Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center

The Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center is a small institution connected to the Montclair State University. Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center was founded to honor Yogi Berra and his legendary baseball career. There are few more recognizable names in baseball than Yogi Berra. Born in 1925 in St. Lois, Missouri Yogi always had an affinity for America’s pastime. He became a part of the Yankee franchise in 1942 when they signed him to play with their minor league team, the Newark Bears. It was not until after Yogi returned from serving in the Navy during World War II that the Yankees brought him to play in the majors. Yogi was a flamboyant player, continually talking behind the plate to distract opposing batters and freely swinging his bat were standard parts of his game. Yogi’s active career included fifteen All-Star Star appearances, three time American League Most Valuable Player, played in fourteen World Series including ten wins, and holds multiple World Series records. After a stunning career on the field Yogi moved to the dugout and became the Yankees manager in 1964. Shortly after this Yogi was fired by the Yankees and joined the Mets as a player-coach. This move caused a media frenzy in New York. The Yankees’ star had jumped the fence into the National League, and New Yorkers did not know how to respond. Yogi became the Mets manager in 1972. A year later he brought the last place Mets to National League pennant champions. In 1976, Yogi returned to his old team to be a coach. In 1985 Yogi was fired as manager by George Steinbrenner 16 games into the season. This created a rift between Yogi and the Yankees, which was finally reconciled during a private meeting in 1996 at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center. In 1986 Yogi became manager of the Houston Astros, where he stayed until he retired in 1992. Yogi was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.

It should be no surprise that after such a distinguished career in New York with the Yankees and Mets Yogi Berra has become a beloved icon of the New York city area. It is with respect to this admiration that the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center was founded in 1998. Yogi and the Montclair State University have shared a long history. Yogi has had a residence in Montclair for the past fifty years. In 1996 Montclair State University provided Yogi with an honorary doctorate, a fine achievement for a man who had dropped out of high school to help support his family. In 1998 the University honored Yogi once again by naming their baseball stadium after him. Adjacent to the stadium they founded the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center. After a career in baseball that lasted over forty years, Yogi dedicated his life to the betterment of children through education, a dedication that the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center strives to continue. The Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center focuses on providing visitors with an educational and enjoyable experience that provides a “nostalgic return to baseball when it was just a game.” The Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center’s primary focus is on educational programming. This is made clear in the museum’s mission “to preserve and promote the values of respect, sportsmanship, social justice and excellence through inclusive, culturally diverse sports-based educational programs and exhibits.”

Yogi Berra’s career centered around the Yankee and Shea Stadiums, two monuments to America’s pastime. After standing over the Bronx for eighty five years Yankee Stadium was closed after the 2008 season. Shea Stadium also closed in 2008 after serving as the home of the Mets for forty four years. These two stadiums are monuments on their own, but because of their close association with Yogi the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center decided to showcase them in the current exhibit Going, Gone, Goodbye. The exhibit stands as a tribute to these two structures through the perspective of Yogi Berra. With a subject like this it would be easy for the exhibit to become stuck in the past, but the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center also conveys the idea that change is an essential part of society, and that New York baseball fans should look forward to the new stadiums.