formed the band

Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley formed the band as a couple in 1984. They chose the name Yo La Tengo, Spanish for “I have it”. The name came from a baseball anecdote from the 1962 season told by Richie Ashburn , when New York Mets center fielder Ashburn and shortstop Elio Chacón collided in the outfield. When Ashburn went for a catch, he would yell, “I got it! I got it!” only to run into Chacón, a Venezuelan who spoke only Spanish. Ashburn, who before spoke only English, learned to yell, “Yo la tengo! Yo la tengo!” instead. In a later game, Ashburn happily saw Chacón backing off. He relaxed, positioned himself to catch the ball, and was run over by left fielder Frank Thomas , who understood no Spanish and had missed a team meeting that proposed using the words “Yo la tengo!” as a way to avoid outfield collisions. After getting up, Thomas asked Ashburn, “What the hell is a yellow tango?” Ashburn got many laughs out of the story, but its provenance is dubious. Thomas always insisted that Ashburn made the whole thing up.