John Shea:
Righetti reflects on Yogi Berra and the Yankees
Dave Righetti was having breakfast with his parents at Capital Lanes in San Jose when his brother approached to say a call was made to the family home.
Someone needed to speak with Righetti, and it was new Yankees manager Yogi Berra.
“I’ll never forget it,” said Righetti, who was summoned by Berra and coaches Sammy Ellis and Jeff Torborg to discuss a role change, a move from starter to closer for the 1984 season. He would replace Goose Gossage, who had left for the Padres.
“I had just gotten my feet on the ground as a starter,” Righetti said. “I was young, probably half-defiant. If it wasn’t for Yogi, I’m not sure I would’ve said yes so quickly. I trusted him. I loved every minute with Yoges.”
A prominent member of the Yankee community, Righetti felt a strong connection with the organization long before wearing pinstripes and meeting Berra, who died Tuesday at 90. Righetti’s dad, Leo ,wasa shortstop in the Yankees’ farm system, played for Lefty Gomez and roomed with Jerry Coleman, both San Franciscans.
The Bay Area was rich with Yankee talent, from Italian Americans Tony Lazzeri, Frank Crosetti, Billy Martin and, of course, Joe DiMaggio to Gomez, Coleman, Bobby Brown, Charlie Silvera and Bob Meusel of Murderers Row fame.
Righetti’s dad didn’t make it with the Yankees but tutored his son all the way to the big leagues.
“A lot of those guys were important folks in your lives, and because of that you were kind of a Yankee fan even though you grew up a Giants fan or A’s fan,” Righetti said. “Sure enough, I get traded to the Yankees when I was a young guy, 20 years old. Next thing I know, I’m in the clubhouse with Yogi Berra.”
During Righetti’s first few years in New York, Berra was a coach.
“I can remember Reggie (Jackson) saying, ‘Look at that, that’s what a three-time MVP looks like,’ ” said Righetti, referring to the 5-foot-7 and stocky Berra. “Everyone laughed, but it’s true. It kind of made you feel you can be any size and shape if you can get it done on a baseball field.
“A lot of the Yankee guys weren’t big. Whitey Ford. The Mick (Mickey Mantle). Those guys were around the club. So you didn’t feel like you had to be a behemoth to be great players, and Yogi was the epitome of that, and I think that’s why he identified with so many people.
“He was a catcher, so I listened to him. You knew he was back there leading that group of men for all those years, 10time world champs. You look at him almost like a god in baseball.
“He had a simple thing he used to say. ‘Throw it until they hit it.’ I said, ‘What the hell do you mean by that?’ And he meant if the guy can’t hit it, you don’t have to set him up with pitches, just keep throwing.
“A lot of things he said, if you put it on paper, people laughed at it. But to us, it made sense. ‘Throw it until they hit it.’ ”
Martin was fired as manager after the 1983 season, his third of five stints running the Yankees, and George Steinbrenner hired Berra, whose new closer posted a 2.34 ERA on a team in transition that won 87 games. But the Yankees got off to a rough start in 1985, and Steinbrenner canned Berra after 16 games and rehired Martin.
Berra felt betrayed, and it created a 14-year rift with Steinbrenner. He refused to set foot in Yankee Stadium for any function.
“That was an ugly scene,” Righetti said. “The only time in my career that I saw a group of guys get really upset at something. We were underachieving at the beginning of the year and ended up winning 97 games.”
Steinbrenner apologized, setting the scene for Yogi Berra Day in 1999. In an epic scene at Yankee Stadium, Berra caught the ceremonial first pitch from Don Larsen, who threw a World Series perfect game in 1956, and David Cone followed with a perfect game himself.
“C’mon, things like that just don’t happen,” Righetti said. “But that’s Yogi. He was our good-luck charm. He was the guy you felt safe with on the plane, that nothing would happen to us with Yogi here.”
With Berra avoiding Yankee Stadium through the rest of Righetti’s career and Righetti unable to get to Yankees functions since becoming the Giants’ pitching coach in 2000, Righetti regrets he didn’t see Berra from 1985 until 2013, when the Giants played an interleague series in New York. Then, Righetti and fellow coaches/former Yankees Hensley Meulens, Roberto Kelly and Joe Lefebvre had a nice private chat with Yogi.
Even so, Righetti has a lifetime of memories and stories.
“I tell you, when we got off the bus or plane, everybody who saw him stopped and looked,” Righetti said. “Regardless of Reggie or (Don) Mattingly or( Dave) Winfield, they’d all flock to Yogi, and he was gracious as hell all the time.
“I swear, I never heard anybody say anything bad about him over anything. To go through life like that, a hell of a guy, it must be a pretty nice feeling to know people loved you. He handled all that with class, too. He didn’t want anything from anybody.
“A straightforward, simple man. Just a joy to be around. He was a special guy in our game. And it turns out, the world.”