'Heaven must have needed a shortstop'

Yanks remember Scooter, beloved player & announcer

BY MIKE JACCARINO, ETHAN ROUEN and JONATHAN LEMIRE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Wednesday, August 15th 2007, 10:19 AM

Good night, Scooter.

Yankees legend Phil (Scooter) Rizzuto, a baseball Hall of Famer who became a beloved broadcaster best known for his catch phrase "Holy cow!" died late Monday at the age of 89.

Though a former MVP and a member of seven World Series-winning teams, Rizzuto was remembered most yesterday for his quirky broadcasting style and a heart that seemed too big for his diminutive 5-foot-6 frame.

"Phil was a gem, one of the great people I ever knew," said former teammate Yogi Berra, who played bingo with Rizzuto every week during the shortstop's final months.

"He was a dear friend and a great teammate, and he was a heck of a player, too," Berra said. "When I first came up to the Yankees he was like a big - actually, small - brother to me."



Yankee great Phil Rizzuto captivated fans for years. Though a former MVP and a member of seven World Series-winning teams, Rizzuto ...



was remembered most yesterday for his quirky broadcasting style (here with Pee Wee Reese) and a heart that seemed too big for his diminutive 5-foot-6 frame.



Rizzuto was voted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994 after former rival Ted Williams made an impassioned plea for Scooter to the Veterans Committee.

Rizzuto, who had been in failing health in recent years, contracted pneumonia and died in his sleep at an assisted-living facility in West Orange, N.J., his daughter said.

"My father had a great life," Patricia Rizzuto said. "What could be better - he spent all those years playing the game, and then the next 50 years talking about it."

Rizzuto was honored last night at the stadium in the Bronx that he called home first on the field, and then in the broadcast booth.

Stadium flags were lowered to half-staff, his No. 10 was spray-painted on the field, and a wreath was laid at his plaque in Monument Park. Yankees players will also be sporting black armbands with the No. 10 for the rest of the season.

"I guess heaven must have needed a shortstop," owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. "While Scooter may have been smaller in size than some, he was among the tallest in his stature as a Yankee."

The son of a streetcar motorman, Rizzuto was born in Brooklyn and played football and baseball at Richmond Hill High School in Queens. He tried out for the Dodgers and Giants before latching on with the Yankees.

"He was lucky because he got to the Yankees and Joe DiMaggio took him under his wing because he was a fine Italian boy," Patricia Rizzuto said.

Rizzuto's 13-year Yankees career was interrupted by a stint in the Navy; he won the American League MVP in 1950 and was named to five All-Star teams.

He was voted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994 after former rival Ted Williams made an impassioned plea for Scooter to the Veterans Committee.

"The difference between the Yankees winning all those pennants in the '40s and '50s instead of the Red Sox was Rizzuto," Williams said.

Retiring in 1956, Rizzuto became a broadcaster the following year, and his enthusiastic style and pro-Yankees banter quickly made him a hit with fans.

His signature cry of "Holy cow!" and his work as a pitchman for The Money Store truly made him a broadcasting legend and a pop culture icon who inspired references on a "Seinfeld" episode and a Meat Loaf song.

"As a life-long Yankee fan, Phil was one of my childhood heroes," former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said. "He was also the Yankee announcer I grew up with, and it was a great privilege for me later in life to become his friend."

Rizzuto manned the broadcasting booth for 40 years, telling stories, wishing viewers happy birthday, and even leaving games after the sixth inning to make it over the George Washington Bridge and back home to New Jersey.

A staple at baseball card shows and Old Timers' Days, Scooter forever embraced his Yankee heritage. Rizzuto, who is survived by his wife, Cora, and four children, entertained his fellow residents at the assisted-living home during his last days, his daughter said.

"He remained a Yankee," Patricia Rizzuto said. "He would walk through the facility and he would always have a 'Hi, holy cow!' for everyone.

"They loved him. They ate it up."

jlemire@nydailynews.com