It Ain't Over 'Til…

…it's over, is just one of the many aphorisms coined by baseball legend Yogi Berra. (His reply when asked about a celebrated restaurant: "No one ever goes there any more, it's too crowded.") Now this Hall-of-Famer and three-time MVP presents more valuable life lessons in When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It! Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes, a follow-up to The Yogi Book: "I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said", which spent eight weeks on PW's charts back in 1998. This latest compendium, written with Dave Kaplan, was published by Hyperion on May 23 (copies in print: 102,500). Not surprisingly, Berra's publicity schedule is more crowded than a holiday double-header, including guest shots on Letterman, Regis, Charlie Rose, NPR's Morning Edition, etc., etc. According to Hyperion senior publicist Christine Ragasa, "by far the best interview" was Yogi's with CNBC's Tim Russert, which featured clips of noted politicians (Dubya, Clinton, Gore, Lieberman) spouting famous Yogisms, a shot of Yogi receiving an honorary doctorate at Montclair State University and a tape of the famous 1955 World Series play in which Jackie Robinson stole home. Some 1,000 books were sold during Yogi's signing at Bookends in Ridgewood, N.J., where local police reported crowds in excess of 1,500. Clearly, it ain't even close to over.

With reporting by Dick Donahue