Yogi Berra is once again on my mind. When I turn the calendar to the February page, I think about the impending return of the professional baseball season. Pitchers and catchers report in February.

I guess I could also get excited about Valentines day and President’s day too. Groundhog’s day, Marti Gras and Lent, not so much. Anyway, February is a busy month.

But it’s baseball that’s on my mind. The hot stove league is winding down. The ballfields are empty and there are no games to watch. So I think about baseball folklore. Casey at the Bat. The Natural. Field of Dreams. 42.

But most notably, I think about Yogi Berra and all the great quotes that Yogi Berra gave us. Here are some favorites to help you start thinking about a new season of baseball.

1. It ain’t over till it’s over.
2. It’s deja vu all over again.
3. I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4.
4. Never answer an anonymous letter.
5. We made too many wrong mistakes.
6. You can observe a lot by watching.
7. The future ain’t what it used to be.
8. If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.
9. It gets late early out here.
10. If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.
11. Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.
12. Pair up in threes.
13. Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.
14. Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.
15. All pitchers are liars or crybabies.
16. A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
17. Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.
18. He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.
19. I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.
20. I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won 25 games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.
    Modal Trigger
    Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra in 1955.
21. I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.
22. I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.
23. I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
24. In baseball, you don’t know nothing.
25. I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?
26. I never said most of the things I said.
27. It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.
28. I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house.
29. I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.
30. So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.
31. Take it with a grin of salt.
32. (On the 1973 Mets) We were overwhelming underdogs.
33. The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.
34. You should always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise, they won’t come to yours.
35. When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

Thank you, Yogi Berra. and hello baseball 2024.