When Lindsay Berra was in college in the late ’90s, she would call her grandparents nearly every night at 11:28 p.m. Her friends at North Carolina found it a bit odd.
Berra would explain that her grandparents’ social schedule could rival any student, but Grandpa Yogi and Grandma Carmen made it a point to be home at 11 every evening so they could watch reruns of “Seinfeld.”
“It was the only time where I could guarantee I would know where they were and I could check in and talk to them for five minutes,” Lindsay said.
It is another of countless endearing stories about the late Yogi Berra since he first became a major leaguer nearly eight decades ago. Now, Lindsay, her uncles, producers and directors want to tell one more that she feels is forgotten: How good a player Yogi was.
On Friday, in more than 100 movie theaters in the tristate area, “It Ain’t Over” will debut. The documentary is not on any streaming services, but instead was bought by Sony Classic Pictures after being shown at the Tribeca Film Festival.
“I just think people have really forgotten how good he was,” Lindsay said. “And if I were to make a documentary, I would want to kind of remind people who did see him play and introduce him to folks who didn’t see him play because I really think that the Yogisms became larger than life and his personality eclipsed what he was able to do on the field.”
Lindsay’s parents divorced when she was 5, which resulted in her spending more time with her grandparents, who were almost like another mom and dad for her. Her love and affection is deep for her grandparents, who have both passed away over the last decade.
A year prior to Yogi’s death, in 2015, at the All-Star Game, Major League Baseball announced that Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Johnny Bench and Hank Aaron were voted by the fans as the four greatest living players.
“I was sitting at home, watching the game with Grandpa Yogi,” said Lindsay, an accomplished writer, who has written for outlets such as ESPN. “I was a bit stunned. I don’t think for a second he should’ve replaced any of them, but I think it should have been the five greatest living players.”
Berra, a Hall of Famer, was a 10-time world champion with the Yankees, an 18-time AL All-Star and a three-time league MVP. His 1950 season is one of the greatest of all time, as in 656 plate appearances, he struck out just 12 times, while hitting .322 with 28 homers and 124 RBIs.
The movie explains his on-field prowess and goes into his life with the familiar voices of these types of documentaries, including Joe Torre, Billy Crystal, Bob Costas and, in his final interview before he died last year, Vin Scully.
Lindsay’s special bond with her grandfather is included as well, but, even if the point is to remember Yogi the player, it is impossible not to go into his personality in remembering him.
One time, Lindsay said, Yogi called her from an Italian American Foundation dinner in Washington, D.C. Lindsay said Yogi didn’t think of himself as famous and instead had seen a lot of folks he really admired at the event. He called Lindsay after hitting the men’s room.
“He went into the restroom and Al Pacino was at the urinal and he wanted to tell me he peed next to Al Pacino,” Lindsay said with a laugh.
Yogi also served in the Navy, fighting in World War II. He didn’t know how to swim, but he would tell Lindsay that it didn’t matter because the Navy taught him how to make a life jacket out of his pants.
Lindsay pointed out what might happen if it were the summer and he were wearing shorts and fell in the water.
She said Yogi just replied, “Oh, well.”