Holy cow! Rizzuto’s gone

Didn’t catch this until a little while ago. Phil Rizzuto, the ex-Yankee who broadcast the Yankees games during the time I was an absolutely fanatic Yankee fan, died Monday night.

Phil Rizzuto, the sure-handed Hall of Fame Yankees shortstop nicknamed The Scooter, who extended his Yankee life as a popular and even beloved broadcaster, punctuating his game-calling with birthday wishes to fans and exclamations of “Holy cow!”, died late Monday night. He was 89.

[…] Rizzuto’s ramblings and pro-Yankee sentiments maddened detractors. But his fans adored Rizzuto as they would a delightful uncle, and colleagues were fond of recalling his scorecard notation of “W.W.,” for “Wasn’t Watching.”

Rizzuto often left a game at Yankee Stadium before its conclusion to beat the traffic over the George Washington Bridge. As one game headed into extra innings, he asked Messer, “Want a cup of coffee?” Messer nodded. But Rizzuto was gone, to his home in New Jersey. As he entered the broadcast booth the next day, Rizzuto tapped Messer on the shoulder and said, “Here’s your coffee.”

Love him or hate him, he was the voice of the Yankees for decades. When the Yankees were in post-season play during the 70s and 80s, my father and I would turn off Howard Cosell or whoever was announcing on TV, and turn on the radio for the Yankees teeam. Mind you, we really wanted to hear Frank Messer and Bill White, because even back then Rizzuto drove us nuts, but still—he made us laugh.