8 incredible pictures that prove Yogi Berra was a baseball legend and an American hero

If normal pictures are worth 1,000 words, images of a recently departed American hero make War and Peace look like a single emoji. To honor the late great Yogi Berra -- who passed away Tuesday at the age of 90 -- we combed through the archives to find eight images of one of the greatest ballplayers to ever wear that number.

In Game 3 of the 1947 World Series against the Dodgers, Berra tried to catch a foul tip off the bat of pitcher Hugh Casey. In the above image, Berra is taking issue with umpire Ed Rommel, contending that Casey interfered with his trying to make the catch. Berra lost the argument, but the mighty Casey struck out later in the at-bat. The Dodgers won the game, but the Yankees won the series.

You already know that Berra will forever be a baseball legend, but you might not be aware that he was also a huge hockey fan. He spent decades cheering for the New Jersey Devils and even wrote an op-ed congratulating the team after its third Stanley Cup championship in 2003. In the above photo -- taken in 1948 -- Berra was trying to score on St. Louis Flyers goalie Mousie McDonald while he worked out with the team in Missouri.

If you thought Berra was elated to have caught Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 Fall Classic, check out the above photo from four years prior: Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto (left) and Berra (right) kissed right fielder Hank Bauer on the cheeks during the celebration following the team's third straight World Series championship. They went on to make it a five-peat by winning in 1952 and 1953, too.

The Mets called upon Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens to help improve the team's baserunning during Spring Training ahead of the 1965 season. Berra -- then a coach with Mets -- helped the team's general manager hold a bat that served as a hurdle for Owens in a photo-op at Shea Stadium before the trip.

On May 11, 1972, the Mets traded a Minor League pitcher and cash to the Giants to acquire an outfielder named Willie Mays. The next day, Mets manager Yogi Berra turned 47 and celebrated his birthday with the fellow future Hall of Famer.

In 1983, Berra returned to the Bronx, where he was named the new manager of his beloved Yankees. 

Once a Yankee, always a Yankee. Berra's playing career was long over by 2007, but that didn't stop him from appearing at the team's Spring Training facility in Tampa, Fla. to lend his services as a special instructor. Twelve years into a storied Yankees career of his own, Derek Jeter spent some time with Berra in the dugout at Legends Field.

Joe Torre and Yogi Berra had playing careers that overlapped for parts of five seasons, but they never played on the same team and never played against each other -- not even in an All-Star Game (Berra played in every Midsummer classic from 1948-62, but Torre made his first of nine career All-Star rosters in 1963). In the above photo, the two former Yankees managers shake hands at Old Timers Day in the Bronx in 2014.