Phil Rizzuto - Broadcasting Career

Broadcasting Career

Rizzuto had options following his release by the Yankees, including a player contract from the Cardinals and a minor league offer from the Dodgers. But Rizzuto, who had filled in for the New York Giants' wraparound host Frankie Frisch in September 1956 following Frisch's heart attack, received a favorable response. With his eye on a post-playing career, Rizzuto submitted an audition tape to the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees' sponsor, Ballantine Beer, took notice, and insisted that the team hire Rizzuto as an announcer for the 1957 season. General manager George Weiss was obliged to fire Jim Woods to make room for Rizzuto in the booth. When Weiss told Woods he was out in favor of Rizzuto, he said that it was the first time he had had to fire someone for no reason.

Rizzuto broadcast Yankee games on radio and television for the next 40 years. His popular catchphrase was "Holy cow." Rizzuto also became known for saying "Unbelievable!" or "Did you see that?" to describe a great play, and would call somebody a "huckleberry" if he did something Rizzuto did not like. He would frequently wish listeners a happy birthday or anniversary, send get-well wishes to fans in hospitals, and speak well of restaurants he liked, or of the cannoli he ate between innings. He also joked about leaving the game early, saying to his wife, "I'll be home soon, Cora!" and "I gotta get over that bridge", referring to the nearby George Washington Bridge, which he would use to get back to his home in Hillside. In later years, Rizzuto would announce the first six innings of Yankee games; the TV director would sometimes puckishly show a shot of the bridge (which can be seen from the top of Yankee Stadium) after Rizzuto had departed. Rizzuto was also very phobic about lightning, and sometimes left the booth following violent thunderclaps.

Rizzuto's broadcast partners included Mel Allen (1957–1964), Red Barber (1957–66), Joe Garagiola (1965–67), Jerry Coleman (1963–69), Bob Gamere (1970), Frank Messer (1968–85), Bill White (1971–88), former Yankee catcher Fran Healy (1978–81), John Gordon (1982–84), former Yankee slugger Bobby Murcer (1983–84, 1991–96), Spencer Ross (1985), Jim Kaat (1986), Billy Martin (1986–87, in between his third and fourth stints as Yankee manager), George Grande (1989–90), Tom Seaver (1989–93), Paul Olden (1994–95), and Rick Cerone (1996). Allen, Barber, Garagiola and Coleman have all been honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame as broadcasters, and Seaver has been inducted as a player. Coleman and Martin had been double play partners of Rizzuto as second basemen for the Yankees.

Rizzuto was twice assigned to broadcast the World Series while with the Yankees. He worked the 1964 series on radio with Joe Garagiola when the Yankees faced the Cardinals. The next time the Yankees made it into the series, in 1976, Rizzuto joined Garagiola and Tony Kubek as part of the series coverage on NBC-TV. The 1976 World Series was the last to have a local voice from each of the two teams as part of its announcing team. WPIX and its usual Rizzuto-Messer-White broadcast trifecta carried the ALCS in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1981, providing New York viewers a local alternative to the nationally-broadcast telecasts.

Rizzuto would typically refer to his broadcast partners by their last names, calling them "White", "Murcer" and "Seaver" instead of "Bill", "Bobby" or "Tom." Reportedly, he did the same with teammates during his playing days. Rizzuto developed a reputation as a "homer," an announcer who would sometimes lapse into rooting for the home team. As an announcer, Rizzuto devised the unique scoring notation "WW" for his scorecard; it stood for "Wasn't Watching."

Rizzuto's most significant moments as a broadcaster included the new single-season home run record set by Roger Maris on October 1, 1961, which he called on WCBS radio:

• "Here's the windup, fastball, hit deep to right, this could be it! Way back there! Holy cow, he did it! Sixty-one for Maris! And look at the fight for that ball out there! Holy cow, what a shot! Another standing ovation for Maris, and they're still fighting for that ball out there, climbing over each other's backs. One of the greatest sights I've ever seen here at Yankee Stadium!"

Rizzuto also called the pennant-winning home run hit by Chris Chambliss in the American League Championship Series on October 14, 1976, on WPIX-TV:

• "He hits one deep to right-center! That ball is out of here! The Yankees win the pennant! Holy cow, Chris Chambliss on one swing!" "And the Yankees win the American League pennant. Unbelievable, what a finish! As dramatic a finish as you'd ever want to see! With all that delay, we told you Littell (Mark Littell, the Royals' reliever who gave up the homer) had to be a little upset. And holy cow, Chambliss hits one over the fence, he is being mobbed by the fans, and this field will never be the same, but the Yankees have won it in the bottom of the 9th, seven to six!"

