48 Facts About Phil Rizzuto

Phil Rizzuto spent his entire 13-year baseball career with the New York Yankees, and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.

Generally, Phil Rizzuto was a "small ball" player, noted for his strong defense in the infield and as a great bunter.

Phil Rizzuto was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1937.

Phil Rizzuto recorded 123 double plays in 1950, three more than Crosetti's total from 1938; it remains the Yankee record.

Phil Rizzuto was voted the American League's Most Valuable Player by a large margin in 1950, after having been the runner-up for the award behind Ted Williams in 1949.

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Phil Rizzuto became the only MVP in history who led the league in sacrifice bunts.

Phil Rizzuto played in five All-Star Games, in 1942 and each year from 1950 to 1953.

Phil Rizzuto was voted top major league shortstop by The Sporting News four consecutive years .

Decades later, Phil Rizzuto still spoke resentfully of the incident in which pugnacious New York Giants second baseman Eddie Stanky sparked a rally by kicking the ball out of Phil Rizzuto's glove on a tag play.

Phil Rizzuto was noted for "small ball", strong defense, and clutch hitting, which helped the Yankees win seven World Series.

Phil Rizzuto was among the AL's top five players in stolen bases seven times.

Phil Rizzuto often talked about the unusual circumstances of his release.

For each name Phil Rizzuto mentioned, a reason was given as to why that player needed to be kept.

Phil Rizzuto called former teammate George Stirnweiss, who told him to refrain from "blasting" the Yankees because it might cost him a non-playing job later.

Phil Rizzuto said many times that following Stirnweiss' advice was probably the best move he ever made.

Phil Rizzuto ranked fifth in AL history in games at shortstop, eighth in putouts and total chances, and ninth in assists .

Phil Rizzuto still holds numerous World Series records for shortstops, including the most career games played, singles, walks, times on base, stolen bases, at-bats, putouts, assists and double plays.

Phil Rizzuto rented a nearby hotel room for a month to be near her.

Phil Rizzuto took an interest in the boy and his school, St Joseph's School for the Blind.

Whenever this happened, Phil Rizzuto refused to go near the glove until someone assured him the snake was artificial.

Phil Rizzuto had options following his release by the Yankees, including a player contract from the Cardinals and a minor league offer from the Dodgers.

Phil Rizzuto instead decided to pursue broadcasting after receiving good reviews when he filled in for the New York Giants' wraparound host Frankie Frisch in September 1956 following Frisch's heart attack.

When Weiss told Woods he was out in favor of Phil Rizzuto, he said that it was the first time he had to fire someone for no reason.

In later years, Phil Rizzuto would announce the first six innings of Yankee games; the TV director would sometimes puckishly show a shot of the bridge after Phil Rizzuto had departed.

Phil Rizzuto was very phobic about lightning, and sometimes left the booth following violent thunderclaps.

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Phil Rizzuto started his broadcasting career working alongside Mel Allen and Red Barber in 1957.

Phil Rizzuto was twice assigned to broadcast the World Series while with the Yankees.

Phil Rizzuto worked the 1964 series on NBC-TV and radio with Joe Garagiola when the Yankees faced the Cardinals.

The next time the Yankees made it into the series, in 1976, Phil Rizzuto joined Garagiola and Tony Kubek on NBC-TV when the Yankees faced the Reds.

Phil Rizzuto developed a reputation as a "homer", an announcer who would sometimes lapse into openly rooting for the home team.

Phil Rizzuto was not permitted to leave, as the team needed someone to do the color commentary.

Phil Rizzuto abruptly left the booth after five innings, saying he could not go on.

Phil Rizzuto announced his retirement from announcing soon afterwards, which was attributed to the incident.

Phil Rizzuto was eventually persuaded to return for one more season in 1996, where he called another Yankee shortstop protege, Derek Jeter's first home run.

Phil Rizzuto was the longtime celebrity spokesman in TV ads for The Money Store.

Phil Rizzuto was well known as their spokesman for nearly 20 years, from the 1970s into the 1990s.

When Phil Rizzuto recorded his piece, he was reportedly unaware of how his spoken contribution would be used.

Phil Rizzuto was just getting some heat from a priest and felt like he had to do something.

ESPN reported that the photo of Jeter and Phil Rizzuto taken that evening is one of Jeter's most prized possessions.

But, year after year, season after season, Phil Rizzuto was a standout.

Phil Rizzuto was elected to the Hall of Fame along with Leo Durocher, in 1994 by the Veterans Committee, following a long campaign for Phil Rizzuto's election by Yankee fans who were frustrated that he had not received the honor.

Some of Phil Rizzuto's peers supported his candidacy, including Boston's Ted Williams.

James assessed Phil Rizzuto's career statistics as historically substandard by Hall of Fame standards, although he acknowledged that credit must be given for the years he missed in World War II, and criticized many of the public arguments both for and against his selection; but despite noting that Phil Rizzuto was a great defensive player and a good hitter he stated that he could not endorse his candidacy, as there were too many similar players with virtually identical accomplishments.

Phil Rizzuto gave a memorably discombobulated induction speech at Cooperstown, in which he repeatedly complained about the buzzing flies that were pestering him.

Phil Rizzuto was inducted in 2009 into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

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When Phil Rizzuto did not attend the annual Cooperstown reunion in 2005 and the annual New York Yankees Old Timers Day in 2006, questions were raised about his health.

Phil Rizzuto had been in declining health for several years and was living at a nursing home in West Orange, New Jersey for the last months of his life.

At the time of his death, at age 89, Phil Rizzuto was the oldest living member of Baseball's Hall of Fame.