Yogi Berra's Fans Clamor for New Honor

Yankees legend is about much more than baseball, they say
By Alex Tirpack,  Newser Staff
Posted May 13, 2015 12:32 PM CDT
Yogi Berra's Fans Clamor for New Honor
This Aug. 20, 1959, file photo shows New York Yankees player Yogi Berra as he talked about the two home runs he hit in the 7-1 victory over Cleveland in a game in New York.   (AP Photo/Ray Howard, File)

An online petition has been started by the family of Yogi Berra to convince President Obama to award the New York Yankees legend the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom, reports CBS St. Louis. Since going live on May 9, it's amassed 15,000 signatures; it needs 100,000 to get a White House review. While he's best known for his achievements in pinstripes (13 of his 21 World Series appearances ended in his favor), petitioners make the case that he did much more.

He's a WWII US Navy vet/military supporter who's an education activist, "befriended the first black and Latino baseball players in Major League Baseball," and serves as an ambassador for Athlete Ally, "which promotes LGBT rights in sports." Berra turned 90 yesterday, a milestone the Wall Street Journal marked by sharing a "profound act of kindness" by the baseball great. (More Presidential Medal of Freedom stories.)

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