I covered the Yankees from 1998-2005, and during that period I got to meet and see many of the legends in spring training and at the Stadium. The thing I remember most about Phil Rizzuto was his approachability.
You knew who he was. You knew he was a special part of that team’s history, but he never let you know it.
Joe DiMaggio had the Yankees hold him an elevator and wouldn’t ride up with us common folk. Not so with Phil. You’d ask him a question and he’d give you a long and thoughtful answer, and he treated all the writers the same, whether you wrote for a smaller paper or the New York Times. It wasn’t unusual to be in the dugout at Legends Field and have him sit next to you and strike up a conversation.
He treated you with kindness and respect. Maybe the best thing I could say about Phil Rizzuto was he liked people, which is only fitting because people liked him.
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To hell with Phil Rizzuto, yankee scum, this clinches it delcos is a closet yankee fan, I suspected it all along.
Condolences to the Rizzuto family and the Yankee family as well. We have all lost a great sportsman and broadcast friend. Those of us who grew up with the radio on under our pillows after dark will never forget the Scooter. God Bless.
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That’s classy “The Thruth”, real classy.
John, your words about Phil seem universal around baseball people who had any interaction with him. It’s unfortunate for the world to lose a good guy like Phil. R.I.P.
To Tom: When somebody like Phil Rizzuto goes out of his way to be kind to you, you remember. Just a nice man.-JD
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IN MEMORY OF PHIL RIZZUTO – 1917-2007
Before we went nuts over the Mets in our neighborhood in 1962, in the late 50’s and early 60’s there were the Yankees. And we all would imitate Maris’s tough guy stance by rolling up our T-shirt sleeves “tree quarters of the way up” and shove about 1/2 lb. of Bazooka bubble gum into one cheek. But we also imitated the TV and radio voices of the Yankees: Mel Allen, Red Barber and Phil Rizzuto. I remember that to do a good “Rizzuto” impersonation, ya had to hold your nose. When my hero Roger Maris hit his 61st homer, my Dad and I were watching WPIX Channel 11 and as the ‘dynamic and exciting’ Red Barber was doing the play by play, he uttered two or three words as number 61 cleared the right field fence…something like: “Well, you saw it” and that was it! (old miserable bastad was probably all pissed off because my man Roger buried that pal of his Babe Ruth’s record once and for all). After his lackadaisical call, My Dad turned and looked over at me and said, “Now what the hell was that supposed to be? Damnit, I wish Rizzuto was doin’ the announcing!” He was right. Red did suck. But more than that, Rizzuto was great. And the only soundbyte of Maris’s record-breaking 61st homer that you will hear to this day is from Rizzuto’s radio call, his best ever by the way: “Fast ball hit DEEP TO RIGHT THIS COULD BE IT! WAY BACK THERE…HOLY COW HE DID IT!!! 61 FOR MARIS!!!” Rizzuto was splendid at the mic. He was also an AL MVP and a championship Yankee shortstop; he was on seven World Championship teams! God Bless ya, Phil. Rest in Peace, guy.
Hall of Famer Phil Rizzuto was 89.
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ToLoveEmHateEm: Thanks for a wonderful, sensitive post. I remember the Yankees once had a giveaway day of a 45 record with Yankee moments. There was Lou Gehrig’s speech and Rizzuto’s call. Damn, I wish I still had it.-JD
I wasn’t a Yankee fan but Rizzuto was something special in the booth. It didn’t matter what was going on with the game, Rizzuto was entertainment. When he was with White and Seaver (he called them White and Seaver, not Bill and Tom), he humanized them and the game. While we had the obnoxious Tim McCarver screaming every inning that Darryl was too deep, the Yankees had a show.
When he first started however, he hardly talked and one day Mel Allen left him alone so that he’d have to keep talking.
He never stopped and we all owe Mel a “how about that” for doing it.
There’s a little of Rizzuto in Keith. Distractions, lollipops, colored score cards. It makes listening so much easier than the constant drone of announcers who act like every pitch is the end of the world.