By Gene Budig

Dr. Bobby Brown, my predecessor as president of the American League, once described to me that young Yogi Berra was “a mass of muscle from the head down, and he always came ready to play.”

Third baseman of the old New York Yankees, Brown further said his old friend from St. Louis had “a keen mind, a perfect guy.”

Bobby told me the story about when Yogi was his roommate early in their careers and the two were reading in their hotel room one night — Berra a comic book and Brown a medical Journal. Berra came to the end of his comic, tossed it aside, and asked Bobby, “So how is yours turning out?”

Yogi caught Yankee pitchers Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi, Eddie Lopat and Whitey Ford with the skill of an accomplished surgeon, Brown remembered.

When stationed with the Army in Tokyo in 1954, Bobby had the distinction of serving as international film star Marilyn Monroe’s personal physician. She was doing a USO tour of Japan with Joe DiMaggio, her husband at the time. “Joe didn’t trust Army doctors and he asked me to serve as her physician,” Bobby explained. “She was a likeable girl.”

Yogi and Bobby remained close over the years.

Yogi once invited me, as president of the American League, to an unveiling of a necktie with depictions of him as a player. It was an original by famed designer Nicole Miller and unveiled at her shop on Madison Avenue. It drew a massive turnout of media, former Yankees, and city politicians.

Yogi greeted me with his usual shy, but welcoming smile, wearing his sparkling new tie. I told him that I was there to buy 35 of the ties for the MLB owners and key league officials.

“I hope they have that many,” he responded with a look of concern.

There was no reason for concern from Yogi; it became an instant hit, a huge best seller across the United States. The ties have been worn by generations of fans over the years and I still wear mine when attending games at Yankee Stadium.

On another occasion, I accompanied Yogi to a dedication of a community baseball field in Montclair, N.J., which was being named for my assistant in the American League, Larry Doby, the first African-American to play in the AL and a Hall of Fame centerfielder with the old championship Cleveland Indians.

Yogi was instantly trapped by an older woman who was shouting at him. I first feared for his well being, but he only smiled at me, saying: “She believes the (AFLAC) duck can really talk.”

The duck did a lot of talking for Yogi Berra and the insurance giant, becoming one of television’s most viewed commercials for two years.

It seemed that whatever Yogi touched, said or did became part of the national lore. Many regarded him as an entertainer with his many memorable one-liners, but he was more, much more. He was an original, one who found the greatest pleasure in the success of others, especially in young people, and in his beloved Yankees.

— Former Kansas University Chancellor Gene Budig was president of Major League Baseball’s American League from 1994 to 2000.