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"Scooter" Rizzuto dies at 89
NY Yankees website ^ | 8/14/2007 | By Jack O'Connell

Posted on 08/14/2007 8:48:51 AM PDT by JohnLongIsland

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at newyork.yankees.mlb.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: baseball; mlb; nyyankees; obituary; rizzuto; yankees
"Holy Cow", munching on big cannoli in the sky.
1 posted on 08/14/2007 8:48:52 AM PDT by JohnLongIsland
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To: JohnLongIsland

2 posted on 08/14/2007 8:50:19 AM PDT by So Cal Rocket
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To: So Cal Rocket

I wonder how many of todays’s juicehead players will live to 89?


3 posted on 08/14/2007 8:51:06 AM PDT by raptor29
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To: JohnLongIsland

Scooter will always be in my list of “cool old guys” for his willingness to do a cameo on Meatloaf’s “Bat out of Hell.”


4 posted on 08/14/2007 8:55:04 AM PDT by Clemenza (Rudy Giuliani, like Pesto and Seattle, belongs in the scrap heap of '90s Culture)
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To: Clemenza

“Holy cow, I think he’s gonna make it...”


5 posted on 08/14/2007 8:59:11 AM PDT by gate2wire
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To: JohnLongIsland
Ok, here we go, we got a real pressure cooker going here, two down, nobody on, no score, bottom of the ninth, there's the wind-up and there it is, a line shot up the middle, look at him go. This boy can really fly! He's rounding first and really turning it on now, he's not letting up at all, he's gonna try for second; the ball is bobbled out in center, and here comes the throw, and what a throw! He's gonna slide in head first, here he comes, he's out! No, wait, safe--safe at second base, this kid really makes things happen out there. Batter steps up to the plate, here's the pitch-- he's going, and what a jump he's got, he's trying for third, here's the throw, it's in the dirt-- safe at third! Holy cow, stolen base! He's taking a pretty big lead out there, almost daring him to try and pick him off. The pitcher glance over, winds up, and it's bunted, bunted down the third base line, the suicide squeeze in on! Here he comes, squeeze play, it's gonna be close, here's the throw, there's the play at the plate, holy cow, I think he's gonna make it!

Rizzuto was the voice of the baseball announcer in Meatlof's Paradise by the Dashboard Light. Oh yeah, and a Hall-of-Famer as well.

RIP Scooter...

6 posted on 08/14/2007 9:01:14 AM PDT by WrightWings
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To: JohnLongIsland
9 World Series rings for Rizzuto in his 13 seasons in MLB in a Hall of Fame career. Not bad.

RIP, Scooter.

7 posted on 08/14/2007 9:13:38 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo (There are four types of homicide: felonious, accidental, justifiable, and praiseworthy)
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To: JohnLongIsland

Grew up listening to Rizzuto on the radio and television broadcasts of Yankees games. The conversations he used to get into with Bill White were classics—often ending up with White unable to control his laughter. Listening to Scooter made you feel like you were sitting back on a lazy (hazy, crazy) summer day with friends and, oh yeah, a ballgame was going on.
I also remember being at Phil Rizzuto day at the Stadium. Seaver pitched a no-hitter (I think) against the Yankees that day. But what made that day special was they honored Rizzuto by giving him a cow! And the darned cow knocked Phil right on his backside! Classic Rizzuto.
I’ve been missing listening to his voice for years now. He was a part of my childhood/young adulthood.


8 posted on 08/14/2007 9:16:24 AM PDT by MarDav
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To: JohnLongIsland
R.I.P.Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
9 posted on 08/14/2007 9:31:57 AM PDT by rfp1234 (Nothing is better than eternal happiness. A ham sandwich is better than nothing. Therefore...)
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To: MarDav

seaver got his 300th win that day with the reds.
can’t forget frank messer.


10 posted on 08/14/2007 9:35:44 AM PDT by JohnLongIsland
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To: MarDav
Good post.

Do you have the YES Network? If so, Mike and the Mad Dog are doing a Rizzuto retrospective right now..

11 posted on 08/14/2007 10:06:42 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo (There are four types of homicide: felonious, accidental, justifiable, and praiseworthy)
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To: JohnLongIsland

Hope they have a tribute at Fenway tonight. [And then kill the Yankees on the playoffs.] Scooter was one class guy.


