It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yogi Berra

Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (1925-2015) transcended the game of baseball to become a cultural icon. He ranks with Muhammad Ali as perhaps the two most quoted sports figures in the history of American sport. Countless books have been written documenting, extolling, deciphering, puzzling over, or just plain listing all the things Yogi said, including his statement that "I never really said everything I said."

Here are a few of his more familiar witticisms that make you go "hmmmm" (or maybe "huh?"): On his approach at the plate- "You can't think and hit at the same time." On Toots Shor's, a trendy new Manhattan restaurant- "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." On economics- "It's got so a nickel ain't worth a dime." On repeating events- "It's deja vu all over again." On the late afternoon shadows in the new west coast stadiums- "It gets late early out there." When asked the time- "You mean now?" And finally one of my favorites- "Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours."

Answer: Leo Durocher

All the listed managers were crusty old-school managers, but "Leo the Lip" was especially well known for being loud, argumentative and irascible. He seemed to enjoy the reputation, and frequently clashed with umpires and league authorities. Despite, or perhaps because of all that, he was a quality big league player and one of the most successful managers of all time, ranking second in wins behind John McGraw when he retired.

The "Yale Book of Quotations" says that Durocher, managing the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946, made the comment about the rival New York Giants, and that what he really said was, "The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place." The quote was reprinted in the "Sporting News" a year later in the more familiar form, and it stuck. Durocher co-opted the new version as his signature line, and used it as the title for his 1975 autobiography.

Answer: Walt Whitman

Whitman embraced life with an earthy passion so it's not surprising he loved a game in which grown men ran, dove, and competed on fields of dirt and grass. He felt that Americans were choking on indoor malaise and that baseball was a clean breeze for the national psyche which literally got people out into the fresh air.

His defining poem was "Leaves of Grass," which he refined and added to throughout his life. He also wrote a moving elegy to Abraham Lincoln entitled "Oh Captain, My Captain" after the death of the president in 1865.

Answer: Red Barber

Coleman announced for the NY Mets, but it was Barber, the voice of the Brooklyn Dodgers and then the New York Yankees, who called out those non-baseball folks who just didn't get it. Walter Lanier "Red" Barber called major league baseball games for four decades, starting in Cincinnati and soon moving to New York, where he became an institution. A true pioneer, Barber drew universal respect for his measured, relaxed professionalism.

Harry Kalas was the velvet voiced announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies for 38 years from 1971 through 2009. Bob Prince was equally beloved in Pittsburgh filling the same role for the Pirates. All four of these originals are recipients of the Ford Frick award, bestowed by the Baseball Hall of Fame for excellence in baseball in the broadcasting field.

Answer: Bob Uecker

Robert George Ueker was another of the many colorful characters who conspired to make the game so much fun. He reveled in the ironically applied nickname "Mr. Baseball," which "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson had given him during one of his numerous appearances on that program.

In his second career as a comedian he got great mileage out of poking fun at his own abilities as a player, but he was actually a decent major league catcher, although a below average hitter (.200 career batting average).

When catching for the Atlanta Braves, one of his jobs was handling Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro, one of the greatest practitioners of the the knuckle ball, leading to the above quote describing the difficulty in catching the erratically moving pitch. Ueker has appeared on numerous TV shows, including a regular role on "Mr. Belvedere"; and in several movies, most notably the classic baseball comedy "Major League", along with Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon.

Answer: Hank Aaron

"Hammerin' Hank" was and still is one of the very greatest ever to play the game. This home run king broke Babe Ruth's seemingly unassailable long ball total and then held the record for homers at 755 for 33 years, until Barry Bonds, with his possibly steroid-tainted total, surpassed him. Aaron played for 21 seasons with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves franchise in the national league before ending his career in 1976 after two last seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League. His other records are too numerous to mention. Although usually businesslike, taciturn and humble as a player and as one of the game's elder statesmen, he did come out with some good one liners like the one above, and he also spoke out forcefully about the racist fools who came out of the woodwork to threaten and harass him as he approached and finally broke Ruth's mark. Teammate Joe Adcock said of Aaron's legendary quick bat, "Trying to sneak a fastball past Hank is like trying to sneak the sunrise past a rooster."

