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Philip Francis Rizzuto (September 25, 1917 – August 13, 2007), nicknamed "the Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career with the New York Yankees (1941–1956), and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994. A popular figure on a team dynasty that captured 10 AL titles and seven World Championships in his 13 seasons, Rizzuto holds numerous World Series records for shortstops. His best statistical season was 1950, when he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player. Generally, Rizzuto was a "small ball" player, noted for his strong defense in the infield and as a great bunter. When he retired, his 1,217 career double plays ranked second in major league history, trailing only Luke Appling's total of 1,424, and his .968 career fielding average trailed only Lou Boudreau's mark of .973 among AL shortstops. After his playing career, Rizzuto had a 40-year career as a radio and television sports announcer for the Yankees. He was known for his idiosyncratic, conversational broadcast style, and for his trademark expression "holy cow!" Early years Rizzuto was born on September 25, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, the son of a streetcar motorman and his wife, both of whom were originally from Calabria, Italy. There has been confusion about his year of birth, stemming from Rizzuto's "shaving a year off" the date at the beginning of his pro career, on the advice of teammates. Throughout his career, his birth year was reported as 1918 in The Sporting News, the Baseball Register, and the American League Red Book; later reference sources revised the year to 1917, indicating his age at the time of his death to be 89. After Rizzuto's death, the New York Post broke a story reporting Rizzuto's actual year of birth as 1916. However, it was subsequently reported that the New York City Department of Health said Rizzuto's official birth certificate is, in fact, dated 1917. Rizzuto grew up in Glendale, Queens. Despite his modest size — usually listed during his playing career as five feet, six inches tall and either 150 or 160 pounds, though he rarely reached even the lower figure — Rizzuto played baseball as well as football at Richmond Hill High School in Queens. Playing career Rizzuto signed with the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1937. His nickname, at times attributed to Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen, was actually bestowed on Rizzuto (according to him) by minor league teammate Billy Hitchcock because of the way Rizzuto ran the bases. After receiving The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year Award in 1940 while playing with the Kansas City Blues, he played his first major league game on April 14, 1941. Taking over for the well-liked Frank Crosetti, whose batting average had dropped to .194 after several strong seasons, Rizzuto quickly fit into the Yankees lineup to form an outstanding middle infield with second baseman Joe Gordon. In his syndicated column on October 1, Grantland Rice compared the pair favorably to the middle infield of the crosstown Brooklyn Dodgers: "Billy Herman and Pee Wee Reese around the highly important keystone spot don't measure up, over a season anyway, with Joe Gordon and Phil Rizzuto, a pair of light-footed, quick-handed operatives who can turn seeming base hits into double plays often enough to save many a close scrap." Rizzuto's rookie season ended in the World Series, and though he hit poorly, the Yankees beat the Dodgers. The following year, Rizzuto led all hitters, for both the Yankees and the opposing St. Louis Cardinals, with 8 hits and a .381 average in the 1942 World Series; the light-hitting shortstop even added a home run after hitting just 4 in the regular season. Like many players of the era, he found his career interrupted by a stint in the military, serving in the United States Navy during World War II. From 1943 through 1945, he played on a Navy baseball team alongside Dodgers shortstop Reese; the team was managed by Yankees catcher Bill Dickey. Shortly after Rizzuto's return to the Yankees for the 1946 season, he attracted the ire of new Yankees general manager, president, and co-owner Larry MacPhail, former president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. MacPhail had served in both World Wars, was hard-drinking, tempestuous, and often paranoid, but as a baseball executive was innovative and considered a near-genius despite being hobbled by alcohol and a volatile temper. In 1946 MacPhail became aware that Mexican millionaire and ball club owner Jorge Pasquel, just named president of the Mexican League and who with his wealthy two brothers had poached American players from the Negro leagues since 1943, was now courting Major League players. Several clubs lost players with others mentioned including the Yankees, and Phil Rizzuto was rumored to be considering a $100,000, 3-year contract. For that matter, a number of players on various teams had begun "moonlighting" in winter playing for Cuban teams. The disarray had to end. Baseball Commissioner Albert Happy Chandler, former Kentucky governor, announced on Opening Day that exclusivity clauses still ruled—all contract-jumping players heading to Mexico or Cuba would be suspended from the Major League for 5 years. The New York Herald Tribune sent one of its star sportswriters, Rutherford "Rud" Rennie, down to Mexico to see what was up with the invigorated Mexican League and the ambitious Pasquel Brothers. By that time they had hired a trio of Mariachi musicians wearing sombreros to play outside at least one American stadium. The Trib's Rennie sent several dispatches from Mexico, liking some things about the scene but disliking others. Rennie, who had covered the Yankees since the Roaring Twenties, was soon astounded when MacPhail sued the Mexican Baseball League and the restraining order named Rud Rennie as an "agent" of the foreigners. Court papers alleged that he had "been seen" in the Yankees locker room talking with his good friend Phil Rizzuto and other players and advocating contract-jumping. Hours later, the Dodgers and Giants owners hastened into court also; their teams were among the 10 who had actually lost a combined number of 23 players that season. The situation was hardly helped when retired Yankees slugger-hero Babe Ruth took his family on an extended Mexican vacation as guest of the Pasquels, and new rumors flew that Ruth was being wooed for a Mexican club manager's job. The lawsuits soon moved to the US Supreme Court, but the Yankees' MacPhail saw he had overreacted in pushing a restraining order on Rennie for merely covering the news and maintaining good relationships with Rizzuto and teammates; the order was dropped, avoiding a potential first amendment fracas for Larry MacPhail, who would be edged out in a year. Perhaps at least partially caused by the court action and negative attention, the Yankees finished third in 1946 and Rizzuto's aver.... Discover the Karen Haid popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Karen Haid books.