When I was a kid, I always hated the Yankees.
Except for Yogi Berra. The Yankees icon died this morning at the age of 90.
For someone who grew up living and dying with baseball and the lowly Phillies, the Yankees were almost other-worldly, playing a game with which I was not familiar.
Just the roll call of names was enough to intimidate you.
Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Ford, Jackson, Jeter.
Then there was Berra.
He was short and squat; he didn't exactly strike you as an athlete.
On a legendary team, with names that defined the word icon, he was an everyman.
He looked like us. Most importantly he talked like us.
Actually, no one quite talked like Berra.
His malapropisms - such as 'Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical" - are legendary. You can see a list of them here.
But don't for an instant let those tongue-twisters diminish what Berra accomplished on the field.
Berra played in 15 straight All-Star Games. He won three American League MVP awards in 1951, 1954 and 1955.
His Yankee teams won 10 World Series championships, appearing in 14 during his 18-year career, all of it spent in the Bronx. He holds the records for most hits in the World Series (71), as well as most games played (75).
He hit over .300 four times, hit 358 home runs and drove in 1,430 runs.
All while playing catcher, one of the most physically demanding positions in baseball.
But this might sum up why I always admired Berra, even while loathing those pinstripes he so proudly wore. Yogi Berra never made more than $65,000 in a season.
As we prepare to say goodbye to one of the truly good guys in sports, remember what Yogi once famously said about funerals: "Always go to other people's funerals. Otherwise they won't go to yours."
Priceless.
He was the ultimate Yankee. Even while being one of us.
Rest well, Yogi.
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