He hoped Yogi Berra would make him a better catcher. That ended up being the least of it.
"He made me a better man," Craig Biggio remembered.
This is the kind of story you will hear again and again as baseball mourns the passing of one of its greatest players and finest gentlemen.
In the beginning, Yankee fans loved Yogi because he was one of the greatest players ever. He understood the game from every angle.
Later, he would become almost as famous for his funny stories and cryptic wisdom. But the people who knew him best always pointed to other things.