"The Scooter" Scoots On

My first memories of baseball, at all, are of watching Yankees games on WPIX channel 11 as a child, listening to Phil Rizzuto call the game. At that age, I was too young to really notice that he was skipping out at the end of the seventh inning each day to avoid the ballpark traffic, or anything like that. I just enjoyed the way he was so clearly happy to be on the air, talking about the Yankees. And if he would tell a few too many stories about his wife, Cora, or randomly call out happy anniversary greetings to his various friends and neighbors, so what? His genuine "happiness" exuded into every word he spoke on the air.

I look at the television and radio commentators for baseball today, and none of them hold a candle to the man who passed on today. As the article says:

Rizzuto once said on the air upon learning of the death of Pope Paul VI, "Well, that kind of puts a damper on even a Yankee win."

So does the passing of Phil Rizzuto.

You'll be missed, Scooter....