Review: 'It Ain't Over' is an overdue appraisal of Yogi Berra's baseball talent, beyond his light-hearted personality

How can someone who earned 10 World Series rings, and was named Major League Baseball’s MVP three dimes, be underrated? That’s the question “It Ain’t Over,” a heartfelt if somewhat soft-edged documentary, works to answer with regard to Lawrence Peter Berra, known to the world as Yogi Berra.

The movie starts with Berra’s granddaughter, Lindsay Berra (who’s the film’s executive producer), recalling a night in 2015, during the pre-game rituals of the MLB All-Star Game. Four men, billed as the four greatest living baseball players of all-time, walked out onto the field in Cincinnati that night: Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays. Lindsay, watching on TV, looked at her grandpa, and wondered why he wasn’t included.

From there, writer-director Sean Mullin makes a strong case why Berra was one of the best players in baseball history. His career as a catcher for the New York Yankees, during which time the Bronx Bombers won the World Series 10 times, is proof of that. The film tells how Berra would use a long bat, swinging at balls other players would think were outside the strike zone — and often he connected to get a hit. As catcher, he was a master tactician, a skill that guided Don Larsen, during the 1956 World Series, to pitch the only perfect game in the World Series.

So why didn’t Yogi get the acclaim he was due? The film argues that Berra’s small frame — he was 5-foot-7, a small fry next to the lanky Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle — made other teams, and the New York sportswriters, underestimate him. He also was known as a clubhouse comedian, a reputation that grew as his mangled syntax blossomed into the paradoxical phrases that became known as Yogi-isms. Some examples were “you can observe a lot by watching,” “when you come to a fork in the road, take it,” and “it’s déjà vu all over again.” (The one that gives the movie its title — “it ain’t over ’til it’s over” — is one that Yogi may not have ever actually said.)

Mullin gathers interviews from several of Berra’s surviving ‘50s and ‘60s teammates, as well as the Yankees who played when he managed the team. Throw in commentary from announcers and observers, such as Bob Costas and the late Roger Angell and Vin Scully, as well as lifelong Yankees fan Billy Crystal and Berra’s family.

But the best words about Yogi are uttered by the man himself, and there’s plenty of news footage and archived interviews to capture Berra’s charm. “It Ain’t Over” shows how Berra was a one-of-a-kind human being, on the diamond and off. As Yogi said once, “if you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him” — and when it comes to Yogi, nobody can.

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‘It Ain’t Over’

★★★

Opens Friday, June 16, in theaters. Rated PG for smoking, some drug references, language and brief war images. Running time: 99 minutes.