"Yankee baseball will be broadcast for the 55th consecutive season in 1993. WPIX-TV (Channel 11) will be the New York City television outlet for the 43rd straight season, while WABC Radio (770 AM) is leading the Yanks' radio network as the flagship station for the 13th straight year. A network covering 12 states also participates in the Yankees' TV and radio coverage. Director/Producer John Moore begins his 14th season with WPIX, and WABC Engineer/Producer Brian Fergenson begins his 13th season in the booth.
The Madison Square Garden Network is beginning its fifth season as the Yankees' cable television outlet in the tri-state area, and Yankee games will also be broadcast in Spanish to Latin America for the 24th straight season.
These comprehensive broadcast outlets insure that Yankee baseball will be one of the most widely available sports events in the country."
-1993 New York Yankees Information Guide
PHIL RIZZUTO (WPIX)
"The one and only Scooter, the greatest shortstop in Yankee history, is in his 37th year of giving viewers the inside word on the Bronx Bombers. Phil's outgoing personality and lively banter have spiced up Yankees broadcasts on WPIX since he started the job after ending his brilliant career on the playing field. He never rests while at work and that dedication shows during broadcasts.
Simply put, the Scooter on the air means fun for the fans."
-The New York Yankees Official 1993 Yearbook
"Rizzuto, the greatest shortstop in Yankee history, begins his 53rd year of affiliation with the New York Yankees, and 37th as a broadcaster. The 1950 American League MVP moved into the broadcast booth in 1957 immediately following his playing career (1941-56)."
-1993 New York Yankees Information Guide
BOBBY MURCER (WPIX)
"Murcer, a former star outfielder with the Yankees, returns for his fifth season and third consecutive as a Yankee broadcaster on WPIX.
After finishing his playing career in 1983, Murcer started working in the broadcast booth and has found much success. Yankee fans are always excited to see this familiar face talking Yankee baseball."
-The New York Yankees Official 1993 Yearbook
"Murcer, a former star outfielder for the Yankees, returns for his fifth season, and third consecutive, as a Yankee broadcaster."
-1993 New York Yankees Information Guide
TOM SEAVER (WPIX)
"One of New York's greatest sports heroes, Tom Seaver returns for his fifth year as a Yankee broadcaster for WPIX. He has broadcast four World Series and five League Championship Series for network television.
Seaver collected 311 career wins, won the Cy Young Award three times in his 20-year career and was a 1992 inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame."
-The New York Yankees Official 1993 Yearbook
"Seaver's broadcast career started in 1975, when he did work for Channel 2 in New York. He also worked the postseason for ABC and NBC from 1976-82 and for CBS as well.
The 311-game winner is a three-time Cy Young Award winner and a 1992 inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame."
-1993 New York Yankees Information Guide
DEWAYNE STAATS (MSG)
"Known as one of the best play-by-play announcers in the business, DeWayne Staats in now in his fourth season broadcasting Yankees games for Madison Square Garden Network.
Staats served as play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs on WGN-TV and radio from 1985-89. He also performed the same duties for the Houston Astros for eight seasons prior to joining the Cubs."
-The New York Yankees Official 1993 Yearbook
"Staats returns for his fourth season on MSG. He served as the play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs on WGN-TV and radio from 1985-89. He also handled play-by-play duties for the Houston Astros for eight seasons prior to joining the Cubs."
-1993 New York Yankees Information Guide
TONY KUBEK (MSG)
"Returning for his fourth year in the Madison Square Garden Network booth is Tony Kubek, one of the most respected voices in baseball. The former Yankee shortstop, who played in six World Series, previously spent 24 years with NBC Sports as analyst for the Baseball Game of the Week and 13 seasons as a television broadcaster for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Tony's insightful coverage of the Yankees has made a lasting impression with the team's fans."
-The New York Yankees Official 1993 Yearbook
"Kubek, the longtime analyst for NBC Sports' 'Baseball Game of the Week' and one of the most respected voices in baseball, also returns for his fourth campaign with the Yankees. He spent 24 years in the NBC booth, working with Curt Gowdy, Joe Garagiola and Jim Simpson. He also spent 13 seasons as a television broadcaster for Toronto Blue Jays baseball.
Kubek was a popular Yankee shortstop for the duration of his career (1957-65), going to six World Series along the way."