Although they all are Hall of Fame greats, none of the other three listed came close to 3000 hits. Mike Schmidt is an excellent golfer, and for a time had notions of turning pro after his baseball career ended.

Answer: Frank Robinson

As kids, we used to enjoy breaking out the second half of this phrase when assessing any tight, competitive situation, especially when one of the clever ones knowingly added "dancing" to the mix. So, I was surprised to see it attributed to Reds and Orioles slugger Frank Robinson.

The quote first appeared in "Time" magazine (July 31, 1973). Robinson was the first player to win the MVP award in both leagues, played on multiple all-star games in both leagues, and retired in 1976 with 586 career home runs. Always an intense competitor, he spoke his mind with a directness which eventually landed him in a groundbreaking leadership role. In 1974, the Cleveland Indians named him as the first African American manager (player-manager) in the major leagues. Frank Robinson, first ballot Hall of Fame inductee in 1982, died on February 7th, 2019.

Answer: catcher

There is no doubt that catcher is the most demanding of all positions on the field. Big league catchers wear out their knees, get their fingers broken, and can suffer concussions from foul tips or getting hit by a careless batter's back swing.

If you knew this quote came from the first great Yankee catcher, Bill Dickey, you get extra credit. One often overlooked reason for the unparalleled success of the Yankee franchise is the remarkable consistency they had behind the plate over many decades of the 20th century. Dickey broke into the big leagues at the end of 1928 season, then held down the position for the next fifteen years, through 1943. He was an all-time great Hall of Fame catcher.

Yogi Berra followed, catching more than 2,000 games for the Yanks from 1946-1963. He is often ranked right behind Johnny Bench as one of the best ever. When Berra struggled with the defensive intricacies of the position in his first year in the majors, Yankees general manager George Weiss enlisted Dickey to instruct him the following spring. Two more quotes from Yogi tell the story best. The first is typically comic- "He was learnin' me his experience." The second is a telling and moving tribute. "I always say I owe everything I ever did in baseball to Bill Dickey. He was a great man."

Answer: Tommy Lasorda

In baseball, there are lots of ways to reach base and advance, but only one way to score. When you step on home plate, you've scored a valuable tally for your team which can't be taken off the board. A triple might be the most exciting play in the game, but if a teammate can't drive in the run from third base at innings end, it counts for nothing.

Thomas Charles Lasorda (born September 22, 1927) is a baseball lifer. He "bled Dodger blue" after spending an unsurpassed sixty years plus years in that organization. He had a brief, unremarkable career as a major league player, but parlayed lots of minor league experience into a career as one of the winningest managers in MLB history. Tommy was a tough kid from a blue collar neighborhood outside of Philadelphia, but his big personality and quotability ended up being a perfect fit for Los Angeles and "Tinseltown." His managerial style was "treat your players like men, and they will perform like supermen."

Answer: Ted Williams

DiMaggio carefully crafted his impeccable media image, and few journalists dared to ever criticize this national hero. Musial, always as classy as he was great on the field, enjoyed similarly sterling relations with the press. Even Rose, who lived in ostracized disgrace from the game he loved, was widely admired throughout his career as a player. It wasn't until later, when he was managing the Cincinnati Reds, that he descended into degenerate gambling and experienced the force of the media turning on him.

Williams, on the other hand, battled the newspapers from the beginning. He felt a few Boston reporters had it in for him and never gave him fair shake. He also had a love/hate relationship with the fans, although most supported him. This was in spite of a much publicized incident in 1956 where he twice spat in their direction after being booed during a game. For this transgression, the owner fined him $5,000, a significant amount of money at that time. Whatever one thinks of his personality, Williams was a scientific practitioner of the art of hitting a baseball like no one before or after. Ted Williams was the last man to bat over .400, hitting .406 in 1941, a feat that will probably never be duplicated.