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Famous Like Me > Actor > R > Phil Rizzuto

Profile of Phil Rizzuto on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Phil Rizzuto  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 25th September 1917
   
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
   
Profession: Actor
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

Philip Francis Rizzuto (born September 25, 1917) is a former Major League Baseball player and radio/television sports announcer. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a streetcar motorman. Despite his diminutive size (usually listed during his playing career as five feet, six inches tall and 160 pounds), he played both baseball and football at Richmond Hill High School in Queens, New York.

Rizzuto played his first major-league game on April 14, 1941. For his entire 13 year career in the major leagues, he played for the New York Yankees, almost exclusively as a shortstop. Like many baseball players, he left the game for a stint in the Navy during World War II, from 1943 through 1945, where he played on the Navy's baseball team.

He was voted Most Valuable Player in the American League in 1950. He played in five All-Star Games, in 1942 and each year from 1950 to 1953. Also, in 1950, he won the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year. He was known as "the Scooter," a nickname given to him by a manager in the minor leagues in tribute to his fielding range. His strong defensive skills and clutch hitting helped the Yankees win seven World Series. He was also regarded as one of the best bunters in baseball history.

He was released by the Yankees on August 25, 1956. After retiring, he served for 40 years broadcasting Yankee games on radio and TV where, like Harry Caray, his popular catchphrase was "Holy Cow." Although Caray was using the phrase while Rizzuto was still playing, Rizzuto once claimed he'd been saying it earlier, as a suggestion of something to say instead of using profanity.

He also became known for saying "Unbelievable!" or "Did you see that?" to describe a great play, and would call somebody a "huckleberry" if he did something Rizzuto didn't like. He would frequently wish listeners a happy birthday or anniversary, send get-well wishes to fans in hospitals, and speak well of restaurants he liked. He would also joke about leaving the game early, saying to his wife, "I'll be home soon, Cora!" and "I gotta get over that bridge," meaning the nearby George Washington Bridge, which he would use to get back to his home in New Jersey.

His broadcast partners included Mel Allen (1957-1964), Red Barber (1957-1966), Joe Garagiola (1965-1967), Jerry Coleman (1967-1970), Frank Messer (1968-1984), Bill White (1971-1988), former Yankee slugger Bobby Murcer (1983-1996, still part of the Yankee broadcasting team in 2005), Billy Martin (1984-1985, in between his third and fourth stints as Yankee manager) and Tom Seaver (1989-1996). Allen, Barber, Garagiola and Coleman have all been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as broadcasters, Seaver as a player. Coleman and Martin had played second base for the Yankees and had been double-play partners of Rizzuto's.

Rizzuto's most signifcant moments as a broadcaster were the new single-season home run record set by Roger Maris on October 1, 1961, and the pennant-winning home run hit by Chris Chambliss in the American League Championship Series on October 14, 1976:

  • "Here's the windup, fastball, hit deep to right, this could be it! Way back there! Holy cow, he did it! Sixty-one for Maris! And look at the fight for that ball out there! Holy cow, what a shot! Another standing ovation for Maris, and they're still fighting for that ball out there, climbing over each other's backs. One of the greatest sights I've ever seen here at Yankee Stadium!"
  • "He hits one deep to right-center! That ball is out of here! The Yankees win the pennant! Holy cow, Chris Chambliss on one swing!" As the fans poured onto the field, tearing it up for souvenirs, Rizzuto continued: "And the Yankees win the pennant. Unbelievable, what a finish! As dramatic a finish as you'd ever want to see! And this field will never be the same, but the Yankees have won it!"

Occasionally, Rizzuto's excitement would get the better of him:

  • "Uh-oh, deep to left-center, nobody's gonna get that one! Holy cow, somebody got it!"
  • "All right! Stay fair! No, it won't stay fair. Good thing it didn't stay fair, or I think he would've caught it!"
  • "Bouncer to third, they'll never get him! No, why don't I just shut up!"
  • "Oh, these Yankees can get the clutch hits, Murcer. I might have to go home early, I just got a cramp in my leg."

The Yankees retired his number 10 in a ceremony at Yankee Stadium on August 4, 1985. During this ceremony, he was also given a plaque to be placed in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park. The plaque makes reference to the fact that he "Has enjoyed two outstanding careers, all-time Yankee shortstop, one of the great Yankee broadcasters." Most baseball observers, including Rizzuto himself, would later decide that Derek Jeter had surpassed him as the greatest shortstop in team history.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994, following a long campaign for his election by Yankee fans who were frustrated that he had not received the honor, especially after 1984, when Pee Wee Reese, the similarly-talented and similarly-regarded shortstop of the crosstown Brooklyn Dodgers, was elected.

Rizzuto is also somewhat famous as the announcer who provides the play-by-play commentary during the bridge in Meat Loaf's 1977 song Paradise by the Dashboard Light. He also served for a number of years as the television spokesperson for "The Money Store", a New Jersey based sub-prime lender.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Phil Rizzuto