Thousands Of NJ Baseball Fans Break World Record In Honor Of Yogi Berra (PHOTOS)

MONTCLAIR, NJ — It was a good day for a game of catch in New Jersey.

A new world record was set Sunday at Yogi Berra Stadium on the campus of Montclair State University when 2,358 baseball fans came together for “Yogi’s Big Catch Challenge.” The event was witnessed by a Guiness World Record adjudicator and 37 stewards who monitored the field (see photos in gallery above).

To nail down the record, every participant had to keep up their game of catch for a full five minutes. Luckily, they didn’t have to worry about perfection, organizers said: “dropping the ball is part of playing catch.”

Several sports notables joined in the effort, including event emcee Bob Costas, past New York Yankee greats Ron Guidry and Willie Randolph, and National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum president Josh Rawitch. Meanwhile, Yankee organist Ed Alstrom provided classic stadium accompaniment, along with a DJ spinning fan-favorite tunes.

After setting the record, hundreds of participants lined up to visit the museum free of charge and be photographed alongside Berra’s Hall of Fame plaque, which was on loan for one day only from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum – possibly the first time the plaque had left its home in Cooperstown since the late sports icon was elected in 1972.

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Eve Schaenen, executive director of the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center, welcomed the crowd by quoting Berra’s 1972 Hall of Fame induction speech: “Thank you for making this day necessary.”

“We’re of course thrilled to have broken the record,” she said after the results were announced. “But the real joy is in seeing so many families, friends and community members come together around Yogi’s legacy, playing the game that he loved best. It feels like the perfect tribute to his 100th year.”

All proceeds from the event went to benefit the museum’s education programs, which serve nearly 10,000 middle and high school students every year.

In addition to being the last day of summer this year, Sept. 21 is also significant because it marks the day before Berra’s first major league game in 1946 – and the day prior to his death 10 years ago.

The previous world record was set in 2017, when 1,944 people played an enormous game of catch at an event celebrating Father's Day in a suburb of Chicago.

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