-1993 New York Yankees Information Guide
JOHN STERLING (WABC)
"1993 marks John Sterling's fifth consecutive year with the Yankees in the WABC radio booth, although he broadcast Yankee games in the 1970s as well.
Formerly a play-by-play announcer for the New York Nets, New York Islanders and Baltimore Bullets, John was also an Atlanta Braves broadcaster for five years and handled play-by-play duties for the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.
His knowledge and experience have endeared him to all Yankee fans."
-The New York Yankees Official 1993 Yearbook
"Sterling, in his fifth season as a Yankee broadcaster, has broadcast Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks games on superstation WTBS. He has also broadcast New Jersey Nets and New York Islanders games locally."
-1993 New York Yankees Information Guide
Friday, June 17, 2016
Saturday, June 4, 2016
1994 New York Yankees Broadcasters
PHIL RIZZUTO (WPIX)
1994 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR TEAM CAPTAIN
JUSTICE IS SERVED ... PHIL RIZZUTO ENTERS THE HALL
"Equal and exact justice to all men ... "
-Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801
"Yankee fans, you of the great legion of Rizzuto admirers, raise the flag of Justice Triumphant.
Let it wave over kids in sandlots, rookie hopefuls in rinkydink ballparks, opulent major leaguers in massive stadiums, downy-cheeked Little Leaguers dreaming of the bigs.
In one voice sing out the good news that our Scooter,
Our Yankee legend and poet of the airwaves,
Our acrobatic, sure-handed shortstop from those shining days when it was great to be young and a Yankee,
The incomparable, the one and only Phillip Francis Rizzuto has made it to the Baseball Hall of Fame!
They gave Phil Rizzuto a 'Day,' at Yankee Stadium back on September 15, 1955, a happy occasion abounding with gifts from Phil's cherishing fans, speeches by dignitaries, and, to top it off, an exemplary gesture from Phil himself. When he accepted a check intended from his fans, he immediately signed it over to his hometown Hillside High School to establish the Phil Rizzuto Scholarship Fund (it still exists and grows) for deserving students.
A class act from a class guy and a great ballplayer during every moment of his wonderful Yankee years.
New York Times writer Joseph Sheehan wrote that day, 'Stadium fans have come to appreciate that Phil Rizzuto is a Yankee of heroic stature, destined for future enshrinement in Baseball's Hall of Fame.' Sheehan had the right idea, as no doubt did Phil's appreciative teammates and millions of fans. But who in his right mind would have thought it would take 38 long and frustrating years before the Scooter was enshrined in the Cooperstown Pantheon?
Whatever Phil thought of the years of stinging rejection, he never let it show. He was too big in heart to complain; too much a gentleman to grumble about the serial dismissal of his wonderful talents, his stats, his contributions to Yankee history and the lore of baseball. And too busy adding to his reputation as a winner by establishing himself as a unique personality in the broadcasting booth.
Still, despite his years of glory as the best Yankee shortstop ever, there was that unaccountable failure to vote Rizzuto into the exclusive company of baseball's immortals. When Pee Wee Reese, the great Dodger shortstop and Phil's contemporary, was voted into the Hall in 1984, Phil applauded the choice even as his supporters pointed out that Phil's stats and value to his club certainly matched Pee Wee's. As for Reese, though gratified when told he'd been chosen to the Hall, he was also puzzled by Phil's rejection. 'He called me to tell me how sorry he was,' Phil told Times writer Dave Anderson.
But rejection was nothing new to Phil; indeed, his pro ball career began with rebuffs that might have disheartened a lesser man. Like the immortal Lou Gehrig, Phil is one of New York City's gifts to the Yankees: his road to the Hall of Fame began on the streets and sandlots of New York. Born September 25, 1917 to immigrant parents, he grew up in Brooklyn.
Recalling his childhood he said, 'When I was a kid we used to choose up sides,' to play in the streets and local Brooklyn and Queens leagues. 'I got experience playing on those bad fields with rocks all over the infield,' experience that helped him snare erratic big league baseballs when they were rapped his way.
From rock-strewn sandlots he moved to Richmond Hills High School where he came under the aegis of coach Al Kunitz, a man Rizzuto still speaks of with esteem and gratitude.
