genius of the week
holy cow....genius of the week...ok maybe not quite genius, but give me a little latitude..I love this guy. Way back to all of those 80's WPIX games...damn those were the days...
phillip francis "scooter" rizzuto
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 player 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.
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.
