Yogi Berra’s secret Rhode Island baseball career before the Yankees

CRANSTON, R.I. — Before Yogi Berra became one of the most iconic names in baseball, he was sneaking off a Navy base in Connecticut to play semi-pro baseball in Cranston, Rhode Island—under a fake name.

In 1945, during the final stretch of World War II, Berra was stationed at the Groton submarine base. Though he played for the Navy’s official team, he was determined to keep his baseball skills sharp—and earn some extra cash. So he bribed base guards to let him slip away and play for the Cranston Chiefs of the New England League, using the alias Joe Cusano. At $50 a game, it was nearly half a month’s Navy pay.

The Chiefs played at Cranston Stadium, where the short, stocky “Cusano” quickly drew attention with his powerful swing. One legendary home run reportedly traveled 500 feet, crashing off the roof of the Cranston Bible Chapel in center field. The city later raised the outfield fence by 30 feet to prevent any more balls from leaving the stadium.

Because Berra had already signed with the New York Yankees, league rules prohibited him from appearing in semi-pro games. But newspapers looked the other way, noting that the New England League was full of service members playing under aliases. “No scribe desires to prevent any young man from earning a dollar by using his right name,” one reporter wrote.

Berra’s time in Rhode Island was short but impactful. On June 25, 1945, playing for the Groton Navy team in an exhibition against the New York Giants, he went 3-for-4 and caught the attention of Giants manager Mel Ott. Though Ott tried to acquire him, Yankees GM Larry MacPhail refused—but made a point to find out who this Berra kid actually was.

Berra was honorably discharged in May 1946 and immediately promoted to the Yankees’ top farm team. Later that year, he made his major league debut. He would go on to appear in 14 World Series, win 3 MVP awards, and enter the Hall of Fame in 1972.

But long before the fame and the Yogi-isms, Lawrence “Yogi” Berra was Joe Cusano—a moonlighting sailor bribing guards for a chance to hit home runs under the lights of Cranston Stadium.