Top 106 Baseball Players: #15 - Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra was the greatest catcher of all time, and the greatest winner in the history of baseball, winning the championship in more than half of the seasons he played.

He signed with the Yankees, in 1943, but his debut was postponed due to service in the Navy during World War II, where he was involved in the D-Day invasion. He made his debut late in the 1946 season, and in 1947 reached his first World Series, where he became the first pinch hitter ever to hit a home run in the World Series, and earned his first title.

He had his best season in 1950, when he hit .322 with 116 runs, 194 hits, and 30 doubles, all career highs, along with 28 home runs, 124 RBI, and only 12 strikeouts. He finished #3 in the MVP voting that year, but took home the trophy for the first time in 1951, along with his 4th championship in the postseason.

He remained the mainstay of the Yankees team through the decade, winning 2 more MVP awards in 1954 and 1955, making him one of the few players in history to have 3 MVP awards. After winning 6 championships in his first 8 seasons, he experienced his first World Series loss in 1955, when the Dodgers won in 7 games despite Berra's .417 average.

Berra and the Yankees were able to get redemption in the 1956 World Series, this time beating the Dodgers in 7, with Berra batting .360 with 3 home runs and 10 RBI, which is one of the greatest Series performances by a position player in history.

Berra continued on with the Yankees until 1963, when he retired to become the team's manager, though he was fired after losing in the World Series. He is the holder of many World Series records, including games played, at-bats, hits, singles, doubles, total Series played (14), and championships won (10).

Berra is probably the greatest player to never lead the league in any category, but he was the greatest winner in the history of the sport. Part of his greatness could be attributed to playing for the Yankees, but part of the Yankees' greatness needs to be attributed to having Berra behind the plate. With those 3 MVP's, 10 championships, and tons of World Series records, there is no doubt that Berra is one of the best players of all time.