Sometimes the things Yogi said made sense after a fashion (or, as Groucho would say, after an old-fashioned).
Toward the end of his career, he played in left field, and during one afternoon/twilight game, the shadows made a fly ball hard to see. Yogi missed the catch, and was understandably embarrassed. When he came into the dugout, he said, “It’s gets late early out there.”
Now that’s not what he meant, but you can tell he was equating darkness with lateness.
And his contention that “it ain’t over till it’s over” is a baseball paradigm that every Little Leaguer should take to heart. Because there’s no clock, and the game doesn’t end until the final out, no team is ever really prevented from rallying in the ninth inning and eventually winning. In other words, even if you’re a few runs behind, don’t consider the game lost until the final out is made. It truly isn’t over until it’s over.
Of course, the greatest baseball quote of all time was Jerry Coleman’s call of a Padres game in which Dave Winfield hurt himself running into the center field wall:
“Winfield’s going way back after the ball, back, back… he hits his head against the wall! It’s rolling towards second base!”
One of the best commercials on TV these days is the AFLAC commercial featuring Yogi in the barbershop. He’s relaying the great things about AFLAC in typical Yogi fashion:
“If you get hurt and miss work, it won’t hurt to miss work.”
and the best line:
“…and they give you cash, which is just as good as money.”
(even the duck is speechless after that…)