A baseball documentary about New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra is shining new light on the life and career of one of the most distinguished athletes in American history.
“It Ain’t Over” features Yogi Berra’s granddaughter, Lindsay Berra, who reflects on growing up with her grandfather and how she views him stacked up against other all-time baseball greats.
“You have to get Vin Scully, Bobby Brown, Joe Garagiola, Hector Lopez, Bobby Richardson,” Lindsay Berra told Neil Cavuto on Thursday’s “Your World.”
Lindsay Berra was involved in the production of the film from a logistics perspective since the beginning.
“I wanted as many people who had either played with or seen grandpa play.”
The Hall of Fame Yankees catcher and 18-time All-Star played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball, won three MVP awards and led the Yankees to 10 World Series championships.
YANKEES GREAT, 3-TIME ALL-STAR JOE PEPITONE DEAD AT 82
Before Yogi Berra’s baseball career began with the New York Yankees, the St. Louis native received a Purple Heart for serving in the Navy during the invasion of Normandy in World War II.
“I think that my grandfather just was kind of profoundly grateful for coming home from World War II when so many other men did not, and having the opportunity to live the rest of his life and play a kid’s game, do something that he loved for a living,” Lindsay Berra said.
She said the concept of creating a documentary celebrating her grandfather derived from producer Peter Sobiloff, who was inspired after watching the 2018 Mr. Rogers documentary.
“[Sobiloff] approached my dad and my uncles and said, ‘How come there’s no Mr. Rogers documentary about your father?’ And they said, ‘Well, no one’s ever made one.’ And he said, ‘Well, can I?’ And he had produced another film, a feature film, actually, with our director, Sean Mullin, so he introduced Sean to my dad and uncles, and they really liked Sean,” she continued. “And then I met Sean after that and got involved really with the project just by starting to pepper him with emails.”
Lindsay Berra said she thinks her grandfather was “a little overlooked” after an “eye-opening experience” she had during the 2015 MLB All-Star Game.
“For him to be left off that list of the greatest living players — and, you know, my dad is constantly bugged by the fact that my grandpa’s left off the Yankees Mount Rushmore.”
Yogi Berra’s memorable quotes — better known as “Yogi-isms” — coined phrases such as, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over,” and, “When you get to a fork in the road, take it.”
Lindsay Berra confirmed that “they were all his” and admitted she repeats them often in her everyday life.
“They’re very representative of the very simple, direct, black-and-white way in which my grandfather viewed the world,” she said. “He was very able to just kind of cut through the crap and call a spade a spade and see things for what they are.”
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, APRIL 8, 1974, HANK AARON BREAKS BABE RUTH’S HOME RUN RECORD
“We all get so bogged down in the minutia of things, and he just didn’t do that. And they kind of fell out of his mouth and I consider them all pearls of wisdom,” she said. “They may be funny on the surface, but if you’re only seeing the funny, you’re not giving yourself the chance to really appreciate them and see through to the very profound nature of all of these sayings.”
“It Ain’t Over” has a 100% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 97% TomatoMeter score by critics as of press time.
The documentary is available in theaters nationwide and boasts a star-studded cast featuring Billy Crystal, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and others.