'He's the one man who taught me how to bunt,' Phil explained (Phil is an acknowledged master of bunting). 'Kunitz would say, 'You're not going to hit home runs.' But he knew I was a pretty good fielder, and could run, and could steal bases. 'Your value will be getting on base so somebody can drive you in.' He gave me a lot of little things that helped me. Like never swearing, and never to get thrown out of a ball game.'
The astute Kunitz asked his prize pupil what he said when getting mad or excited. 'I usually say 'Holy Cow,'' answered Phil. 'Well, use that if you have an argument with an umpire,' advised Kunitz. 'They can't throw you out for saying that.' So Phil took his 'Holy Cow' with him throughout his major league career, into the broadcast booth- and into the American language.
Phil was only 4-11 when he played at Richmond Hill, hardly the typical image of the strapping ballplayer, but he wouldn't let his small size keep him out of pro ball. Not even when confronted by two dopey rejections from a couple of baseball eminences. With his trusty glove under his arm, and courage in his heart, the diminutive 18-year-old presented himself for a tryout at Ebbets Field.
Casey Stengel, then managing the Dodgers from the purgatory of the second division, looked at the youngster and snidely dismissed him with, 'Get yourself a shoe shine box, kid. You're too small.'
'I'd remind Casey when he managed the Yankees,' said the Scooter years later (of the shoe shine crack). 'He didn't like it because he was supposed to be such a great judge of talent. At the Polo Grounds, Giant manager Bill Terry matched Casey's bad judgment, though not his sarcasm. Though friendly, Terry didn't even let Phil try out. But across the river at Yankee Stadium, the Bombers were more hospitable and certainly smarter.
In his autobiography, My Fifty Years in Baseball, Yankee business manager Ed Barrow writes, 'In the very first group of youngsters who showed up, Phil Rizzuto was among them.' To fortify them for the ordeal, Barrow ordered that each kid be given two sandwiches and a bottle of milk while waiting to demonstrate his skills. 'Rizzuto was signed after that first turnout,' related Barrow, 'and since he had only one sandwich and a bottle of milk, we always figured we had got him for twenty cents.'
The mind reels and the cash register breaks down at the thought of what clubs would be offering Phil today.
Rizzuto's father pinned a $20 bill to his undershirt, told him to watch out for thieves and sent him south with misgiving and, finally, his blessing. 'He said he was going to let my try,' recalls Phil, 'and if I didn't make it right away, 'You've got to go to work.' He thought it was a little kids' game.'
The train ride south to play a kid's game was an obscure, lonely beginning, but the start of a journey to fame and fortune for Papa Rizzuto's son.
Through Barrow was generous with milk and sandwiches, he was sparing with hard cash. Phil spent 1937 in Bassett, hit .310 and played a spectacular short to help the club to a pennant- all for a paltry $75 a month. 1938 saw him in Norfolk, VA where he whacked the ball for a .336 batting average and swept up grounders like a famished bobcat going after prey. Naturally, Norfolk won the pennant.
In 1939 and 1940 the lucky citizens of Triple-A Kansas City watched Phil- by now all of 5-6- continue his outstanding fielding and hit .316 and .347. And did Kansas City win pennants in the Rizzuto years? Of course they did. It was in KC that teammate Billy Hitchcock nicknamed Phil 'The Scooter.' The name was appropriate and it stuck. A scooter might be a wheeled contraption for kids, but everybody, in and out of baseball, knows it really means a great shortstop named Rizzuto.
In 1941 Phil came to St. Petersburg, FL, then the Bomber training camp, and showed he was ready for the bigs. Frank Crosetti had masterfully covered short for the great 1930's Yankees but was slowing down. 'I was coming to take Crosetti's job,' recalled Phil. 'I wasn't exactly ostracized, but wasn't accepted. I was having big trouble getting into the batter's cage.'
The freeze-out didn't last. 'After four or five days DiMaggio came over and said, 'Look, let the kid in there to take his turn.' That broke the ice; Joe took me under his wing,' Rizzuto explains. So did Crosetti.
A no-nonsense guy and a superb future Yankee coach, the 'Crow' taught Phil how to hit and run, tricky plays with the bunt, how to position himself for major league hitters, even how to get hit with the ball without getting hurt. Employing Crosetti's baseball savvy, Phil said, '(I got) a lot of extra base hits I'd never have gotten.'
