From Brooklyn paperboy to America’s favorite underdog, the Italian son who never lost sight of his dream.

By David C. Cosgrove
Originally ran in Union County Voice October 2002

What separates a great athlete from the rest of the pack? Talent, size and speed are common responses from sports aficionados, but those qualities alone won't vault an athlete to greatness.

A love of the game and the will to win at all costs are what defines a legend, regardless of his or her stature. That's what helped make Phil Rizzuto so special. At 5-6 and 150 pounds, the New York Yankees shortstop hardly intimidated opposing pitchers during his playing days, but talent brought him to the plate, courage strengthened his bat, and a knack for seizing the moment defined his presence on and off the field.

A five-time All-Star, Rizzuto, who's lived in Hillside for the past 56 years, won nine pennants and seven world championships during his 13-year career with the Yankees. Rizzuto was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

Following his retirement, "Scooter" brought new meaning to the title "color commentator" with off-the-wall rants during Yankee broadcasts, full of birthday announcements and sidebar commentary on everything but baseball, all the while capturing the essence of the game for those who couldn't make it to the stadium.
The sitting room of his English Tudor is a baseball collector's wonderland: a life-size Rawlings Golden Glove sits radiantly at the foot of the mantle piece, a framed painting of best friend Yogi Berra rests above the mantle while star-signed Louisville Sluggers and baseballs border the walls.

When asked what the pinnacle of his storied career was, Rizzuto, with his hands clasped and eyes fixated on the far wall as though it a portal in time, eventually answered, "That's tough, because my love for the game was putting that Yankee uniform on every day. And don't forget, I was a Dodger fan."

Early Headlines

Born in Brooklyn on September 17, 1918, Philip Francis Rizzuto often daydreamed of playing in the big leagues like fellow Brooklynite Babe Ruth as he delivered the Standard Union newspaper throughout the Ridgewood section of Brooklyn at age 11.

"Babe Ruth was always my idol," said Rizzuto. "Uncle Mike used to take me to all the games at Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds when I was just a kid. I watched him (Ruth) and Frank Crosetti and wanted to model myself after Crosetti." Crosetti, who passed away last February at 91, played shortstop for seven World Championship Yankees teams during the 30s and 40s.

The son of Italian immigrants, young Phil sharpened his trademark bunting ability at Brooklyn’s Richmond Hill High School, thanks to coach Al Kunitz, who also taught Rizzuto to never get in an argument or curse. "That would've gotten me thrown out of a game, which I never did," Rizzuto said.

Rizzuto's parents, who emigrated from Italy, instilled in their four children the importance of providing for one’s family. "They were wonderful parents," said Rizzuto. "And things were tough back then, but they always put food on table, even through the Depression."

Fiore Francesco Rizzuto was a trolley car motorman, his mother Rose, a homemaker; and "great cook, just like my wife," said Rizzuto. "They'd try to out-due each other when we brought our kids over."

Outperforming the competition would be paramount for Rizzuto, since garnering attention from coaches proved to be an Adonis-like task for the diminutive young man. Prior to trying out with the Giants and Cardinals (during which both teams told him he was too small to play), Brooklyn Dodgers manager Casey Stengel took one look at Rizzuto in a 1937 tryout and said, "Listen kid, you better go and get yourself a shoeshine box. That's the only way you’ll make a living."

Furthering his opposition was Rizzuto's blue-collar father, who couldn't envision baseball for his son and disapproved of his pursuits...at least in the beginning. "When they sent me away to minor leagues, my father told me to ‘get a job,’" said Rizzuto. "The chance of making the big leagues was one in a million, since so many kids at that time wanted to play and there were only eight teams in each league then. As I got higher and higher in leagues, he came around and was very proud."

Phil's determination to succeed found him in a one-week tryout with the Yankees following Stengel's comment, and after hitting a home run during a tryout game, scout Will Krichel introduced Rizzuto to his first monthly paycheck of $65 and the Yankee farm system. He was sent to play for a team in Basset, Va.

Gangrene to League MVP

Rizzuto was on his way up, but midway through that first year in Basset, at the tender age of 17, a gopher hole down the first base line nearly swallowed Rizzuto's chances for good.

