MLB notes: D-Day vet Yogi Berra honored
Seventy years ago, a 19-year-old from St. Louis was on a small attack boat launching rockets at the Germans during the Allied invasion of Normandy.
Lawrence Peter Berra, a minor league baseball player who would later become known worldwide as Yogi, emerged unscathed from that bloody day. Now 89 years old, Berra was honored Friday by the Little Falls, New Jersey, museum that bears his name, as well as by the Navy and several veterans groups.
His age prevented him from participating in ceremonies in France. He sat in a wheelchair, wearing a Navy blue Yankees windbreaker in the air conditioned room, along with a Yankees cap.
Berra did not speak during the ceremony. But he told The Associated Press afterward that D-Day was “amazing” and “awful,” as he fired at the Nazis from 300 yards offshore.
“You saw a lot of horrors,” he said in a voice now grown soft with age. “I was fortunate.”
Berra, who went on to win 10 World Series titles with the New York Yankees, was part of a six-man crew operating a 36-foot LCSS boat, the letters standing for landing craft support, small. Berra previously joked that the letters stood for “landing craft suicide squad.” Their mission was to fire rockets at German gun targets to protect Allied troops struggling to storm the beach.
Three of his comrades died in the invasion, which included 150,000 Allied personnel. It is widely considered the beginning of the turning of the war in the Allies’ favor.
“We had orders not to go on the beach,” Berra said. “They went on their own, and they got it. We had to stay back and protect them.”
Clearing the bases
The comeback bid of two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana ended because of a torn Achilles tendon. The injury occurred while the left-hander was pitching for Baltimore in extended spring training. Santana was struck by a line drive, then stumbled when chasing the ball. The 35-year-old has not pitched in the majors since 2012. … Red Sox hitting coach Greg Colbrunn is expected to stay hospitalized for at least another week after he had bleeding in the area between his brain and the thin tissues covering it. The 44-year-old was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic on Wednesday night after experiencing dizziness and pain prior to Boston’s game against the Indians. … The Phillies promoted INF Ronny Cedeno and designated LHP Cesar Jimenez for assignment. … The Orioles placed RHP Miguel Gonzalez on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 31. RHP Kevin Gausman will start for Gonzalez today.