INDExtra -> INDExtra THU, FEB 24 12:31PM by Leslie Turk

NYT on Yogi Berra’s valet

The New York Times has a story this week on the sweet relationship between baseball greats Ron Guidry and Yogi Berra.

It turns out the Louisiana Lightning and catching legend have an annual tradition that coincides with the Yankees’ spring training camp.

With all the yearly changes made by the Yankees, Yogi Berra’s arrival at their spring training base adds a timeless quality to baseball’s most historic franchise.

Berra, the catching legend and pop culture icon, slips back into the uniform with the famous and familiar No. 8. He checks into the same hotel in the vicinity of George M. Steinbrenner Field and requests the same room. He plans his days methodically — wake up at 6 a.m., breakfast at 6:30, depart for the complex by 7 — and steps outside to be greeted by the same driver he has had for the past dozen years.

The driver has a rather famous name, and nickname, as well.

“It’s like I’m the valet,” said Ron Guidry, the former star pitcher known around the Yankees as Gator for his Louisiana roots. “Actually, I am the valet.”

Read the story here.

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