“It Gets Late So Early” was a 1955 song hit by Lefty Frizzell. New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra (1925-2015) talked about the shadows in left field at Yankee Stadium in the fall, when he was quoted in October 1963 with:
 
“It gets late early.”
 
The saying is often given as, “It gets late early out there.”
 
   
Wikiquote: Yogi Berra
Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra (May 12, 1925-September 22, 2015) is a former American baseball player, manager and member of Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame, noted for his malapropisms.
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It gets late early out there.
. What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743244532, p. 27
. Variant: It gets late awfully early around here.
. Referring to the adverse sun conditions in left field at Yankee Stadium.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
It Gets Late So Early
Author: Frizzell; L Hayes; Lefty Frizzell
Publisher: Columbia [19—]
Edition/Format:   Music : 78 rpm : No Linguistic Content
 
6 November 1955, The Progress-Index (Petersburg, VA), pg. 22, col. 1 ad:
IT GETS LATE SO EARLY…Lefty Frizzell
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Stevens & Maclin
“Your Records Store”
 
4 October 1963, Lexington (KY) Leader, “View of Series” by Red Smith, pg. 9, col. 2:
The ball Maris misjudged was not an easy chance. It came straight at him off the bat, with the crowded stands a confusing background, and there was autumn haze in the stadium. This is the time of year in the many-splendored Bronx when, Yogi Berra says, “it gets late early.”
 
9 October 1963, Omaha (NE) World-Herald, “Poets in Meditation” (Baltimore Sun), pg. 24, col. 2:
At this time of year in Yankee Stadium, says Mr. Berra, “it gets late early.” As with all great sayings, this one stays in the mind, circling and bobbing slowly, touching infinite overtones and undertones.
 
15 October 1963, Evening World-Herald (Omaha, NE), editorial, pg. 18, col. 1:
It Gets Late Early
As Yogi Berra has said, it gets late early this time of year. And as Nelson Rockefeller apparently has noticed, it is getting late early in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination.
 
25 October 1963, New York (NY) Times, “Sports of the Times” by Arthur Daley:
“Or you can take his, ‘It gets late early,’ in describing the Yankee Stadium outfield at World Series time, That’s when the day gets shorter and the sun sets sooner so that the glare blinds the outfielder in a way that it never does during the regular season. Yogi was right. It does get late early.”
(Joe Garagiola.—ed.)
   
Google Books
The Yogi Book:
I Really Didn’t Say Everything I Said!
By Yogi Berra
New York, NY: Workman Publishing
1998
Pg. 64:
“It gets late early out there.”
Left field in Yankee Stadium was tough to play during the late Autumn. World Series time! The shadows would creep up on you and you would have a tough time seeing the ball off the bat. Everyone knew what I meant…I think.
 
Google Books
If These Walls Could Talk:
New York Yankees: Stories from the New York Dugout, Locker Room, and Press Box
By Jim Kaat with Greg Jennings
Chicago, IL: Triumph Books
2015
Pg. 39:
Like when he (Yogi Berra—ed.) explained how it was hard to see the ball in left field of Yankee Stadium late in the fall due to the shadows creeping in with a very succinct, “It gets late early out here.”

Los Angeles (CA) Times
Yogi Berra dies at 90; greatest quotes
By HOUSTON MITCHELL
SEPTEMBER 22, 2015, 11:40 PM
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“It gets late early out here.”