Letter to the Editor: No Yogi statue in St. Louis

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri) October 2, 2015 Friday 

Dear Editors:

In the letter "Yogi Berra deserves a memorial in St. Louis" (Sept. 29), Denny Wedemeyer argues that St. Louis should build a statue for Yogi Berra because he grew up in St. Louis.

Yogi Berra was a great baseball player without a doubt. However, he was a great baseball player for the New York Yankees. Cardinals Hall of Famers have statues in St. Louis because that is where they played, not where they grew up. Mr. Wedemeyer argues that Yogi Berra stood for the city of St. Louis because he was from the area. And yet, Yogi Berra lived in New Jersey for a large portion of his life.

All across America, famous sports players have statues and memorials in the cities in which they played, ultimately because those players stood for the fans of that particular city. Yogi Berra was a great man, but he should have a statue in the city that he played for because those are the fans he had the greatest impact on.

He wasn't a New Yorker, yes, but another Hall of Famer like Stan Musial wasn't a St. Louisan. He was from Pennsylvania. Musial has a statue here because he played for the city of St. Louis and gave everything he had to the team. Yogi Berra did that same thing, but in New York. His statue should be there.

Brett Graflage • St. Louis