Campy & Yogi: The Men Behind the Myths

In the late 1940s and 1950, both Yogi Berra and Roy Campanella were two of the most fascinating sports figures in America. 

Both were beloved athletes – Berra, a star catcher with the Yankees and Campanella, a star catcher with the Brooklyn Dodgers – who lived through a time when the game grew and changed as the world went through World War II and social changes. Baseball in New York experienced monumental changes as the city went from a three-team baseball city to just the Yankees when the Dodgers and Giants left for California and the Golden Age of Baseball began. 

But the pair also lived incredible lives and had remarkable life stories – often riddled with inaccuracies. 

For instance, Campanella was ostracized for his ethnic background, according to Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center Director Dave Kaplan. Campanella’s father was Italian and his mother was African-American. He also was thought of as an Uncle Tom, Kaplan said, by some of the other African-American players of his time. Campanella also played in the Negro Leagues and was thought to have made too much of his relationship with Jackie Robinson.

As far as feelings about Berra, Kaplan said, he was thought to be not very smart because he only had an eighth grade education and he was criticized and parodied because of the things he supposedly said and did. 

On Saturday, Oct. 15 at The Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center, located on the campus of Montclair State University, panelists will try to dispel some of those inaccuracies when the museum hosts “Campy & Yogi: The Men Behind the Myths” featuring each players biographer and a discussion on who was better – Yogi or Campy.

The program will be moderated by baseball historian Marty Appel and feature author Allen Barra, author of the 2009 biography, “Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee” and Neil Lanctot, author of 2001’s “Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella.” Both books will be available for purchase at the museum. 

The Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center is located at 1 Normal Ave., Montclair. The program will take place in the museum theater beginning at 3 p.m. Admission is $6 and is included with regular museum admission. The museum is open from noon until 5 p.m. For more information, call (973) 655-6891.