What a card: This is Yogi Berra's third and final Topps card as manager of the New York Yankees. He appears as manager in the 1964 set and in the 1984 traded set. Berra would be fired from the Yankees 16 days into the 1985 season.
My observation on the front: This is probably Berra's best manager card. He looks quite managerial on a bright, Florida spring day.
More opinion from me: I don't have a good grasp on how great Berra was as a player. I never saw him play and his abilities aren't praised like other players from that time period. But I think he was probably much greater than I've imagined.
Something you might know: Berra, famously divorced himself from the Yankee organization after he was fired in 1985. He was so upset that owner George Steinbrenner sent GM Clyde King to do the firing, that he refused to have anything to do with the organization until Steinbrenner apologized in person almost 15 years later.
Something you might not know: It's difficult to find something that isn't known about one of the most discussed players in history. So I'll just go with something I didn't know. I was aware that Berra's son, Dale, played major league baseball. But I didn't know that his other son, Tim, played NFL football for the Baltimore Colts in 1974.
My observation on the back: That checklist is really wedged in there. The Yankees have 30 players in the set, which I think is the most of any team so far.
The blog wants to speak now: Nope, not tonight. Too tired.
