Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto, who overcame his diminutive size to become a key contributor to numerous New York Yankees championships and followed his playing career with a lengthy and entertaining stint in the team's broadcast booth, died Tuesday. He was 89.
Rizzuto's playing and broadcasting careers were in contrast with each other. As a player, Rizzuto had the reputation for being an alert, heads-up competitor with keen baseball instincts that eventually earned him a place in the Hall of Fame. Behind the microphone, he was at times oblivious to the events on the field; nevertheless, his lack of polish as an announcer was ignored by generations of Yankees fans who accepted his eccentricities the way family members do an amusing relative.
In many ways, the Yankees were Rizzuto's family. Except for 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.
RIP SCOOTER WE LOVE YOU
jerZ07002
Holy Cow....oh no....RIP. The sound of the yankees for sooooo long.
AY STAR
r.i.p
such a great guy and announcer
get nyce
only 2 replies...sad no love for scooter..
did he get all of it....holy cow he did!
southbound24
rip scooter, a piece of my childhood went silent
verndogs
RIP to one of the more underrated baseball commentators
holy cow!
jerZ07002
quote:
Originally posted by get nyce
only 2 replies...sad no love for scooter..
did he get all of it....holy cow he did!
i was going to say the same thing. Steven gets a pass for not commenting because he wasn't around for rizzuto. but i'm quite surprised at some of the others for not commenting. he had a legendary voice. i will never forget him. for me, i'll always remember him along with Donny and winfield.
get nyce
quote:
Originally posted by jerZ07002
i was going to say the same thing. Steven gets a pass for not commenting because he wasn't around for rizzuto. but i'm quite surprised at some of the others for not commenting. he had a legendary voice. i will never forget him. for me, i'll always remember him along with Donny and winfield.
mel hall, barfield, maas, espinoza, sax, god the golden years!
jerZ07002
quote:
Originally posted by get nyce
mel hall, barfield, maas, espinoza, sax, god the golden years!
more like than tin years....i don't remember a winning season back then.
get nyce
quote:
Originally posted by jerZ07002
more like than tin years....i don't remember a winning season back then.
perhaps it was golden for me because i sat infront of the tube watching...always watching..probably when i conceived my yankee die hard fan pin...post that era was the celebration...velarde, leyrics, etc etc...added love ontop of that i guess
southbound24
quote:
Originally posted by get nyce
mel hall, barfield, maas, espinoza, sax, god the golden years!
how dare you forget steve baboni, ken phelps, kevin "no" mass, and rafael santana
trunks1022
i grew up listening to his calls. totally different style from ralph kiner and tim mccarver... how about the perez brothers?
RIP scooter.
one of his granddaughters went to my school. her sister (also a hunter student) passed away in a car crash in high school. :(
