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"Phil Rizzuto, the Hall of Fame shortstop who went on to fame for his unique broadcasting style, died late Monday night. He was 89. His death was confirmed by the Yankees. Rizzuto had been in declining health for several years and was living at a nursing home in West Orange, N.J. Rizzuto, nicknamed "The Scooter," was the oldest living member of the Baseball Hall of Fame prior to his death. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1994 by the Veterans Committee. Rizzuto, noted as one of the best defensive shortstops in the history of the game, was the American League MVP in 1950 and played in five All-Star games. In his MVP season, Rizzuto hit .324 and scored 125 runs. He played for the Yankees from 1941 to 1956 (missing three years because of World War II, when he was in the U.S. Navy). The Yankees won seven World Series titles during Rizzuto's career. Photo File/Getty Images Phil Rizzuto, shown around 1941 when he broke into the big leagues with the Yankees. "I guess heaven must have needed a shortstop," Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. "Phil Rizzuto's contributions to the Yankees and the sport of baseball were immense for a period of over 50 years. He was one of the greatest Yankees of all time and a dear, close friend of mine whose loss is enormous to me and to the entire Yankee family." Rizzuto went on to be a Yankees broadcaster for more than 40 seasons. His unique style was accented with his famous phrase, "Holy Cow!" when a great play was made. Rizzuto was on the call when Roger Maris hit his 61st career home run to eclipse the single-season home run record previously held by Babe Ruth. "Phil was a gem, one of the greatest people I ever knew. A dear friend and great teammate," said Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, who frequently visited Rizzuto in his later years. "When I first came up to the Yankees, he was like a big, actually small, brother to me. He's meant an awful lot to baseball and the Yankees and has left us with a lot of wonderful memories." After Rizzuto's death, the oldest living Hall of Famer is Lee MacPhail Jr., who was born in 1917. Bobby Doerr and Bob Feller (born in 1918), Monte Irvin (born in 1919) and Stan Musial (born in 1920) are among the 62 Hall of Famers who remain alive. Rizzuto was a flashy, diminutive player who could always be counted on for a perfect bunt, a nice slide or a diving catch in a lineup better known for its cornerstone sluggers. He played alongside the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. He stood just 5-foot-6 but was equipped with a productive bat, sure hands and quick feet that earned him his nickname. A leadoff man, Rizzuto was a superb bunter, used to good advantage by the Yankee teams that won 11 pennants and nine World Series between 1941 and 1956. Kidwiler Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images Rizzuto avoids Jim Gilliam of the Brooklyn Dodgers during Game 1 of the 1955 World Series. "He was a Yankee all the way," Indians great and Hall of Famer Bob Feller said. "Phil could hit, he could run, he was good on the basepaths and he was a great shortstop. He knew the fundamentals of the game and he got 100 percent out of his ability. He played it hard and he played it fair." Rizzuto tried out with the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants when he was 16, but because of his size was dismissed by Dodgers manager Casey Stengel, who told him to "Go get a shoeshine box." He went on to become one of Stengel's most dependable players. A Rizzuto bunt, a steal and a DiMaggio hit made up the scoring trademark of the Yankees' golden era, and he played errorless ball in 21 consecutive World Series games. DiMaggio said the shortstop "held the team together." Rizzuto came to the Yankees in 1941 and batted .307 as a rookie. After his stint in the Navy, he returned in 1946 and four years later became the American League MVP. He batted .324 that season with a slugging percentage of .439 and 200 hits, second most in the league. He also went 58 games without an error, making 288 straight plays. He led all AL shortstops in double plays three times and had a career batting average of .273 with at least a .930 fielding percentage. After the Yankees released him in 1956, Rizzuto began a second career as a broadcaster, one for which he became at least equally well known. In his decades on the radio and TV, Rizzuto's favorite phrase was "Holy cow!" It became so common, the team presented him with a cow wearing a halo when they held a day in his honor in 1985. The cow knocked Rizzuto over and, of course, he shouted, "Holy cow!" "That thing really hurt," he said. "That big thing stepped right on my shoe and pushed me backwards, like a karate move." Yankee fans also loved his unusual commentary. In an age of broadcasters who spout statistics and repeat the obvious, Rizzuto delighted in talking about things like his fear of lightning, the style of an umpire's shoes or even the prospect of outfielder Dave Winfield as a candidate for president. He liked to acknowledge birthdays and anniversaries, read notes from fans, praised the baked delicacies at his favorite restaurant and send messages to old cronies. And if he missed a play, he would scribble "ww" in his scorecard box score. That, he said, meant "wasn't watching." Despite his qualifications, Rizzuto was passed over for the Hall of Fame 15 times by the writers and 11 times by the old-timers committee. Finally, a persuasive speech by Ted Williams pushed Rizzuto into Cooperstown in 1994. Williams, a member of the committee, argued that Rizzuto was the man who made the difference between the Yankees and his Red Sox. He was fond of saying, "If we'd had Rizzuto in Boston, we'd have won all those pennants instead of New York." As in his playing days, Rizzuto was overshadowed by the headliners, teammates like DiMaggio, Mantle, Whitey Ford and Berra. All of them reached the Hall of Fame before he did. "I never thought I deserved to be in the Hall of Fame," Rizzuto would say. "The Hall of Fame is for the big guys, pitchers with 100 mph fastballs and hitters who sock homers and drive in a lot of runs. That's the way it always has been and the way it should be." Old-timers still talk about his suicide squeeze in the ninth inning during the 1951 pennant race to score DiMaggio, beating Cleveland 2-1 and putting the Yankees in first place for the rest of the season. Rizzuto remembers Aug. 25, 1956, as a day he thought was the "end of the world," the day Stengel released him to make room for clutch-hitting Enos Slaughter in the pennant drive. "It was Old-Timers Day, and I was out taking pictures, as I did every year," Rizzuto remembered. "The bat boy came over and told me that Casey Stengel and George Weiss wanted to see me in Stengel's office. It was the last day to add a player to the roster and have him eligible for the World Series. We were trading for Enos Slaughter because Stengel said we needed another outfielder, so we had to send someone down to make room on the roster. "They asked me to read through the list of players and to check each player's eligibility, to see who we could let go," he said. "I sat there thinking that I was a veteran and they wanted my opinion. As we read through the list I pointed out a few players who I thought could be sent down, a pitcher we had hardly used and a catcher who had been in only nine games. But each time they said, 'No, we might need him.' We started to go through the list a second time, and then half way through it dawned on me." "The Scooter" was done. Rizzuto is survived by his wife, the former Cora Anne Esselborn, whom he married in 1943; daughters Cindy Rizzuto, Patricia Rizzuto and Penny Rizzuto Yetto; son Phil Rizzuto Jr.; and two granddaughters. "

