How in the heck does a short pop dropping in to center field allow ANY runner to get to second base. Any center fielder could throw out a runner trying to stretch a short base hit to center.
I've seen hitters take second on pops like that. Especially if, like Berra, they're power hitters known to hit to all parts of the park and thus have center fielders playing them a little more deep than normal. (Yogi had shown very early in his career that he could hit.) It's actually not that difficult, with that kind of fielder positioning, to take an extra base on a high pop like that if it falls in for a hit and you're gunning it up the baseline.
The line "One fine day he lofts a short pop to center field that falls in for a base hit" could surely mean the center fielder was playing him deep and got caught unawares and a little hustle by Yogi could have made it a close play at second. It just reads odd...because an alert CF would be charging that ball and would come up throwing.