* Author profile: Dave Kaplan — Keeping track of what Yogi said

Yogi Berra is one of America’s most beloved characters. He enjoyed a 19-year career as a player, followed by several more seasons as a manager and coach. His simple, gentle demeanor — and unique ability to turn a phrase — have kept him in the embrace of an adoring public long after his days on the diamond ended.

One of the forces behind the scenes in perpetuating that legend is Dave Kaplan, director of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls.

Prior to joining the museum as its director in 1998, Kaplan (no relation to this writer) was the Sunday sports editor for the New York Daily News. In addition to his day-job duties, he has collaborated with Berra on four books, most recently You Can Observe A Lot By Watching: What I’ve Learned About Teamwork From the Yankees and Life (Wiley). Why so many books? “People ask for [them],” he said; they just can’t get enough of Yogi.

Kaplan described the process of working with the Yankee Hall-of-Famer.

“We would just talk and talk and talk,” Kaplan told NJ Jewish News in his book-strewn, tchotchke-filled office in the museum prior to a Sept. 21 engagement with Art Shamsky and Jay Schreiber, assistant sports editor for The New York Times.

Kaplan, a longtime resident of Montclair and member of Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, had never met Berra before taking the director’s job. “Yogi is an incredible font of knowledge about everything that goes on in sports. He’s a real student of the game.” Sometimes Kaplan would tape the conversation, at other times he would just keep the conversation in his head.

The relationship obviously worked, judging by their continued output (see below).

The museum has the feel of a mini-Hall of Fame. Pieces of Berra memorabilia such as gloves, World Series rings, and other artifacts fill display cases. Photos and paintings depict special moments in Berra’s life and Yankees’ and baseball history. One room overlooks Yogi Berra Stadium, home of the New Jersey Jackals of the independent Can-Am League and the Montclair State Red Hawks.

“This is a wonderful tribute to Yogi, a jewel of a museum,” said Kaplan proudly. Berra is “a very visible presence…. He comes in three or four times a week.”

The museum is fun, but it’s the learning center aspect that gives Kaplan more satisfaction.

“The biggest reward at this place has been working with so many students and using Yogi as a teaching tool,” said Kaplan whose mother and father worked in the education field.

Kaplan and his wife, Naomi, are the parents of three daughters — Leah, 19, Emily, 17, and Eva, nine — who have been involved in youth sports. He laments the direction such activities have taken in recent years, with so much emphasis on winning and personal aggrandizement in the pursuit of scholarships and other honors. He sees the need for change and uses the learning center to get the message across to the many tristate area schools that visit. At a recent program, captains of high school teams were invited to discuss their roles as leaders. “They have the power to improve the culture of sports for the members of their teams,” said Kaplan.

For more information on the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, visit yogiberramuseum.org.

Tagged as: Dave Kaplan, Yofi Berra