Baseball Star, Broadcaster
Born: Sept. 25, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York
Lived in: Hillside, New Jersey
Died: Aug. 13, 2007, in West Orange, New Jersey
New Jersey Hall of Fame, Class of 2009: Sports

A key member of the New York Yankees dynasty teams of the 1940s and 1950s, Phil Rizzuto’s ability to spark the offense and anchor the defense made him a seven-time World Champion and a baseball Hall of Famer.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, Rizzuto was the son of a streetcar motorman and his wife, both of whom hailed from Calabria, Italy. Although only 5-foot-6, Rizzuto played baseball and football at Richmond Hill High School in Queens. While in high school, he tried out for the Brooklyn Dodgers, but Dodgers manager Casey Stengel, his future manager with the Yankees, rejected him because of his size.

The Yankees saw something in Rizzuto, signed him in 1937 as an amateur free agent, and sent him to their lowest-level minor-league team. Three years later he made the big-league club and was immediately inserted as the starting shortstop. Nicknamed the Scooter, he quickly established himself as a superb fielder and capable hitter, batting .307, and helping the Yankees to the 1941 World Championship. He didn’t have much power—the Yankees didn’t need that on a team with Joe DiMaggio and other sluggers—but he excelled at bunting, stealing bases, and injecting energy into the lineup.

Rizzuto had another strong season in 1942, making his first All-Star team. Like many other players, he spent the next three seasons in the military, serving in the Navy in the South Pacific. Returning to the Yankees in 1946, he gradually rebuilt his skills and his reputation as a scrappy player who found ways to help his team win. He was the starting shortstop on the Yankee team that won five consecutive World Series from 1949-1953, an achievement that has never been matched.

The 1950 season was Rizzuto’s best. He batted a career-high .324, with 200 hits, 125 runs scored, and 66 runs batted in. He also led the league in fielding percentage. At one stretch, Rizzuto handled 238 consecutive chances without an error, a record for a shortstop. The performance earned Rizzuto the American League’s Most Valuable Player award, a rare honor for a batsman with only seven home runs. (He did, however, lead the league in sacrifice bunts in 1950—one of four times that he achieved that distinction.)

Rizzuto made the All-Star team in 1950—and in each of the three subsequent seasons—but by 1954, in his age-36 season, Rizzuto’s skills started to erode. Several months into the 1956 season, the Yankees made the difficult decision of releasing the beloved Scooter. The team immediately brought Rizzuto back for a job in the TV and radio booth alongside broadcasting legends Mel Allen and Red Barber.

Although broadcasting probably was never on Rizzuto’s radar, he developed his skills and eventually excelled at the task. He remained on the job until 1996, always displaying exceptional baseball insight, but more importantly endearing himself to generations of fans with his seemingly accidental humor. He expressed excitement with his signature expression “holy cow!”—and was never shy about assigning the term “huckleberry” to a blundering player. As he grew older, he amused his fellow broadcasters by ducking out of games in the late innings.

The Yankees retired Rizzuto’s No. 10 in 1985, and in 1994, a veterans committee finally voted the Scooter into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.