12 posted on 08/14/2007 10:27:27 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (NYT Headline: Protocols of the Learned Elders of CBS: Fake but Accurate, Experts Say)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
...Among the highest compliments paid Rizzuto came from [Ted] Williams, who frequently said the Boston Red Sox might have been in all those World Series had Rizzuto been on their side. As a member of the Hall's Veterans Committee, Williams lobbied hard for Rizzuto's enshrinement in Cooperstown, N.Y., which became reality in 1994. Rizzuto had been the oldest living Hall of Famer. That distinction now belongs to former American League president Lee MacPhail, with former second baseman Bobby Doerr the oldest living Hall of Fame player...
there's no better baseball than a yankees - red sox series

13 posted on 08/14/2007 10:36:16 AM PDT by JohnLongIsland
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To: JohnLongIsland

RIP Scooter. Thanks for the laughs and the thrills


14 posted on 08/14/2007 12:23:24 PM PDT by Syberyenta
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To: WrightWings
Ok, here we go, we got a real pressure cooker going here, two down, nobody on, no score, bottom of the ninth, there's the

OK, how could you put on a suicide squeeze with two out? They can just throw to first and the third out is a force so the run doesn't score. Can't believe Scooter let those lyrics stand.

15 posted on 08/14/2007 2:17:39 PM PDT by Dilbert56 (Harry Reid, D-Nev.: "We're going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war.")
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To: JohnLongIsland
Phil Rizzuto SS

Hitting Stats: Next Stats >>
SEASON TEAM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
1941     New York Yankees 133 515 65 158 20 9 3 46 205 27 36 14 5 .339 .398 .307
1942     New York Yankees 144 553 79 157 24 7 4 68 207 44 40 22 6 .338 .374 .284
1946     New York Yankees 126 471 53 121 17 1 2 38 146 34 39 14 7 .311 .310 .257
1947     New York Yankees 153 549 78 150 26 9 2 60 200 57 31 11 6 .345 .364 .273
1948     New York Yankees 128 464 65 117 13 2 6 50 152 60 24 6 5 .332 .328 .252
1949     New York Yankees 153 614 110 169 22 7 5 65 220 72 34 18 6 .340 .358 .275
1950     New York Yankees 155 617 125 200 36 7 7 66 271 92 39 12 8 .407 .439 .324
1951     New York Yankees 144 540 87 148 21 6 2 43 187 58 27 18 3 .335 .346 .274
1952     New York Yankees 152 578 89 147 24 10 2 43 197 67 42 17 6 .325 .341 .254
1953     New York Yankees 134 413 54 112 21 3 2 54 145 71 39 4 3 .370 .351 .271
1954     New York Yankees 127 307 47 60 11 0 2 15 77 41 23 3 2 .291 .251 .195
1955     New York Yankees 81 143 19 37 4 1 1 9 46 22 18 7 1 .369 .322 .259
1956     New York Yankees 31 52 6 12 0 0 0 6 12 6 6 3 0 .310 .231 .231
Career Totals 1661 5816 877 1588 239 62 38 563 2065 651 398 149 58 .341 .355 .273

Fielding Stats:

SEASON TEAM POS G GS INN TC PO A E DP PB SB CS RF FPCT
1941     New York Yankees SS 128 --- --- 680 252 399 29 109 --- --- --- --- .957
1942     New York Yankees SS 144 --- --- 799 324 445 30 114 --- --- --- --- .962
1946     New York Yankees SS 125 --- --- 671 267 378 26 97 --- --- --- --- .961
1947     New York Yankees SS 151 --- --- 815 340 450 25 111 --- --- --- --- .969
1948     New York Yankees SS 128 --- --- 624 259 348 17 85 --- --- --- --- .973
1949     New York Yankees SS 152 --- --- 792 329 440 23 118 --- --- --- --- .971
1950     New York Yankees SS 155 --- --- 767 301 452 14 123 --- --- --- --- .982
1951     New York Yankees SS 144 --- --- 748 317 407 24 113 --- --- --- --- .968
1952     New York Yankees SS 152 --- --- 785 308 458 19 116 --- --- --- --- .976
1953     New York Yankees SS 133 --- --- 647 214 409 24 100 --- --- --- --- .963
1954     New York Yankees 2B 1 --- --- 1 1 0 0 0 --- --- --- --- 1.000
1954     New York Yankees SS 126 --- --- 494 184 294 16 84 --- --- --- --- .968
1955     New York Yankees 2B 1 --- --- 0 0 0 0 0 --- --- --- --- .000
1955     New York Yankees SS 79 --- --- 235 93 132 10 30 --- --- --- --- .957
1956     New York Yankees SS 30 --- --- 91 31 54 6 17 --- --- --- --- .934
Career Totals 1649 --- --- 8149 3220 4666 263 1217 --- --- --- --- .968

16 posted on 08/14/2007 4:17:22 PM PDT by Zuben Elgenubi (This week, the Carolina Classic at Greensboro)
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To: JohnLongIsland
Great info on Rizzuto's Brooklyn and Queens childhood at A Look Back At A Hall-Of-Fame Shortstop’s Youth In Our Neighborhood
17 posted on 08/15/2007 6:56:33 AM PDT by syriacus (If the US troops had remained in S. Korea in 1949, there would have been no Korean War (1950-53))
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