Yogi Bear and Yogi Berra

[alphamommy]

While watching the pregame ceremony to the Baseball All-Star Game, we were discussing "Which came first: Yogi Bear or Yogi Berra?" I have verified my belief that Yogi Berra came first, but I still have one other question.

Does anyone know if Yogi Bear was named after Yogi Berra? I would guess that he was, but I haven't been able to confirm it.

Thanks,
Tammy

[NotaGeek]

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_Bear):


Like many Hanna-Barbera characters, Yogi's personality and mannerisms were based on a popular celebrity of the time. Art Carney's Ed Norton character on The Honeymooners was said to be Yogi's inspiration. Yogi's name is a nod to the famed baseball star Yogi Berra. The plot of most of Yogi's cartoons centered around his antics in the fictional Jellystone Park, a takeoff on the famous Yellowstone National Park. There had been a 1941 Bugs Bunny cartoon, Wabbit Twouble, that used the more obvious name "Jellostone" Park, a play on both the name of the national park and the dessert Jell-O. Yogi, accompanied by his reluctant best friend Boo Boo, would often try to steal picnic baskets from campers in the park, much to the chagrin of Park Ranger Smith. A girlfriend, Cindy Bear, turned up sometimes, and usually disapproved of Yogi's antics.

[gerald72]

Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born May 12, 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a former Major League Baseball player and manager. He played almost his entire career for the New York Yankees and was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.

He picked up his more famous nickname from a friend who said he resembled a Hindu holy man (yogi) they had seen in a movie, whenever Berra sat around with arms and legs crossed waiting to bat, or while looking sad after a losing game. Years later, the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Yogi Bear was named after Berra, something Berra did not appreciate after he started being periodically addressed as "Yogi Bear."

[alphamommy]

Thanks! That was my guess. I found the info. on where Yogi Berra got his nickname, but I missed the paragraph in Wikipedia about where Yogi Bear got his name.

Thanks again!

[gerald72]

Just a side bit of Yogi info I found while researching the previous:

Three years ago, Yankees great Yogi Berra filed a $10-million lawsuit against TBS, claiming that the cable television network sullied his name by using it in a racy advertisement for its “Sex and the City” reruns.

The offending ad queried readers about the definition of “yogasm.” Possible definitions: (a) a type of yo-yo trick, (b) sex with Yogi Berra or (c) what Samantha has with a guy from yoga class.

The answer is (c).