Rizzuto was also on the mic for the one-game playoff that decided the dramatic 1978 AL East race between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, the Pine Tar game involving George Brett in 1983, and Phil Niekro’s 300th career win in 1985.

Malapropisms and stream-of-consciousness commentary were fairly common for Rizzuto, which annoyed his critics but amused his fans:

• "Uh-oh, deep to left-center, nobody's gonna get that one! Holy cow, somebody got it!"
• "Bouncer to third, they'll never get him! No, why don't I just shut up!"
• "All right! Stay fair! No, it won't stay fair. Good thing it didn't stay fair, or I think he would've caught it!"
• "Oh, these Yankees can get the clutch hits, Murcer. I might have to go home early, I just got a cramp in my leg."
• "Well, that kind of puts the damper on even a Yankee win." (He was still on the air, just after a game, when he heard that Pope Paul VI had just died. Esquire magazine called that the "Holiest Cow of 1978.")

As Dave Righetti hurled his no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox on July 4, 1983 at Yankee Stadium, Rizzuto—broadcasting on WABC radio—described the video of a close play as if his listeners could see it. Partner Frank Messer gently jogged the Scooter's memory by quipping "Which side of the radio are we looking at?" (To be fair, Rizzuto and Messer alternated that day between WABC radio, TV's SportsChannel (now MSG Plus) and the Fan Appreciation giveaways on the field.)

During the openings to two separate telecasts, Rizzuto began by reading off a teleprompter, "Welcome to New York Yankee Baseball. I'm Bill White... wait a minute." Both times, this caused White, standing to Rizzuto's left, to burst out in laughter. On another occasion, Rizzuto introduced the team as "Bill Rizzuto" and "Phil White."

Rizzuto's relationships with White and Healy (the latter first worked with Rizzuto on radio) produced some good-humored exchanges, including one with White during the WPIX telecast of the American League Eastern Division title game on October 2, 1978. Red Sox batter Bob (Beetle) Bailey, who had gained a little weight, had just stepped into the batter's box:

• Rizzuto: "Looks a little out of shape, doesn't he, Bill?"
• White: (chuckles) "Well, Beetle's been around a while..."
• Rizzuto: "Yeah."
• White: "Got a lot of money—from the Pirates. Put it all in California real estate. That's why he's got that big...uh..."
• Rizzuto (chuckles): "Big what?"
• White: "Well, big bank account." (Both men laugh.)

On another occasion, at a 1978 game at Comiskey Park, Healy impishly introduced Rizzuto's return to the broadcast booth by saying, "And back from the men's room, Phil Rizzuto" leading to the following exchange:

• Rizzuto: "You can't keep a secret! That Healy is unbelievable! All right, Nettles tries to bunt and fouls it off. (Laughing) You could've said that I went to visit Bill Veeck (the Chicago White Sox president). You know what happens when you drink coffee all day? You gotta go visit Bill Veeck!"
• Healy: (Laughing off-mike)
• Rizzuto: "That Healy... I'm gonna throw him right out of this booth. This is the highest booth in the league, too."
• Healy: "No, don't do that!"

One broadcast, while still on WPIX channel 11, after a commercial break a shot of the full moon appeared on the screen. Phil, in his clever way quipped, "Look, you can see Texas"!!

Not all of Rizzuto's broadcasting experiences were jovial. On the evening of the funeral of former teammate Mickey Mantle (August 15, 1995 in Dallas, Texas), the Yankees were set to play a road game against the Boston Red Sox. Rizzuto understandably assumed that he would be allowed to miss the game to attend the funeral with former teammates, but was scheduled to call the game. WPIX and/or the Yankees refused to let him go, citing that "someone needed to do the color commentary." Rizzuto eventually gave into emotion and abruptly left the booth in the middle of the telecast saying he could not go on. Rizzuto announced his retirement from announcing soon afterwards, which many attributed to the incident.

He was eventually persuaded to return for one more season in 1996 where he called another Yankee shortstop protégé, Derek Jeter's first home run. When he retired that season, he had spent parts of seven decades—virtually all of his adult life—in the Yankee organization as a minor league player, major league player and broadcaster. Although Mel Allen is to this day identified as "The Voice of the Yankees," Rizzuto was the longest serving broadcaster in the history of the club.