"I felt a tug while running down the line after a hit, so the manager-who also was a priest, did confessions, drove the bus, you name it-he thought the best thing was to massage it," said Rizzuto. "It was the worst thing you could have done."

Sharper minds prevailed thanks to an off-duty big league umpire in the stands, and Rizzuto was rushed to a hospital in Roanoke, Va., to learn the extent of his badly discolored thigh. "The muscle had torn apart and gangrene set in, so they had to cut that off and sow on another muscle," said Rizzuto.

In an almost Oz-like setting, Rizzuto woke up with to find his mother, uncle and brother standing around him. "The doctor told I'd never play ball again," recalled Rizzuto. Just as he was ready to leave the hospital, Rizzuto insisted to the doctor that he had to play.

The doctor replied, "All right, go down there about 60 yards and run as hard as you can," recalls Rizzuto. Rizzuto says this was “dumb for two reasons; first, I didn't loosen up and second, my leg could have burst."

"So there I was, almost an inch wide wound up my leg, so I got my St. Christopher medal in my hand like this (clasping it over his heart) and I ran. The doc said, 'Oh, well you've got my OK to go out and play.'

“When I look back on it, it could have come apart right there. Although I missed two months of my rookie year (minor leagues) back then in 1937, I could have missed out on it all," said Rizzuto.

The rest is history.

Rizzuto's defensive prowess and penchant for the hit-and-run sent him to the pros in 1941 sporting #10 on his back. He wound up hitting .273 for his career, scoring 878 runs with 1,588 hits, 651 walks and 149 stolen bases in the major leagues. He was at the top of his game during his American League MVP campaign of 1950 when he lit up opposing pitchers for career highs in runs (125), hits (200), doubles (36), homers (7), walks (66), batting average (.324) and slugging percentage (.439).

Throw in 40 years of Yankee broadcasts following his retirement, as well as a spokesmanship for The Money Store, and this Italian-American paperboy became Brooklyn's poster boy for the American Dream.

But Rizzuto's hat would not hang in Brooklyn for long, thanks to teammate Joe DiMaggio.

Hillside Bound

It was Rizzuto's rookie year and Joe DiMaggio couldn't attend a speaking engagement in Newark, so the event's committee chairman, also Newark's fire chief, asked Rizzuto to fill in at the last minute. It was the first time Rizzuto had been to Newark in his life at that time, though this breakfast communion would make a stiff case for a return trip.

Since the chairman  didn't have time to alert the audience that DiMaggio couldn’t make it due to the birth of his child that very morning, the crowd voiced their
disappointment as Rizzuto took the stage.

"I'm sure that's the first time anyone's ever been booed at communion," said Rizzuto. "They didn't know who I was, and I was in an Italian neighborhood, no less!"

But it was that 7th avenue area of Newark in which his future wife Cora lived, and it just so happened that the committee chairman—Cora's father—asked Rizzuto back to his place for comfort. "My wife’s father took pity on me, took me in and asked if I wanted coffee. That's how I met my wife, and I owe it Joe."

Two years later, the two were married in a Norfolk church while Rizzuto was serving in the Navy. Rizzuto never thought he'd be going oversees, since government was, "coddling us ballplayers and athletes." He stayed active in baseball while completing boot camp training,  but knew in his heart that playing sports didn't wave him from serving his country.

"With kids getting killed, mothers started complaining and rightly so, then they had a blanket order to ship all athletes overseas," said Rizzuto, who ended up leading a 20-mm gun crew aboard a ship that toured in New Guinea and the Phillipines. "The only way you get through all of that is when you're young," said Rizzuto.

Three and a half years removed from his first two years of professional baseball, Rizzuto made it back to the states in time for the 46 season, but more importantly, back to the comfort of his family, his new residence in Hillside and the little things that make life great.

Rizzuto's a movie buff partially due to the fact that managers Stengle and Joe McCarthy wouldn't let his guys play golf. “North by Northwest” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” remain his favorites, and many a movie was taken in at the Clinton Avenue theaters in Newark. Frank Sinatra was a rookie himself during Phil and Cora Anne's courtship, and the two got to know each other quite well during stopovers in Chicago and New York.

