Yogi Berra, colourful Yankees Hall of Famer, dead at 90

New York Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra has died. He was 90.

Berra died of natural causes Tuesday at his home in New Jersey, according to Dave Kaplan, the director of the Yogi Berra Museum.

"While we mourn the loss of our father, grandfather and great-grandfather, we know he is at peace with Mom," Berra's family said in a statement released by the museum. "We celebrate his remarkable life, and are thankful he meant so much to so many. He will truly be missed."

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Berra was a World Series champion 10 times in an 18-year career with the Yankeees. Only five-foot-seven, he was the American League most valuable player on three occasions, played in more World Series games than any player in history and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 1972.

Berra would don a Yankees uniform again as a manager, leading the Yankees to the American League pennant 1964, and briefly again in the mid-1980s.

He also played for and managed, for nearly four seasons, the New York Mets.

Berra was known for his colourful quips and malaprops, most famously, "It ain't over 'til it's over," when referring to his Mets team falling well behind in the standings in the early 1970s.

It is one eight "Yogi-isms" included in Bartlett's Famous Quotations.

"When I'm sittin' down to dinner with the family, stuff just pops out. And they'll say, 'Dad, you just said another one.' And I don't even know what the heck I said," Berra insisted.

From Omaha Beach to the Bronx

Berra played for the Yankees from 1949-65. His teammates included fellow Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford.

In 1956, he caught the only perfect game in World Series history and after the last out leaped into pitcher Don Larsen's arms. The famous moment was captured in photographs published in newspapers around the world.

Born Lawrence Berra to Italian parents in St. Louis, he was fortunate to have any kind of professional baseball career.

He manned a rocket boat off Omaha Beach during World War II. The French government had to actively pursue Berra when it was awarding medals to D-Day veterans in the 1990s, the New York Times reported at the time.

"I don't publicize that I was there," Berra said by way of explanation.

Berra was forced to drop out of school in the eighth grade and go to work to help support his family. He took jobs in a coal yard, as a truck driver and in a shoe factory.

He continued to play amateur baseball, which brought him to the attention of major league scouts, but his pro career had barely started when he went into the Navy.

Berra married his wife, Carmen, in 1949. The couple, who met in their native St. Louis, had three sons, including Dale Berra, who played in the major leagues as an infielder.

Berra published three books: his autobiography in 1961, It Ain't Over ... in 1989 and The Yogi Book: I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said in 1998. The last made The New York Times' bestseller list.

In 1996, Berra was awarded an honourary doctorate from the state university in Montclair, N.J., where he and his family lived. The university also named its baseball stadium for Berra. The adjoining Yogi Berra Museum opened in 1998.

The museum houses Berra memorabilia, including what he said was his most prized possession, the mitt he used to catch Larsen's perfect game.

Berra was one of many Yankees past and present who feuded with cantankerous owner George Steinbrenner. After getting fired 16 games into the 1985 season, he vowed never to return to Yankee Stadium as long as Steinbrenner owned the team.

But in 1999, Berra finally relented, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch of the Yankees' season-opening game.

He tickled TV viewers in recent years by bringing his malapropisms to a commercial with the AFLAC duck. ("They give you cash, which is just as good as money.")

His wife once asked Berra where he wanted to be buried, in St. Louis, New York or Montclair.

"I don't know," he said. "Why don't you surprise me?"