Those extra hits added up to a .307 batting average in 1941 and a .284 BA in 1942. Estimable as those averages were, it was Phil's fielding that triggered the fans cheering him and writers depicting him an infield marvel. That the Bombers won pennants in '41 and '42 was in great measure due to Phil's performance. In the 4-1 Yankee victory over the Dodgers in the 1941 Series, he continued his great play by handling 30 out of 31 chances. And although the Yankees dropped the 1942 Series to the Cards, Phil led the club with a hefty .381 batting average.
The day after the 1942 Series, Phil enlisted in the Navy. He served until the end of 1945, getting malaria in a jungle hell-hole, and came home to play 126 games in 1946 while hitting a malaria-weakened sub-par .257. But in 1947 the pre-war Scooter revived and once more cavorted at short for a Yankee championship club, as his exceptional numbers accumulated towards Hall of Fame levels.
In the '47 Series he hit .308 and was a key player in the Yankees' memorable seven-game World Series win over Brooklyn. From 1949 to 1952, Phil led the league in sacrifice hits. 1949 saw him hit a neat .275, field at a .971 clip and lead the Yankees in games played, hits, runs, doubles and total bases- and he was named Player of the Year by the baseball writers. And his manager from 1949 until Phil was released in 1956 was Casey Stengel.
In 1950 Phil was named the AL's Most Valuable Player and got the first Hickok Belt Award for Best Professional Athlete. He also garnered 200 hits and batted a rousing .324 that banner year. In the 1951 Series against the Giants, Phil accepted a record 40 chances, hit .320, was chosen Outstanding Series Player and given the Babe Ruth Award.
Phil appeared in five All-Star Games and starred on ten pennant winners and nine World Series winners. By the time he hung up the spikes in 1956, he was acknowledged as one of a select group of baseball's great shortstops.
No wonder manager Stengel gladly ate a plate of crow when he called Phil 'the greatest shortstop I have seen in my entire baseball career.' A judgment concurred by Pee Wee Reese when he said in 1972, 'Phil is the greatest shortstop I have ever seen.' High praise, indeed. Praise concurred by those who recall Phil's exceptional Yankee career, and by the millions of knowledgeable fans who have always felt that Phil belongs in the company of baseball's highest achievers.
Now that our inimitable Scooter, a Yankee natural, a man whose name has become a household word, will stand before an audience of notables at the Baseball Hall of Fame and accept an honor long overdue. He'll be enshrined with Pee Wee, Boudreau, Tinker and other great shortstops. And whatever he says on that great occasion when he takes his place alongside DiMaggio, Mickey, Yogi and other great Yankees will surely reflect the man and his estimable character.
But somehow the eight lines he spoke when covering a game on June 27, 1991, a spontaneous poem now immortalized in Phil's book of verse, Oh Holy Cow! also seems appropriate:
'Never!
That-
Never!
I shouldn't say 'Never.'
Even James Bond said
'Never say never.'
That was a hit.
Right?'
Right, Phil. And never turned out to be now.
Gentlemen of the Veterans Committee, you've not only honored Phillip Francis Rizzuto, but also served the cause of Justice. And all of baseball is in your debt."
-Leo Trachtenberg, The New York Yankees Official 1994 Yearbook
"Yankee baseball in 1994 will be broadcast for the 56th consecutive season. Madison Square Garden Network is beginning its sixth season as the team's television outlet, and WABC Radio (770 AM) for the 14th straight year is leading the Yanks' radio network as the flagship station. A network covering 12 states also participates in the Yankees' television and radio coverage. For the 25th straight season, Yankee games will be broadcast in Spanish to Latin America.
Leon Schweir will produce MSG broadcasts for the sixth season and WABC producer/engineer Brian Fergenson is in his 14th season."
-1994 New York Yankees Information Guide
JOHN STERLING (WABC)
"Sterling, in his sixth season as a Yankee broadcaster, has broadcast Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks games on superstation WTBS. He has also broadcast New Jersey Nets and New York Islanders games."
-1994 New York Yankees Information Guide
DEWAYNE STAATS (MSG)
"Staats returns for his fifth season on MSG. He previously had served as the play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs and for the Houston Astros."
