Where Have You Gone, Yogi Berra?
I take issue with the editors’ comment that “Berra’s personal career statistics — batting average, home runs, wins above replacement value — were strong but not world-beating” (the Week, October 19). Are you kidding me? He’s top five or six in virtually all career batting statistics for catchers. He’s ahead of Bench in RBI, batting average, runs, hits, OPS, MVPs, all-star, World Series appearances, and world championships. His WAR statistic is distorted because defensive stats pre-1955 (so, the first eight years of his career) are missing. Bench has a few more HRs (389, No. 2 all-time catcher, while Berra had 358, No. 4 all-time). Clearly his batting stats are “world beating.” R.I.P., Yogi!
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