See a compilation of some highlights from Bruce Beck’s interviews with Yogi Berra over the years.
"I really didn't say everything I said."
Yogi Berra, who died Tuesday at 90, was known for his on field successes as a catcher with the Yankees and as the skipper of both the Bronx Bombers and the cross-town Mets. But it may be his "Yogi-isms", charming and perplexing quotes, that will live on for generations.
Here are some of the so-called philosopher king of baseball's most famous quotes:
On his team's diminishing pennant chances: "It ain't over 'till it's over."
On his approach to at-bats: "You can't think and hit at the same time."
On selecting a restaurant: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
On economics: "A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."
On the 1973 Mets: "We were overwhelming underdogs."
On how events sometimes seem to repeat themselves "It's deja vu all over again!"
On baseball attendance: "If people don't come to the ballpark, how are you gonna stop them?"
On a slipping batting average: "Slump? I ain't in no slump. ... I just ain't hitting."
On travel directions: "When you come to a fork in the road take it."
On pregame rest: "I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4."
On battling the shadows in left field at Yankee Stadium: "It gets late early out there."
On fan mail: "Never answer an anonymous letter."
On being told he looked cool: "You don't look so hot yourself."
On being asked what time it was: "You mean now?"
On being given a day in his honor: "Thank you for making this day necessary."
On a spring training drill: "Pair off in threes."
On his approach to playing baseball: "Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical."
On death: "Always go to other people's funerals. Otherwise they won't go to yours."
On learning: "You can observe a lot by watching."
On the fractured syntax attributed to him: "I really didn't say everything I said."
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File-New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra poses at spring training in Florida, in an undated file photo. Berra, the Yankees Hall of Fame catcher has died. He was 90. (AP Photo/File)
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New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra reaches for a ball to autograph prior to a game against the Kansas City Royals, Tuesday, March 13, 2001 in Baseball City, Fla. (AP Photo/Scott Audette)
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Yogi Berra, coach of the New York Yankees, is shown in New York in 1979.
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Hall of Fame pitcher Whitey Ford, left, helps former teammate and Hall of Famer catcher Yogi Berra as Berra is introduced during the 68th annual Old Timers Day prior to the Baltimore Orioles baseball game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York, Sunday, June 22, 2014.
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Yogi Berra, New York Mets coach, is shown in St. Petersburg, Fla., March 1965.
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Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra is presented with a quilt and a medal by Cmdr. Jim Wallace during a D-Day presentation at the Yogi Berra Museum in Montclair, N.J. , Friday, June 6, 2014. Berra served in the navy 70 years ago as part of the D-Day invasion. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)
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NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 30: Baseball Hall of Fame legend, Yogi Berra holds a bobble head of himself during a pre game ceremony before the start of a MLB baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on August 30, 2013 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
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Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra, catcher for the New York Yankees, is shown in an action pose on March 24, 1949 during spring training. The catcher-infielder batted .305 in 1948. The location is not known. (AP Photo)
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New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel, center, is hoisted up by Bill Johnson, left, and Yogi Berra while other team members gather around for a victory cheer in their hotel in Boston, Ma. on Sept. 29, 1950, after clinching the American League Pennant. Left to right are Jim Turner, Johnny Mize, Billy Johnson, Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra, Tommy Henrich (hidden behind Berra) and Ed Ford. Back from left, Joe DiMaggio, unidentified, Ed Lopat, Gene Woodling, unidentified, Bobby Brown, Cliff Mapes and Joe Ostrowsky. (AP Photo)
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New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, right, accepts a light from Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto after Berra handed out cigars to celebrate the birth of his son in the Yankees clubhouse in New York City, Sept. 25, 1951. The scheduled game against the Philadelphia Athletics was rained out. (AP PhotoJohn Lindsay)
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Manager Casey Stengel, left, has an appreciative smile for his record breaking catcher, Yogi Berra, as they celebrate the New York Yankees World Series victory in their dressing room after deciding game at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, Oct. 10, 1956. Berra's two homers, driving in four runs, got the Yankees started on their 9-0 drubbing of Dodger pitchers. (AP Photo/files)
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Yankee star Yogi Berra used glasses for the first time, July 13, 1957 in Kansas City. Berra, shown on the dugout steps before the Kansas City-New York game, claims the glasses will be used mainly for viewing television. However, he will use them in batting in an attempt to cure a lower than usual average. (AP Photo/William P. Straeter)
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New York Yankees catcher, Yogi Berra with his finger out of the glove during spring training in Tampa, March 1961. (AP Photo/stf)
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Cincinnati Reds Manager Sparky Anderson, left, and New York Mets Manager Yogi Berra joke in Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium on Friday, Oct. 5, 1973 as both National League teams worked out for their first Playoff Game here tomorrow. (AP Photo)
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Former New York Yankees� catcher Yogi Berra, left, is embraced by his wife Carmen, as they join Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, at right, to pose with baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn after the famed players won election to baseball�s Hall of Fame in New York on Jan. 19. 1972. Early Wynn, former American league pitcher, was also named to the hall of fame but was not present at the announcement ceremony. (AP Photo/ John Rooney
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Yogi Berra, manager of the New York Yankees shown with Yankee owner George Steinbrenner on Dec. 16, 1984 at Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo)
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Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra looks on as a candle on his birthday cake is lit during his 90th birthday celebration at the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center on the campus of Montclair State University Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Montclair, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
