the president. I saw Truman, I saw Ike, I saw them all on opening day.
We're going back, though."
Berra, of course, can go back as well as anyone. He won 10 World Series in a
Hall of Fame career with the Yankees, and he remains an icon of the game.
These days, though, he is more than a symbol.
Berra travels to almost every spring training road game, as he has for years,
and he is not afraid to make a suggestion.
"Yesterday, we were having trouble locating the ball with our pitchers
because of the mound out there," said catcher Kelly Stinnett, recalling a
game in Winter Haven against Cleveland. "He thought maybe I should put the
target up a little sooner. I said, 'Hey, that's cool.' Anything to help."
Berra did not make the trip here Monday for the Yankees' 9-8 loss to the
Pittsburgh Pirates. After the morning workout in Tampa, he left to spend a
few days with Arnold Palmer at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando.
But Berra will return Sunday, and Torre says he expects him to stay for the
rest of camp. Berra rides to road games in a car with Torre and the coaches
Ron Guidry and Lee Mazzilli. Guidry picks up Berra in the morning and often
dines with him at night.
"He just loves it," Guidry said. "He epitomizes what baseball's all about.
To be able to hang around him as much as I have, it's a pleasure."
Torre smiled as he described the one problem with long road trips: bathroom
breaks. He described a scene in which Torre, Berra, Guidry and Mazzilli
pulled into a gas station off the highway.
Berra and Guidry got out of the car, in full uniform.
"I'm sure people were looking around, wanting to know where the cameras were,"
Torre said. "They must have thought it was a commercial."
There is always a funny side to Berra's visits. A couple of years ago, Berra
told Torre he was leaving for Washington to film a television advertisement.
Torre asked which company Berra was endorsing. "Amtrak," he replied. He meant
to say Aflac, the insurance company.
"He's beautiful, absolutely beautiful," Torre said, laughing. "But through
it all, when he's talking about baseball, he's right on. He comes down here,
and it comes back to him. I should get a tape recorder 턠not to laugh at,
but to see how much is in the tank."
Berra said he enjoyed watching the rookies at spring training; last March,
he took a liking to pitcher Sean Henn.
Berra's last full-time job was as a coach for the Houston Astros from 1986
to 1992.
"I stayed in baseball, until I quit," Berra said. "But I enjoy it, I really
do. It gets me away from the cold weather. But I enjoy watching the catchers.
It's fun. You pick up stuff and talk to them."
Berra spent 14 years in a self-imposed exile from the Yankees, staying away
after George Steinbrenner, the principal owner, fired him as manager just 16
games into the 1985 season. He reconciled with Steinbrenner and returned in
1999.
Jorge Posada was emerging as the starting catcher then, and he has developed
a close bond with Berra. At first, they talked about the technical aspects
of catching.
More recently, Berra has stressed the mental aspect. There is not much more
to teach, he said.
"He's been here long enough," Berra said. "He knows it better than I do. But
you still watch."
Now, Posada said, Berra's advice is simple: have fun. Catching is the hardest
position on the field, Berra will say, so be prepared and enjoy yourself.
"He makes things easy," Posada said. "I think our relationship is more of a
friendship than anything."
Still, this is not just any friend. This is the man who coined "It ain't over
till it's over." This is the catcher who jumped into Don Larsen's arms after
a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. This is a legend in double-knits.
"In a funny way, you look at him when you're talking to him and you think,
'You're talking to Yogi Berra,' " Posada said. "Who's got the luxury of having
somebody like that?"
In Tampa or Winter Haven, Sarasota or Clearwater, and even at a rest stop or
two in between, the Yankees still have Yogi Berra.
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