RIP, Phil Rizzuto

Phil "The Scooter" Rizzuto, legendary Yankee shortstop and broadcaster, has died at the age of 89.

In many ways, the Yankees were Rizzuto's family. Excepting a three-year stretch in the United States Navy (1943-45) during World War II, Rizzuto was the Yankees' regular shortstop from 1941 into the 1956 season, when he retired under somewhat disagreeable circumstances. The next year, he began a broadcasting career that would run 40 seasons through 1996, the first year of the Yankees' most recent stretch of success under manager Joe Torre.

In retirement, Rizzuto frequently returned to Yankee Stadium to throw out ceremonial first pitches on special occasions. After Derek Jeter's famous shuttle toss home in the 2001 American League Championship Series, Rizzuto mimicked the play in tribute to the current Yankees shortstop rather than throwing from the mound, to the delight of the Stadium crowd.

Rizzuto was part of the Yankees' dynastic years of the 1940s and '50s that included a record five straight World Series championships from 1949 through 1953. It was during that period that Rizzuto was an American League Most Valuable Player, in 1950, a year after he finished second in the voting to Ted Williams. In his 13 seasons with the Yankees, Rizzuto played in nine World Series and was on the winning side seven times. He was a rookie on the Yankees' 1941 championship team that beat the Brooklyn Dodgers for the first of five times in the Series before losing to their Flatbush rivals in 1955, Rizzuto's last postseason appearance.

Among the highest compliments paid Rizzuto came from Williams, who frequently said the Boston Red Sox might have been in all those World Series had Rizzuto been on their side. As a member of the Hall's Veterans Committee, Williams lobbied hard for Rizzuto's enshrinement in Cooperstown, N.Y., which became reality in 1994. Rizzuto had been the oldest living Hall of Famer. That distinction now belongs to former American League president Lee MacPhail, with former second baseman Bobby Doerr the oldest living Hall of Fame player.

It's impossible to describe the charm of Phil Rizzuto doing the play-by-play of a Yankees game, especially on the radio, to someone who didn't grow up listening to him do it. Part Harry Caray, part Willard Scott, part Uncle Junior - you just had to be there. And what can I say, as an Italian kid from Staten Island, I have a deep and abiding affection for Italian-Americans of his generation. We'll never see his like in the broadcast booth again - among other things, the goofball ex-jocks who get on that career path are generally shuttled towards talk shows rather than the press box these days.

Of course, even if you never saw a Yankee game on WPIX back in the day, you're still very likely familiar with Rizzuto and his game-calling style:

Among Rizzuto's most famous calls were Roger Maris' 61st home run in 1961 and Chris Chambliss' pennant-clinching homer in the 1976 AL Championship Series. Scooter became so identified with the Yankees that the singer Meat Loaf used with permission his play-by-play of a game as background in the 1977 song, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light."

The Fanhouse has video, for those who want to sing along at home. I remember reading an interview with Rizzuto in "Sport" magazine in which they asked him about his experience with Meat Loaf - this was maybe 1978 or so, not long after the song was released. He said that Meat Loaf bugged him for months to do the play by play, and he agreed after his son talked him into it. When he got to the recording studio and saw what he was supposed to read, he was confused by it - "Why is every play a close play?", he asked. Just read it and don't worry about it, said Meat Loaf. So he did, and forgot about it till his son brought home the album a few months later. It was then, when listening to the song, that he figured it out. "I caught a lot of flak from priests and teachers and so on about that," he said. But he ultimately enjoyed the gig, and I at least would say it's immortalized him in a way that baseball itself never could.

Phil Pepe has some excellent anecdotes about The Scooter, but I think the ending of the obituary story has the best bit:

In 1993, a book edited by Tom Peyer and Hart Seely, "Holy Cow!: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto," featured portions of Scooter's stream of conscience broadcasts in the form of poetry.

Rizzuto once said on the air upon learning of the death of Pope Paul VI, "Well, that kind of puts a damper on even a Yankee win."

So does the passing of Phil Rizzuto.

Amen. Rest in peace, Phil Rizzuto.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 14, 2007 to Baseball