Rest in peace, Scooter
Phil Rizzuto was the earliest baseball voice I recall. Growing up and hearing about traffic jams, cannolis and fixed-rate mortgages, "The Scooter" was a comforting and original broadcaster. He will be missed. Thanks, Scooter!
posted by TheJackSack at 12:36 PM
7 Comments:
RIP Scooter.
Growing up with the Scooter calling games on WPIX channel 11 was great.
One time he was talking too much and the other announcer told him to shush. He said "don't shush me!"
I liked him because you never knew what he was going to say. It was like he wasn't watching the game half the time.
It maybe time to change my screen name. I picked Phil Rizzuto as a joke.
Now it doesn't feel right using a dead person's name.
"He's really not dead. As long as we remember him."
Dr. McCoy, Star Trek II
I have to say that I've shed a few tears since I heard the news about "The Scooter" today. As the group's "elder statesman," I have memories of Phil Rizzuto from the Yankees mid-70's period on. In those days, every game was on WPIX, even World Series and Playoff games. You could watch the network coverage or the Yankees coverage. I always chose the Yankees coverage. The team of Frank Messer, Bill White, and Rizzuto was Yankees baseball for me. They were such a great team. Messer was a very good play-by-play man, White was an insightful former player, Rizzuto, the avuncular, unabashed homer with the Yankee pedigree, the connection to the Yankee dynasty of the past. Rizzuto was guilty of every broadcasting "sin" we might criticize another announcer for, and we loved him for each and every one of them. He openly rooted for the Yankees, he sprinkled birthday and communion announcements into the telecast, he often talked about things other than the game and let his attention drift away from the action on the field, and he left early to beat the traffic across the GW bridge. These foibles are what made "The Scooter" one of the most beloved broadcasters ever. But yet he wasn't just a joke. He could capture you with his storytelling and his infectious enthusiasm. Check out the YES classic rebroadcast of Guidry's 18 strikeout game and you'll see what I mean. The Scooter was the Yankees for me as a kid and I spent some time with him everyday from April to October. It feels like I lost a family member today, and a part of my childhood went with him.
Rizzuto, a good Catholic Italian, is certainly resting in God's breast as we mourn him. I think we all can relate to Phil being the voice of our Yankees growing up.
I will be back from Poland on Monday, look forward to celebrating the Yankees ascendancy then...
7 World Series in 13 years. He was golden.
And to think, he almost became a shoe shine buy
Rizzuto was a small, mostly unnoticed shortstop with the greatest team that ever took the field.
I don't remember him for that. I remember him calling games, and the infamous, "Holy Cow!" Yelling at the top of his lungs, "Long drive, deep fly ball," and sadly the second baseman would fall under it. He loved the Yankees, and the Yankees loved him. Along with all baseball fans. His enthusiasm for the game will be hard to duplicate. Good bye, Phil. Thanks.
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