Library Journal
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To the general public, Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (1925-2015) was an amiable author of witty malapropisms ("It ain't over 'til it's over"; "90 percent of baseball is mental; the other half is physical"). To baseball fans, he was the legendary New York Yankee and three-time American League MVP, 18-time All-Star, and 13-time World Series Champion catcher, coach, and manager. But to author Dale Berra, Yogi's son, he was "the most humble man who's ever lived," with true feelings and pain under his lovable façade. Beyond his reputation as an exceptional hitter and catcher, Yogi was a beloved celebrity. He was also Dale's inspiration for getting sober after living with a cocaine addiction amid his own career with the Yankees in the 1980s. The mix of Yogi's career and stardom, Dale's admirably frank recollections of his drug use and personal struggles, and plenty of insider baseball details will most appeal to bleacher bums and fans of father and son stories. VERDICT A short, winsome memoir and biography of a winning American icon.-Chad Comello, Morton Grove P.L., IL © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly
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In this heartfelt family memoir, Berra offers a peek into the private life of his father, the famous New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra. The author, who himself played infield for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, and Houston Astros from 1977 to 1987, details the towering role model of his father, who played in 10 World Series championships in the 1940s and ’50s and was known for his malapropistic “Yogiisms.” Berra recalls his father as the proud manager of the 1973 National League champion Mets, as well as for the pain he endured when he was unceremoniously dismissed as Yankees manager in 1986. While Berra praises his mother, Carmen, as a “handson parent” for her three children, he describes his father as “stoic, contained but full of fire inside.” Berra tells of how his own addiction to cocaine derailed his baseball career and ended his marriage in 1989; his father intervened, saying, “I want to be your dad, but if you keep doing this you’re not a Berra anymore.” In one of the book’s most memorable scenes, Berra describes the moment when Yankee owner George Steinbrenner apologized to Yogi for firing him 14 years earlier: “It’s the worst mistake I made in baseball.” Candid and touching, Berra’s love letter will resonate with fathers and sons alike. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A son polishes his famous father's legend while confessing how and why he fell short of his own potential.Nobody ever thought Dale Berra would be another Yogi, but Dale wasn't just riding his father's coattails. As he tells it, "I was the best prospect in the Pirates organization, the best minor league prospect in the country. Triple-A is filled with the best prospects, and I was better than all of them." Even more than his father, who had faced considerable resistance from his Italian immigrant father about making a living by playing a game, Dale was set on playing major league balland there was no Plan B. Though he made it to the majors before he was 22, he was out of baseball less than a decade later. Even if it hadn't been for the cocaine, he likely wouldn't have been good enough to fulfill the expectations of a first-round draft choice. This memoir is really two stories: First is the familiar one of the famous father as seen through the eyes of the sons who loved him. (Dale's brothers are quoted extensively, and they all loved and respected their father even if he didn't play catch with them and wasn't around much during the baseball season.) Those who want to learn about Yogi Berra will get a good introduction here, but there are better biographies, along with plenty of accounts of the Yankee championship teams of which he was such an integral part. That leaves Dale's story, and it is no more exceptional as a drug recovery story than his baseball career was. He used cocaine "because, literally, everyone was doing it," and one of his arrests cost him his first marriage. His family staged an intervention when he continued using, and he has been sober for two decades since.The author is to be commended for straightening out his life, but his memoir is not very reflective or illuminating. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Yogi Berra is arguably the best catcher of all time. With him, the Yankees dominated baseball, winning multiple pennants and World Series. Dale, the youngest of Yogi's three sons, has penned a memoir that focuses as much on Yogi the dad as Yogi the player. Dale had a 11-year career as a player, shortened by a cocaine addiction. Brother Tim played a couple years of professional football, and the oldest brother, Larry, saw his baseball career derailed by knee surgeries. Yogi, as the first generation of immigrant Italian parents, was a supportive but carefully distant father. That is, he encouraged his kids in sports but was careful to make sure their successes were not tainted by the onus of being Berra's kid. Yogi was also a devoted husband. All three sons note their father's consistent deference to and affection for their mom, who was a Missouri farm girl when Yogi met her. And those infamous Yogi-isms ? Many were spontaneous, such as nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded. A fine book about one of the finest athletes of his day and a father who was devoted to his children.--Wes Lukowsky Copyright 2019 Booklist