-1994 New York Yankees Information Guide
TONY KUBEK (MSG)
"Kubek returns for his fifth season on MSG. He spent 24 years working for NBC and the Game of the Week alongside Curt Gowdy, Joe Garagiola and Jim Simpson. He also spent 13 seasons as a broadcaster for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Kubek played shortstop for the Yankees from 1957-65 and participated in six World Series [including three Yankee World Championships]."
-1994 New York Yankees Information Guide
No information about the WPIX-TV broadcast team was given in either the New York Yankees Official 1994 Yearbook or the 1994 New York Yankees Information Guide.
1994 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR TEAM CAPTAIN
JUSTICE IS SERVED ... PHIL RIZZUTO ENTERS THE HALL
"Equal and exact justice to all men ... "
-Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801
"Yankee fans, you of the great legion of Rizzuto admirers, raise the flag of Justice Triumphant.
Let it wave over kids in sandlots, rookie hopefuls in rinkydink ballparks, opulent major leaguers in massive stadiums, downy-cheeked Little Leaguers dreaming of the bigs.
In one voice sing out the good news that our Scooter,
Our Yankee legend and poet of the airwaves,
Our acrobatic, sure-handed shortstop from those shining days when it was great to be young and a Yankee,
The incomparable, the one and only Phillip Francis Rizzuto has made it to the Baseball Hall of Fame!
They gave Phil Rizzuto a 'Day,' at Yankee Stadium back on September 15, 1955, a happy occasion abounding with gifts from Phil's cherishing fans, speeches by dignitaries, and, to top it off, an exemplary gesture from Phil himself. When he accepted a check intended from his fans, he immediately signed it over to his hometown Hillside High School to establish the Phil Rizzuto Scholarship Fund (it still exists and grows) for deserving students.
A class act from a class guy and a great ballplayer during every moment of his wonderful Yankee years.
New York Times writer Joseph Sheehan wrote that day, 'Stadium fans have come to appreciate that Phil Rizzuto is a Yankee of heroic stature, destined for future enshrinement in Baseball's Hall of Fame.' Sheehan had the right idea, as no doubt did Phil's appreciative teammates and millions of fans. But who in his right mind would have thought it would take 38 long and frustrating years before the Scooter was enshrined in the Cooperstown Pantheon?
Whatever Phil thought of the years of stinging rejection, he never let it show. He was too big in heart to complain; too much a gentleman to grumble about the serial dismissal of his wonderful talents, his stats, his contributions to Yankee history and the lore of baseball. And too busy adding to his reputation as a winner by establishing himself as a unique personality in the broadcasting booth.
Still, despite his years of glory as the best Yankee shortstop ever, there was that unaccountable failure to vote Rizzuto into the exclusive company of baseball's immortals. When Pee Wee Reese, the great Dodger shortstop and Phil's contemporary, was voted into the Hall in 1984, Phil applauded the choice even as his supporters pointed out that Phil's stats and value to his club certainly matched Pee Wee's. As for Reese, though gratified when told he'd been chosen to the Hall, he was also puzzled by Phil's rejection. 'He called me to tell me how sorry he was,' Phil told Times writer Dave Anderson.
But rejection was nothing new to Phil; indeed, his pro ball career began with rebuffs that might have disheartened a lesser man. Like the immortal Lou Gehrig, Phil is one of New York City's gifts to the Yankees: his road to the Hall of Fame began on the streets and sandlots of New York. Born September 25, 1917 to immigrant parents, he grew up in Brooklyn.
Recalling his childhood he said, 'When I was a kid we used to choose up sides,' to play in the streets and local Brooklyn and Queens leagues. 'I got experience playing on those bad fields with rocks all over the infield,' experience that helped him snare erratic big league baseballs when they were rapped his way.
From rock-strewn sandlots he moved to Richmond Hills High School where he came under the aegis of coach Al Kunitz, a man Rizzuto still speaks of with esteem and gratitude.
'He's the one man who taught me how to bunt,' Phil explained (Phil is an acknowledged master of bunting). 'Kunitz would say, 'You're not going to hit home runs.' But he knew I was a pretty good fielder, and could run, and could steal bases. 'Your value will be getting on base so somebody can drive you in.' He gave me a lot of little things that helped me. Like never swearing, and never to get thrown out of a ball game.'
