Remembering Yogi Berra from a Met fan's perspective

In my formative years as a baseball fan, Yogi Berra was a Met. After the Yankees fired him as manager in 1964 after losing Game 7 of the World Series, Berra coached or managed the Mets from 1965-1975. Berra was the first base coach for the 1969 Miracle Mets. When beloved manager Gil Hodges died suddenly at the end of spring training in 1972, Yogi took over as manager. In 1973, Yogi led the "Ya Gotta Believe" Mets to the World Series.

One of the most famous Yogi-isms came during that 1973 season, The Mets were nine games under .500 as late as the end of August, but their manager proclaimed, "it ain't over till it's over." Yogi's Mets came back to win the NL East, upset the Reds in the NLCS, and take Oakland's early-1970s dynasty to Game 7 before their season finally was over.

Yogi's memorable quotes can also be applied to the current baseball scene:

"It's deja vu all over again."
Many Met fans were muttering this the last few days as the Mets appeared in danger of another late-season collapse. But after Thursday's Met win and Washington loss, the magic number is 3, and the deja vu is going to refer that champagne celebration from 2006 SNY has been rerunning.

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
Sandy Alderson traded Wilmer Flores and Zack Wheeler for Carlos Gomez, then took back the trade, acquiring instead some guy named Cespedes. Gomez, meanwhile, is hitting .234 for Houston and has not played since September 12 due to an injured back.

"Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical."
Daniel Murphy running the bases.

"Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded."
Citi Field Shake Shack

"A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore."
What happens after you invest with Bernie Madoff.

"The future ain’t what it used to be."
2015 Yankees postseason prognosis

"It gets late early out here."
Matt Harvey's innings limits.