About an hour after the first place Dodgers were pounded by the third place Arizona Diamondbacks 8-0, their fourth straight loss at Dodger Stadium that had Dodger fans fuming, word began spreading on Twitter that baseball legend, American war hero and Hall of Famer Yogi Berra had died at the age of 90. And just like that, in an instant, that painful Dodgers loss no longer mattered.

Word of Berra’s passing spread rapidly on Twitter, drawing many heartfelt tweets from baseball fans and major leaguers from around the globe.

Within minutes of the initial tweet from the Yogi Berra Museum, follow-up tweets began flowing in from around the world expressing condolences to Yogi’s family and friends. One such friend is current Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, who proudly wears Dodgers uniform number eight in honor of his friend and fellow Yankee alum.

Former Yankee greats Yogi Berra and Don Mattingly. (AP Photo)

Although it is his incredible Hall of Fame career and his popular nonsensical quotes that Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra is best known for, he was also an American hero, having served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Berra was but an 18-year-old kid serving on a small 36-foot boat called a “Landing craft support small (LCSS)” where he and his fellow sailors provided crucial support during the invasion of Normandy – D-Day – on June 6, 1944.

“A lot of our guys wanted to get off to go on the beach. I said, ‘No, I‘m staying on the boat,'” Berra told NBC’s Keith Olbermann during a June 2004 interview. “And so I didn’t go on the beach. We lost one guy. He went on the beach and lost his life.”

Berra made his major league debut with the Yankees on September 22, 1946 at the age of 21. He would go on to play 18 seasons with the Bronx Bombers, during which time he was named to 18 All-Star games, was a 13-time World Series champion, a three-time All-Star Game MVP and a three-time AL MVP. He was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 along with Sandy Koufax and Early Wynn.

After his playing days, Berra served as manager of the Yankees for one season and then as a coach for the cross-town New York Mets from 1965 through 1972. He was with the Mets during their historic 1969 season when they won the World Series under manager and former Dodgers great Gil Hodges. Berra was named as the Mets manager in 1972 following Hodges’ unexpected death in spring training, a position that he held for four seasons.

I took this photo of Yogi Berra with my Brownie Hawkeye camera on July 23, 1966 at Dodger Stadium. I was 12 years old.

Whether you love or hate the Yankees, it was impossible… absolutely impossible not to love Yogi Berra. He will be greatly missed by all.