Joe Garagiola grew up at 5446 Elizabeth Avenue in the Italian immigrant Hill section of St. Louis. Yogi Berra grew up directly across the street at 5447. “He was my best friend,” Garagiola told me. “I’d come out of the house and if I sat on my porch long enough here he comes.”

I called Garagiola last Thursday to talk about his childhood with his buddy Lawdie, formerly known as but never called Lawrence. Berra had died about 36 hours earlier, a fact so overwhelming that Garagiola was not prepared to believe it even though Larry Berra, the oldest of Yogi’s three sons, had called to tell him minutes after Yogi died.

When did you last talk to him? I asked Garagiola.

“I haven’t talked to him in a while,” said Garagiola, at 89 nine months younger than the 90-year-old Berra.

“It’s been a tough week,” Garagiola said. “I got calls on Monday that a couple of friends died.”

“I did not need that piece of news,” he added, speaking of …

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As far as De Jon Watson knows, no team that seeks or expects to seek a general manager has asked his employer, the Arizona Diamondbacks, for permission to talk to him about filling its need. Tony La Russa, the Diamondbacks’ chief baseball officer, confirmed Watson’s knowledge Saturday.

Watson, the Diamondbacks’ senior vice president of baseball operations and their third ranking baseball executive, is also their second ranking black baseball executive behind General Manager Dave Stewart.

Given Watson’s vast experience and impressive resume, he should be highly considered for …

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A “Keeping Score” column in The New York Times last week caught my attention with this start to a sentence: “While batting average may no longer hold much sway…”

Written by Benjamin Hoffman, the piece was about Yoenis Cespedes, the New York Mets’ surprising sensation, and his chances of winning the National League most valuable player award.

Curious about that “batting average” phrase, I called Hoffman Tuesday night and asked him about it.

I don’t know Hoffman, never met him, never had spoken with him. However, simply by taking my call, he showed a lot more class than his superiors in the Times sports department.

“I think there’s been a pretty widespread move to emphasize other statistics, with organizations, even with fans,” Hoffman said.

And with Metrics Monsters. Don’t forget them. They concoct new metrics – I don’t like even the sound of that word – and in their …

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