Phil “Scooter” Rizzuto, beloved New York Yankees shortstop and broadcaster, has died at age 89. The New York Post has the full story.
The Yankees won seven World Series titles with Rizzuto at shortstop from 1941-56.
Richard Sandomir of The New York Times has a nice memorial to Rizzuto, including an audio clip of Scooter shouting his signature “Holy cow!” while calling a game during a thunderstorm.
Rizzuto’s stream-of-consciousness calls were the inspiration for one of the great tongue-in-cheek poetry books of all time: O Holy Cow! The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto. (Some of the poems are reprinted here.)
Among his many memorable moments on the air was his comment in 1978 after hearing of the death of Pope Paul VI: “Well, that kind of puts the damper on even a Yankee win.”