The school buses still pull up in front of the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center so eager kids can stream inside for a tour or to grab a chair for one of the museum's many educational programs. Baseball fans of all ages, but especially the older ones, continue to make their pilgrimages, gladly seizing the opportunity to stroll down what is, at its very essence, a heavily pinstriped memory lane.
Yes, it appears to be business as usual in this corner of the Montclair State University campus in Little Falls, N.J.
Only it isn't. It can't be.
How can it when the heart of the museum has been ripped out twice in the span of a few months — first by the death in March of Carmen Berra, Yogi's wife of 65 years and the museum's matriarch, and, most recently, by last month's burglary, during which museum thieves broke in and reportedly made off with two of Berra's MVP awards and five of his World Series rings along with several other treasured items?
Stealing from Yogi? Really?
"People don't like that this stuff was stolen from Yogi," said Mark Markowitz, president of the museum's board of trustees.
"It's heartbreaking. Forget about the baseball. He's an amazing person. I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about Yogi.
"We have local, state and federal people working on it. It's not easy, but it's also not easy to get rid of this stuff. We'll find it."
A statue of Yogi Berra in front of his museum.Photo: Bill Kostroun
While the investigation into the Oct. 8 burglary continues, a gag order has been placed on the museum's devoted employees who, like so many others, were sent reeling by the theft of the items some memorabilia experts have valued at as much as $2 million.
"I was so angry when I heard," said Lindsay Berra, the 89-year-old Yogi's oldest grandchild and a member of the museum's board. "I was stunned. This has been a rough year for Grandpa, with Grammy passing away, and I was just angry that he was going to have to deal with something like this.
"It's an anger and there's nothing I can do with it. You just have to be angry until you're not angry anymore."
Inside the museum, which was closed for nearly a week in the wake of the thefts, there's little evidence a crime was committed. The exhibits, many of which chronicle the Hall of Fame catcher's Yankees career, look much the same as they had before the break-in.
One exception is an exhibit titled, "Baseball's Ring Leader, 1 Player, 10 Championships." It now bears a sign which reads: "Please Pardon Our Appearance. Exhibit Under Construction."
But, as bleak as things may seem, the news hasn't been all bad. Last week the museum announced Major League Baseball, the Yankees, with whom Yogi played 18 seasons, and the Mets would soon donate exact replicas of the items taken.
"It's really heart warming to see what these three entities did," said Markowitz. "Commissioner [Bud] Selig, the Yankees, the Mets. They called and said, 'What do you need? Just tell us.' … Other people are calling, too. We've been overwhelmed by the response."
Markowitz said the museum will receive replicas of all 27 Yankees world championship rings — as a player Yogi was a member of 10 World Series winning teams — as well as replicas of his three AL MVP awards, and the 1969 Mets world championship ring he was awarded as a coach, along with a few other items.
"When I told Yogi about all that stuff, he was beaming," Markowitz said. "All smiles and he gave the thumbs-up sign. He was loving it."
Yogi BerraPhoto: AP
Lindsay, a national correspondent for MLB.com, was at the World Series when she heard about the donations the commissioner's office, the Yankees and the Mets had pledged.
"The stuff the Yankees and the Mets and MLB are going to do for us is wonderful, and we will turn this into a positive and make the museum a better place," she said. "But it doesn't change the fact that I'm really angry, and I would like to have grandpa's stuff back.
"I cried when I heard [about the donations]. … We're a little museum, and it would be tough for us to go about replacing that stuff on our own. And the fact that they decided to do it is just wonderful.
"It sounds a little hokey because I'm supposed to be a cynical sportswriter, but when my grandmother passed away I just really felt like the baseball community rallied around my grandfather so much. I feel like these bad things happen and we get these collective baseball hugs. And it makes you feel really good that this sport that grandpa spent his whole life giving and giving to is still giving back to him this late in his life."
Like Markowitz, Lindsay said she continues to believe the stolen items will be recovered.
And why shouldn't she feel that way? After all, as a wise man once said, "It's never over till it's over."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
How Yogi’s family is dealing with aftermath of museum burglary
Dengan url
http://solusiagarsehat.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-yogias-family-is-dealing-with.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
How Yogi’s family is dealing with aftermath of museum burglary
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
How Yogi’s family is dealing with aftermath of museum burglary
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar