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It Ain't Over

Edgy DC Jan 29 2007 01:24 PM

From Jerry Koosman's Wikipedia entry: “You Gotta Believe”, “It’s Never Over Until It’s Over” In 1970 Koosman posted a 12-7 record with a 3.14 ERA. Over the next two seasons, however, posted losing records: 6-11 in 1971 (a season in which he was beset by arm woes) and 11-12 in 1972 with a 4.14 ERA—more than a run and a half above his career ERA to that point. In 1973 he went 5-0 in his first six starts, but ended the season 14-15. However, as in 1969, the Mets, with the pitching of Koosman, Seaver and Jon Matlack, unexpectedly won the NL East title, and once again, by overtaking the Cubs, whom they had trailed by as many as nine games. (This season would become famous for two famous slogans: Tug McGraw’s “You Gotta Believe,” and manager Yogi Berra’s “It’s never over until it’s over.”) In Game Three of the NLCS against the Cincinnati Reds, Koosman pitched a complete game, 9-2 victory. The victory gave the Mets a 2-1 lead in the NLCS; they won the pennant the very next day. Koosman was the winning pitcher in Game Five of the World Series against the defending champion Oakland Athletics, holding Oakland scoreless for 6 1/3 innings. This victory gave the Mets a 3-2 lead in the Series, but this time there would be no miracles: Oakland won the next two games to repeat as World Champions. Now, we've all heard Yogi's quote this about a million times as “It ain't over 'til it’s over.” Has this somehow been cleaned up by an English teacher or perhaps was this Yogi's original statement and the slang abbreviations were added to lend it some Yogi color?

Willets Point Jan 29 2007 01:34 PM

I believe his actual quote was "You're never out of it till you're out of it."

Johnny Dickshot Jan 29 2007 01:48 PM

What Yogi Berra Actually Said is one of those baseball topics everyone seems interested in except me.

Edgy DC Jan 29 2007 01:56 PM

Thread murder.

Johnny Dickshot Jan 29 2007 01:59 PM

Guilty your honor.

Frayed Knot Jan 29 2007 02:13 PM

There's also a gap between what Berra actually said and what the Berra legend says he said. And the odds of finding evidence of the exact quote plus where and when it originated are getting smaller as the line between Yogi the colorful catcher and Yogi the highly marketed enterprise has become blurrier in recent years.

iramets Jan 29 2007 02:53 PM

I just read an interesting article of Berraisms (in an SI anthology) over the weekend. I'll quote from it when I get back from work--it addresses the issue of "over" extensively. HOME: Has no one posted since I left work? Very odd. There is no on-line reference to the piece (only a pdf. at Springerlink http://www.springerlink.com/content/g484311641626t33/) so I'll have to summarize from Roy Blount Jr.'s SI article entitled "Yogi" from April 2, 1984. The key passage: "[W]hat Berra probably said was, in reference to the 1974 pennant race, 'We're not out 'til we're out.' That quickly became 'You're not out of it until you're out of it," which somehow evolved into 'The game's never over 'til it's over,' which eventually was streamlined into 'It ain't over 'til it's over.'"