DAILY DIRT: George Costanza finally receiving his due?

The world’s most famous assistant to the traveling secretary? … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 897 of The Daily Dirt.

1. This may be the greatest promotion in the history of promotions.

“George Costanza – the raging neurotic paranoid character played by actor Jason Alexander in the 1990s classic TV hit ‘Seinfeld’ — will be honored with a bobblehead figure in his likeness,” reports Chris Nesi of the New York Post.

The bobblehead will be given away when the Yankees celebrate “Seinfeld Night” on July 5. The July 5 date is no accident — it will mark the 35-year anniversary of “Seinfeld” premiere on NBC. The Costanza character was a longtime employee of the Yankees on the celebrated sitcom. Costanza worked for the Yankees from season five to season eight of “Seinfeld.” His title of “Assistant to the Traveling Secretary” which will be featured at the base of his bobblehead.

That particular storyline was one of the show’s most famous and was always good for a major guffaw or two on the episodes it was featured.

Alexander won eight Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Costanza.

The Costanza bobblehead could wind up being one of the 2024 high points for the Yankees, who are losing the services of ace right-hander Gerrit Cole (elbow problem) for as long as the first half of the season.

2. The best of “Found on Facebook” over the past seven days:

• “Taco emergency? Call 9-Juan-Juan.”
• “I have often wondered what people have against the horse I rode in on.”
• “Haven’t seen the Michelin man in a while. Maybe he’s re-tyred.”
• “Wife: I’m pissed. Husband: Again, or still?”
• “An apple a day keeps anyone away if you throw it hard enough.”

3. Many baseball fans tend to make fun of Yogi Berra because of his name or his famous malaprops, but maybe it’s time we rethought our opinion of this marvelous baseball player and took both him and his career more seriously.

Did you know that:

• Yogi caught the only perfect game in World Series history, thrown by Don Larsen.
• He led the mighty Yankees in RBIs each season from 1949 through 1955.
• He led all American League catchers in both homers and RBIs for nine straight seasons.
• He hit the first-ever pinch-hit home run in World Series history.
• In 1950, he only struck out 12 times in 597 at-bats.
• And for his career, Berra whiffed just 414 times in 8,364 plate appearances.
• Yogi and Roy Campanella are the only MLB catchers to win three MVP awards.
• He threw out an incredible 48.6 percent of runners trying to steal against him. (The current MLB average for catcher is around 30 percent.)
• Berra once went 148 consecutive games without making an error.
• He was a 10-time World Series champion, most of any player in MLB history.

But it’s still hard to forget that Yogi once said:

• “When you come to a fork in the road … take it.”
• “You can observe a lot by just watching.”
• “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
• “Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.”
• “The future ain’t what it used to be.”
• “Ninety percent of the game is half mental.”

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Pinch-hit homer? How did Yogi not start a World Series game behind the plate?

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. He’s like Yogi, just with more strikeouts and errors.