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Lawrence Peter Berra
New York Yankees
Catcher
Born: May 12, 1925, St. Louis, MO
Signed: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1943 season
Major League Teams: New York Yankees 1946-1963, New York Mets 1965
As a Manager: New York Yankees 1964; New York Mets 1972-1975; New York Yankees 1984-1985
Hall of Fame Induction: 1972
Died: September 22, 2015, West Caldwell, NJ (age 90)
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| 1982 Donruss #387 |
Signed by the Yankees in 1943, Berra didn't make his debut until 1946 as he was serving in the Navy during World War II. He earned a Purple Heart taking part in the Normandy landings. At the end of the war, Berra quickly established himself as one of the best power hitters and defensive catchers in the majors. Over 19 seasons, he hit .285 with 2,150 hits, 358 home runs and 1,430 RBIs. Upon his retirement, he held the records for most plate appearances (8,359), hits, home runs, runs (1,175) and RBIs among all catchers.
Following his playing days, Berra didn't stray far from baseball, keeping busy with both the Yankees and the Mets. He briefly managed the Yankees in 1964 before moving to the Mets as a coach between 1965 and 1971, and then as manager between 1972 and 1975. He returned to the Yankees as a coach between 1976 and 1983, and again as manager in 1984 and 1985. His final coaching job came with the Astros between 1986 and 1989. The Yankees retired Berra's #8 in 1972, the same year he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Berra and Johnny Bench were named as catchers on MLB's All-Century team in 1999.
The Donruss card above is the first card of Berra's I ever owned, and I remember thinking to myself when I pulled it from a pack back then, "Is this a real person?"
Building the Set
Summer of 1983 or 1984 in Millville, NJ - Card #9
One of the Original 44, I recently re-told the story of how my Dad and I started collecting this set with the Ed Mathews (#107) post. There were five current Hall of Famers in that original haul and I think the presence of those five pricier cards gave us the courage to begin collecting the entire set. Along with Berra and Mathews, we added the cards of Willie Mays (#130), Early Wynn (#187) and Bob Lemon (#255). In the years that followed, three more players were inducted into the Hall of Fame from our Original 44 - Hoyt Wilhelm (#307) in 1985, Red Schoendienst (#165) in 1989 and Larry Doby (#250) in 1998.
The Card
It appears as if the Indians baserunner is safe at home as Berra looks out towards the field at presumably the ongoing play. On the back, the Topps' cartoonist did a terrific job capturing Berra's likeness for the first panel. While not a true "Yogi-ism," the bubble having him say, "It's habit forming," is great too and captures Berra's infectious personality. Berra was known for such popular quotes as "90 percent of baseball is mental, the other half is physical," and "It ain't over till it's over."
Berra signed reprints of this card for inclusion in the 2005 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs insert set. The card was reprinted again for the 2012 Topps Archives Reprints insert set.
Yankees Team Set
1956 Season
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First Mainstream Card: 1948 Bowman #6
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (21): 1951-1965, 1973-1975, 1984-1985, 1987
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2020 Diamond Kings #12
2,127 - Berra non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/28/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year. Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.
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Order Collected: #107 Ed Mathews - Milwaukee Braves / #126 Jim Brady - Detroit Tigers
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