Phil Rizzuto, The Scooter, wrote a book in 1993 called O Holy Cow! compiling some of the quotes from his broadcasting career. Rizzuto was so colorful and entertained generations of Yankees fans, and we are grateful to him for compiling the quotations in book form. The book was written in New Jersey, where he lived with his wife Cora, who we often heard about when he was announcing. O Holy Cow! will mainly appeal to Yankee fans, though the quotes are so funny everyone should read them. The book was named after the trademark saying of Rizzuto, hence the title. Is there someone who influenced you to follow a team?
Rizzuto Quotes from O Holy Cow!
The book O Holy Cow! compiles quotations from the legendary television broadcasting career of former Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto. He endeared himself to generations of Yankees fans by going off script and telling non-sequitur stories. He was also paranoid, and he shared his paranoia with television viewers. After playing all thirteen seasons with them, Rizzuto broadcast Yankee games for forty years. Here are some great Rizzuto wanderings from the book for your enjoyment.
Joe DiMaggio’s Bat
“I started to tell this story, but I was rudely interrupted by somebody. Not Tom Seaver, though. I want to make that clear…Today, when I went to get the newspaper, this gentleman, a guy named Phil, the same as mine, brought in a bat. I thought he was going to give it to me. Joe DiMaggio’s bat. And it had “U.S. Army” on it. DiMag had a bat when he was in the Army. He got it in Hawaii. His brother, Phil’s brother, was stationed with Dimaggio. And he gave him the bat.”
And you should see that thing. And he wanted to know if it was worth the money. I said, “It’s worth a lot of money. And if we can get DiMaggio’s name on it. It’ll be worth ten times more.” The wood. I mean. You couldn’t chip the bat. That’s the way DiMaggio’s wood was on those bats. He would ask for that type of wood.” Being an old fisherman, he knew a lot about trees. (June 5, 1992; Detroit at New York; Scott Sanderson pitching to Lou Whitaker, fourth inning, two out, two base runners; Detroit leads 4-1).
Rizzuto told many stories like that, and O Holy Cow is filled with them. One compiles many stories when one is with a team for fifty-three years, as he was. He had a lot of good stories, and he was paranoid and obsessed with getting over the George Washington Bridge to New Jersey by the eighth inning of home games. He had to get home to Cora (for 64 years). He also did movie reviews.
The Bridge
Two balls and a strike. “Do you know what was on TV today, White?” [Bill White, his longtime play-by-play partner] “Bridge on the River Kwai. Everybody should have gotten an Academy Award for that movie. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it. About forty times. Alec Guinness! William Holden! Three and one the count. I just heard somebody whistle. Do you know that song? That’s what they whistle. Nobody out. And he pops it up.” (May 5, 1987; New York at Chicago; Joe Neikro pitching to Carlton Fisk; Second inning, no outs, bases empty; no score)
Phil Rizzuto’s Statistics as a Player
Rizzuto played shortstop with the Yankees from 1941 until 1956. He was the American League Most Valuable Player in 1950. In his career, he batted .273 with 1,588 hits. He was a great bunter who had 193 sacrifice hits in his career. He regularly attended Yankee’s spring training after he retired and instructed players on how to bunt. Rizzuto was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.
Conclusion
Phil Rizzuto made generations of Yankee fans laugh with his zany antics on television. He was also an unabashed homer who openly rooted for the Yankees, just like the fans watching him. When his number, 10, was retired by the Yankees on August 4, 1985, he was honored on the field with a cow with a halo.
