Follow My Heart

In Ten Rings, Yogi, for the first time, tells the stories behind each of those remarkable championship seasons, spanning 1947 through 1962, baseball’s golden years. It was a time when players played for the love of the game, working as maître d’s and salesmen and pipe-fitters in the off season to put food on the table, a time when dynasties were born and baseball became the national pastime. And what a pastime it was.

With Yogi Berra at their heart, Casey Stengel’s Yankees took on their heralded archrivals: the Cleveland Indians, the New York Giants, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and, of course, the Boston Red Sox. And with those teams were Yogi’s constellation of contemporaries, a who’s who of the Hall of Fame: Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Phil Rizzuto, and many, many others.Each season brought its own drama. In 1947, Yogi the rookie struggled behind the plate, and his unlikely physique — knock-kneed and barrel-shaped — made him the target of a cruel media that wondered whether he even looked like a Yankee and nicknamed him “The Ape.” But the name calling didn’t faze Yogi. After all, he said, he didn’t have to hit with his face. And he had the last laugh. In 1949, Bill Dickey came out of retirement to, as Yogi said, “learn me his experiences” and mold him into the Hall of Fame catcher he would become. Then came a string of five consecutive Yankees World Series championships, which no other team in history has ever matched. The year 1951 was Joe DiMaggio’s final season . . . and Mickey Mantle’s first. In 1956 there was Don Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series. And it’s all brought to life by the man who witnessed it.

Ten Rings is a one-of-a-kind story told by a one-of-a-kind guy, the beloved Yogi Berra.