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2974097

8/14/2007 12:45:07 PM

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"Rizzuot "

8/14/2007 12:51:24 PM

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"Rizzuot "

8/14/2007 1:06:48 PM

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"Rizzuot "

8/14/2007 1:19:54 PM

those look like 'R's to me

8/14/2007 1:20:09 PM

Rizzuto's not a word, he's a baseball player.

8/14/2007 1:27:04 PM

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""Rizzuot""

8/14/2007 1:45:53 PM

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""Rizzuot""

its rirruto.....duh

8/14/2007 2:14:56 PM

RIP Scooter

8/14/2007 2:43:55 PM

I would never have known who this guy was if it weren't for that Seinfeld episode with the Phil Rizzuto keychain.

8/14/2007 2:59:55 PM

He is one of the voices I grew up on. Rizzuto on WPIX, Kiner on WWOR and Bob Murphy on WFAN... good times.

8/14/2007 3:06:34 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AujzEaI2RNw


plz to embed

8/14/2007 3:23:44 PM

Quote :

"I would never have known who this guy was if it weren't for that Seinfeld episode with the Phil Rizzuto keychain. "

god damn you are a fucking little bitch. What did you do growing up? play house and shit?

8/14/2007 3:27:49 PM

You act like you are some old man who grew up watching him play. I am not a huge fan of the Yankees, so obviously, why in the fuck would I know or care who he was.

8/14/2007 3:54:53 PM

[those look like 'R's to me]


hahahahah good call

8/14/2007 3:55:01 PM

^^ I hate the fucking Yankees more than I hate you, but that doesnt mean I dont know a really famous player.


YOU act like hes really obscure and shit

8/14/2007 3:57:50 PM

Well obviously he is. I mean he is no Babe, Lou, Yogi, Mickey, or Reggie

8/14/2007 4:00:26 PM

but hes not Fred Snodgrass either

8/14/2007 4:05:45 PM

He was a true Yankee in every sense of the word. Class all the way.....I met him a while back and was a great guy to talk to. He played on some great teams, and did alot of things on the field that don't show up on the score card......He will be missed....RIP Scooter !!

P.S. RoyalFlush said - "Well obviously he is. I mean he is no Babe, Lou, Yogi, Mickey, or Reggie".....which proves to us all he is a ignorant n00b, and knows nothing about baseball !!

8/14/2007 5:16:24 PM

honestly i never heard of him till billy madison came out, but i was only 12 at the time also, so i guess thats my excuse

8/14/2007 5:23:10 PM

do you people not read fucking baseball books anymore?? damn commies

8/14/2007 5:24:17 PM

well i was 12, so i didn't read much of anything

8/14/2007 5:35:36 PM

at 12?

8/14/2007 5:36:04 PM

no i was too busy playing video games and sports, get off my nuts

8/14/2007 5:37:41 PM

haha, baseball books. Thats a good one.

8/14/2007 5:39:50 PM

yeah huh huh huh reading is stoopid huh huh huh

8/14/2007 5:50:05 PM

how are you going to hate on the scooter and baseball books all at the same time

go to hell!

8/14/2007 6:36:46 PM