The astute Kunitz asked his prize pupil what he said when getting mad or excited. 'I usually say 'Holy Cow,'' answered Phil. 'Well, use that if you have an argument with an umpire,' advised Kunitz. 'They can't throw you out for saying that.' So Phil took his 'Holy Cow' with him throughout his major league career, into the broadcast booth- and into the American language.
Phil was only 4-11 when he played at Richmond Hill, hardly the typical image of the strapping ballplayer, but he wouldn't let his small size keep him out of pro ball. Not even when confronted by two dopey rejections from a couple of baseball eminences. With his trusty glove under his arm, and courage in his heart, the diminutive 18-year-old presented himself for a tryout at Ebbets Field.
Casey Stengel, then managing the Dodgers from the purgatory of the second division, looked at the youngster and snidely dismissed him with, 'Get yourself a shoe shine box, kid. You're too small.'
'I'd remind Casey when he managed the Yankees,' said the Scooter years later (of the shoe shine crack). 'He didn't like it because he was supposed to be such a great judge of talent. At the Polo Grounds, Giant manager Bill Terry matched Casey's bad judgment, though not his sarcasm. Though friendly, Terry didn't even let Phil try out. But across the river at Yankee Stadium, the Bombers were more hospitable and certainly smarter.
In his autobiography, My Fifty Years in Baseball, Yankee business manager Ed Barrow writes, 'In the very first group of youngsters who showed up, Phil Rizzuto was among them.' To fortify them for the ordeal, Barrow ordered that each kid be given two sandwiches and a bottle of milk while waiting to demonstrate his skills. 'Rizzuto was signed after that first turnout,' related Barrow, 'and since he had only one sandwich and a bottle of milk, we always figured we had got him for twenty cents.'
The mind reels and the cash register breaks down at the thought of what clubs would be offering Phil today.
Rizzuto's father pinned a $20 bill to his undershirt, told him to watch out for thieves and sent him south with misgiving and, finally, his blessing. 'He said he was going to let my try,' recalls Phil, 'and if I didn't make it right away, 'You've got to go to work.' He thought it was a little kids' game.'
The train ride south to play a kid's game was an obscure, lonely beginning, but the start of a journey to fame and fortune for Papa Rizzuto's son.
Through Barrow was generous with milk and sandwiches, he was sparing with hard cash. Phil spent 1937 in Bassett, hit .310 and played a spectacular short to help the club to a pennant- all for a paltry $75 a month. 1938 saw him in Norfolk, VA where he whacked the ball for a .336 batting average and swept up grounders like a famished bobcat going after prey. Naturally, Norfolk won the pennant.
In 1939 and 1940 the lucky citizens of Triple-A Kansas City watched Phil- by now all of 5-6- continue his outstanding fielding and hit .316 and .347. And did Kansas City win pennants in the Rizzuto years? Of course they did. It was in KC that teammate Billy Hitchcock nicknamed Phil 'The Scooter.' The name was appropriate and it stuck. A scooter might be a wheeled contraption for kids, but everybody, in and out of baseball, knows it really means a great shortstop named Rizzuto.
In 1941 Phil came to St. Petersburg, FL, then the Bomber training camp, and showed he was ready for the bigs. Frank Crosetti had masterfully covered short for the great 1930's Yankees but was slowing down. 'I was coming to take Crosetti's job,' recalled Phil. 'I wasn't exactly ostracized, but wasn't accepted. I was having big trouble getting into the batter's cage.'
The freeze-out didn't last. 'After four or five days DiMaggio came over and said, 'Look, let the kid in there to take his turn.' That broke the ice; Joe took me under his wing,' Rizzuto explains. So did Crosetti.
A no-nonsense guy and a superb future Yankee coach, the 'Crow' taught Phil how to hit and run, tricky plays with the bunt, how to position himself for major league hitters, even how to get hit with the ball without getting hurt. Employing Crosetti's baseball savvy, Phil said, '(I got) a lot of extra base hits I'd never have gotten.'
Those extra hits added up to a .307 batting average in 1941 and a .284 BA in 1942. Estimable as those averages were, it was Phil's fielding that triggered the fans cheering him and writers depicting him an infield marvel. That the Bombers won pennants in '41 and '42 was in great measure due to Phil's performance. In the 4-1 Yankee victory over the Dodgers in the 1941 Series, he continued his great play by handling 30 out of 31 chances. And although the Yankees dropped the 1942 Series to the Cards, Phil led the club with a hefty .381 batting average.
