jerry to jerry

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Jerry (on ) for your report on Yogi

Berra. You report that someone gave him the name because he

was seen sitting cross legged and looked yogi-like. But the

name must have stuck because he really was that way. I love

Yogi because he's lovable. He was 'out there'.

 

I used to go to Yankee Stadium as a kid and Yogi looked

tough but huggable. Mickey Mantle also had a warm way about

him. He felt like family. Maris was cold though, not

accessible, yet he's the one I find most inspirational.

 

Bruce mentioned Roger Maris. Anyone remember the year he hit

61 home runs? (Not Bruce, Roger.) It was 1961. He was under

great stress that year because of the publicity surrounding

his attack on Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in one

season. Maris' hair was falling out. We know Maris entered

into Zen moments to help him through that year.

 

In one report by a fellow player, Maris was up at bat and

called a time out. Why did he call a time out? To watch a

flock of low flying geese go by. He stood there and watched

until the flock flew over the stadium and out of sight. Then

Maris returned to the plate and hit the next pitch for a

home run.

 

Then there were two games left in the season. Maris had hit

60 home runs by now. The next to the last game of the season

he chose not to play. The pressure had mounted and become

too great. He knew it was a time to rest. The press and fans

thought he was crazy for not playing that game. I remember,

as a twelve year old, being very disappointed.

 

He came back in the last game of the season and hit his 61st

home run and broke Babe Ruth's record. And I'd learned

something, even though the guy wasn't huggable or humorous

and though his words would never be etched in stone, and

though he'd never make for a good PBS special. He simply

DID.

 

Since I was a kid I've always loved Maris more than the

other Yankees, including Yogi Berra. And Maris was by no

means widely loved. He wasn't warm and fuzzy like Yogi

Berra. But Maris stayed married to the same woman and his

children loved him, just like Yogi.

 

Roger's quotes are more meaningful (though not as amazing or

entertaining) to me than Yogi's because they're intentional

and reveal a grounded, sincere person:

 

"I don't want to be Babe Ruth."

 

"I think the most privacy I had was when the game was going

on."

 

"It's a business. If I could make more money down in the

zinc mines I'd be mining zinc."

 

"Maybe I'm not a great man but I damn well want to break

the record."

 

Roger Maris died at age 51. The MeritCare Roger Maris Cancer

Center is one of the most prestigious in the country. He was

never voted into the Hall of Fame. He never made the fans

and the TV-entranced (yes, even PBS!) feel warm and fuzzy.

 

But I think of Roger stopping the game so that he could step

back and watch the geese fly by, and then returning to the

game to hit a home run, and that, really, is all I ever need

to know.

 

Jerry Katz

 

Nonduality Salon

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