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Déjà
Vu All Over Again
My
mother used to say it’s a sin to spend a beautiful day inside.
But on this beautiful June day, my daughters Rebecca and Katie and I picked up Grandpa Joe to spend the afternoon at the Yogi
Berra Museum and Learning Center.
Even my mother would agree it was worth giving up a day outside.
Located on the campus of Montclair State University, in Upper Montclair,
NJ, this compact, new museum adjacent to the Yogi Berra Stadium, where the
New Jersey Jackals play, would
interest any fan of our national pastime. Despite the museum’s name, the displays cover the early days of
baseball, the evolution of the catcher’s position (which Yogi played),
the New York Yankees, and of course, Yogi Berra’s baseball career.
It can all be enjoyed in a little more than an hour.
The newspaper articles and pictures of greats
such as Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, and others from the forties and fifties
took me to a time when baseball players were heroes who played for the
love of the game rather than big salaries. The section on Yogi’s youth
answered one of the pressing, yet unresolved, questions from my own
childhood: How did he get the nickname “Yogi”?
Although Rebecca and Katie enjoyed softball this
spring, I was unsure if they would like a museum celebrating a
traditionally male sport. But it didn’t take them long to find interesting exhibits.
They showed me displays of old baseball gloves, three championship
trophies loaned by the NY Yankees, and Yogi’s championship rings. We learned that Yogi Berra is the most “jeweled” player in
history.
The highlight for our girls was the continuously running movie. The theater is a mock representation of a baseball stadium complete
with stadium seating and steep stairs. (The only thing missing was a
vendor hawking hot dogs.) We
were entertained by a terrific PBS movie on the life and career of Yogi
Berra.
Grandpa Joe seemed quite pleased with the whole museum and surprised it
was so close to home. Seeing
the mitt Yogi used to catch Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World
Series sparked a story of how he obtained a ticket to that famous game.
(And I thought I had heard all his stories before!) Sharing the afternoon with his granddaughters probably made the
trip even more enjoyable.
On the ride home, the trip passed the “litmus test.” Not only did Katie and Rebecca want to return, they decided
to bring Mommy next time. So
we did. The next day we came
back with Mommy and stayed to watch the NJ Jackals play. And Mommy agreed it was a terrific visit.
The Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center
is a not for profit, independent organization. It is located on the Montclair State University campus, which is at
the corner of Valley Road and Normal Avenue, in Upper Montclair, NJ.
Hours are Wednesday to Sunday 12 noon to 5 pm. Hours are extended on days when the New Jersey Jackals play
home games. For information
call 973 655-2377 or visit their web site at
www.yogiberramuseum.org
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