The day after the 1942 Series, Phil enlisted in the Navy. He served until the end of 1945, getting malaria in a jungle hell-hole, and came home to play 126 games in 1946 while hitting a malaria-weakened sub-par .257. But in 1947 the pre-war Scooter revived and once more cavorted at short for a Yankee championship club, as his exceptional numbers accumulated towards Hall of Fame levels.
In the '47 Series he hit .308 and was a key player in the Yankees' memorable seven-game World Series win over Brooklyn. From 1949 to 1952, Phil led the league in sacrifice hits. 1949 saw him hit a neat .275, field at a .971 clip and lead the Yankees in games played, hits, runs, doubles and total bases- and he was named Player of the Year by the baseball writers. And his manager from 1949 until Phil was released in 1956 was Casey Stengel.
In 1950 Phil was named the AL's Most Valuable Player and got the first Hickok Belt Award for Best Professional Athlete. He also garnered 200 hits and batted a rousing .324 that banner year. In the 1951 Series against the Giants, Phil accepted a record 40 chances, hit .320, was chosen Outstanding Series Player and given the Babe Ruth Award.
Phil appeared in five All-Star Games and starred on ten pennant winners and nine World Series winners. By the time he hung up the spikes in 1956, he was acknowledged as one of a select group of baseball's great shortstops.
No wonder manager Stengel gladly ate a plate of crow when he called Phil 'the greatest shortstop I have seen in my entire baseball career.' A judgment concurred by Pee Wee Reese when he said in 1972, 'Phil is the greatest shortstop I have ever seen.' High praise, indeed. Praise concurred by those who recall Phil's exceptional Yankee career, and by the millions of knowledgeable fans who have always felt that Phil belongs in the company of baseball's highest achievers.
Now that our inimitable Scooter, a Yankee natural, a man whose name has become a household word, will stand before an audience of notables at the Baseball Hall of Fame and accept an honor long overdue. He'll be enshrined with Pee Wee, Boudreau, Tinker and other great shortstops. And whatever he says on that great occasion when he takes his place alongside DiMaggio, Mickey, Yogi and other great Yankees will surely reflect the man and his estimable character.
But somehow the eight lines he spoke when covering a game on June 27, 1991, a spontaneous poem now immortalized in Phil's book of verse, Oh Holy Cow! also seems appropriate:
'Never!
That-
Never!
I shouldn't say 'Never.'
Even James Bond said
'Never say never.'
That was a hit.
Right?'
Right, Phil. And never turned out to be now.
Gentlemen of the Veterans Committee, you've not only honored Phillip Francis Rizzuto, but also served the cause of Justice. And all of baseball is in your debt."
-Leo Trachtenberg, The New York Yankees Official 1994 Yearbook
"Yankee baseball in 1994 will be broadcast for the 56th consecutive season. Madison Square Garden Network is beginning its sixth season as the team's television outlet, and WABC Radio (770 AM) for the 14th straight year is leading the Yanks' radio network as the flagship station. A network covering 12 states also participates in the Yankees' television and radio coverage. For the 25th straight season, Yankee games will be broadcast in Spanish to Latin America.
Leon Schweir will produce MSG broadcasts for the sixth season and WABC producer/engineer Brian Fergenson is in his 14th season."
-1994 New York Yankees Information Guide
JOHN STERLING (WABC)
"Sterling, in his sixth season as a Yankee broadcaster, has broadcast Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks games on superstation WTBS. He has also broadcast New Jersey Nets and New York Islanders games."
-1994 New York Yankees Information Guide
DEWAYNE STAATS (MSG)
"Staats returns for his fifth season on MSG. He previously had served as the play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs and for the Houston Astros."
-1994 New York Yankees Information Guide
TONY KUBEK (MSG)
"Kubek returns for his fifth season on MSG. He spent 24 years working for NBC and the Game of the Week alongside Curt Gowdy, Joe Garagiola and Jim Simpson. He also spent 13 seasons as a broadcaster for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Kubek played shortstop for the Yankees from 1957-65 and participated in six World Series [including three Yankee World Championships]."
-1994 New York Yankees Information Guide
No information about the WPIX-TV broadcast team was given in either the New York Yankees Official 1994 Yearbook or the 1994 New York Yankees Information Guide.
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