Scooter Busts This City in Half
Phil Rizzuto was known as The Scooter during his time with the Yankees which was most of his life.
He was born September 25, 1917 in New York. He was a local boy who hit the big time. First was a time signed to a Yankees minor league team based out of Kansas City in 1937. His major league debut was April 14, 1941. He played as a Yankee until he joined the Navy and was out of baseball from 1943 to 1945. From the prior blogs, you'll remember that Joe DiMaggio went in the military during the war. Yogi Berra was part of the D-Day invasion.
He came back from WWII and became a Yankee again. He would be on the team 1946 to 1956. In that powerhouse team of 1949, Rizzuto was the lead-off batter.
During his time as a player, he appeared in 1661 games and had 5816 at bats. He would appear in 9 World Series and 5 All Star Games. Joe DiMaggio, who I devoted two separate blogs said, "People loved watching me play baseball. Scooter, they just loved."
His baseball career was only part one of his long life with the Yankees. We take the time as in the minor league as a twenty year old to 1956's team. He joined their broadcast team for 40 years. "Holy Cow" was one of his big sayings when a bog play happened. Unless you made an error, then you were a "huckleberry."
The years this blogger remembers Rizzuto on the air were the years he had two talented partners. Frank Messer broadcast with Rizzuto from 1968 to 1985. Bill White was a co-broadcaster from 1971 to 1988. They were the team that WPIX was known for. If I remember right, he always called his co-announcers by their last names, never first names. I don't remember how they referred to Rizzuto.
Rizzuto was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994. The Yankees would retire his number 10.
Want to know what it was like to hear this broadcasting legend, find a copy of Paradise By The Dashboard Light by Meatloaf.
Rizzuto got a gold record for his cameo on it. A parody made out of affection was the Phil Rizzuto key holder in the Seinfeld episode "The Pothole."