A couple of Scooter's favorite restaurants in Union County include the Spanish Tavern in Mountainside and Tiffany's in Hillside. A 30-year member of Suburban Golf Course, Rizzuto currently golfs at Brooklake in Florham Park.

"This (Hillside) was centralized because it was easy for me to get to the stadium for games and to do the radio show,” said Rizzuto. “But when we first came here there were no highways, so the trip to Yankee Stadium was a long ride."

"Elizabeth was big then," said Rizzuto. "We used to go to Frank & Tom Beninato's restaurant for pizza between North & Elmora Avenues and go play with the kids at Warinanco Park a lot."

The Rizzuto's raised their four children (Patricia, Cynthia, Penny & Phil Jr.) in the same English Tudor they’ve lived for over 50 years. Rizzuto spends much of his time visiting his children and two grandchildren. Author of The October Twelve: Five Years of Yankee Glory 1949-1953, Rizzuto works with St. Jude's Hospital and St. Joseph's School for the Blind in Jersey City and participates with the St. Joseph's golf tournament every year.

Rizzuto felt that baseball, in many ways, demonstrated the good will and vitality of America.

"I could see what it did for people," said Rizzuto. "All of a sudden, war's declared and we went around selling war bonds when we were in the service, trying to do whatever we could. And people got behind us (ball players) just like they got behind one another in 9-11.”

“It's amazing when everybody thought we were beat, especially when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, we bounced back and won the war.”

Mantle & DiMaggio

For a guy who connected on a few grand slams, the biggest hit in Rizzuto’s career came off a bunt in September of 1951 to break a tie against Cleveland with DiMaggio on third and Mickey Mantle on-deck. Rizzuto recalls the timeless moment.

“I gave the sign for a squeeze play with DiMaggio on third and Mantle, in  his rookie year, on deck. I held the bat against my chest, took the first pitch and pretended to argue with the umpire, which tipped Joe off to the squeeze. Joe got a terrific jump and Bob Lemon threw at my head, so I took a step back and somehow bunted down the first base line. By that time Joe was almost home and I got on base with a hit. Joe scored, we won, and I still remember Mickey jumping up and down like a little kid.”

At 85, Rizzuto is as lively as ever, though he jokes about how the last 10 years have slowed the Scooter’s engine.

"In my 70s, I was running, walking and playing golf every day, but as soon as I hit 80, it was like the curtain came down,” Rizzuto said jokingly. "One day my elbow, my back the next day, aches and pains.”

Rizzuto’s life has been marked by effort amidst adversity, and his tales and accomplishments will most definitely serve as a fruitful voyage for tomorrow’s players.

SIDEBAR

Rizzuto Quick Hits On…

“Holy Cow!” – I always said ‘Holy Cow’ when I was a kid. Then I’d get a big kick when I’d go to Chicago, and people thought I stole it from Harry Carey. But I'd been saying it before I knew who Harry Carey was!
Scooter – Billy Hitchcock was on the team (Yankees) with me down in spring training. You know my legs are short—I’m short all over but my legs are very short—and when he saw me run, he said, ‘Man, you’re not running, you’re scootin.’” From scootin’ I got scooter.
Derek Jeter – For a guy 6-3, being able to reach down and get balls and line drives that I would've needed a ladder to catch, he's unbelievable. And during interviews, he always says the right thing. Plus, he constantly gives of himself to children's charities. He'll go down as the best shortstop in history.
Barry Bonds – You can’t be a great player but if you don’t hit in the playoffs, since you won’t get the recognition you deserve. I pull for him, he's one of a kind.
Pete Rose – He should be in the Hall of Fame. Pete hustled and loved the game, played so many different positions and competed at such a high level.
The Narrowly Avoided Baseball Strike – If they had gone through with striking this year, baseball would have been through. The first few were bad enough.
Baseball Salaries Today – They're wonderful. I don't begrudge the kids getting all that money, and who can blame them? The issue's with the owners.
Bob Feller - I came up in '41 when he was just in his prime. He was a little wild and threw harder than Nolan Ryan; maybe Sandy Kofax threw harder than him.
Yankees recently losing to Anaheim - I couldn’t believe it, their pitching was terrible.