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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Watchdog: Best: Phil Rizzuto predicts trouble for Mike Torrez (Video)

Phil Rizzuto cannoli be described as a racist!

Here is a YouTube clip for no apparent reason - upcoming 30th anniversary, I guess? - of Phil Rizzuto and Frank Messer setting up the Yankees-Red Sox playoff game in 1978.

Scooter dishes some cliches, laments Willie Randolph’s unavailability for the big game . . . and calls Mike Torrez “a very excitable Latin type.”

Yikes! Can you say that on TV? I guess you could in 1978.

Repoz Posted: June 11, 2008 at 05:18 PM | 14 comment(s)
  Related News: GeneralHistoryNY YankeesMediaAnnouncersTelevision

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   1. Hello Rusty Kuntz, Goodbye Rusty Cars  Posted: June 11, 2008 at 04:29 PM (#2815806)
He also describes Mickey Rivers as "a big man." I can only assume that's based on the racial stereotype. I hope Rizzuto gets fired for this.
   2. rlc  Posted: June 11, 2008 at 04:47 PM (#2815825)
He should have his huckleberries taken away.
   3. Charter Member of the Jesus Melendez Fanclub  Posted: June 11, 2008 at 04:50 PM (#2815832)
He also describes Mickey Rivers as "a big man."

So's your mom.
   4. StHendu  Posted: June 11, 2008 at 04:58 PM (#2815842)
That huckleberry! Did anyone else try yelling 'Pix!' at the screen, or just me?
Oh, and happy 80th birthday to Isabella Baglio (am I pronouncing that right, White?) Holy cow, she also sent us some cannoli. Thank you, dear.
   5. Crispix Attacks is in the best shape of his life.  Posted: June 11, 2008 at 05:02 PM (#2815847)
   6. Van Lingle Mungo Jerry  Posted: June 11, 2008 at 05:30 PM (#2815865)
Did anyone else try yelling 'Pix!' at the screen, or just me?


I don't know what scares me more: that I got that reference or that there's somebody else on planet Earth whose brain is (mis-)wired in such a way that they remember the "Pix!" thing too.
   7. Rough Carrigan  Posted: June 11, 2008 at 08:41 PM (#2816265)
I ask this not just as a rhetorical question. I don't think I ever saw or heard a broadcast with Rizzuto. Was he any good as an announcer?
   8. rLr Is King Of The Romans And Above Grammar  Posted: June 11, 2008 at 08:47 PM (#2816287)
Scooter was great as a personality. He was pretty confused as an announcer.

At least by the time I encountered him in the late 80s.
   9. TerpNats  Posted: June 11, 2008 at 11:35 PM (#2816548)
Phil was the slightly daffy uncle every family has, and that's why he was so beloved. And he never took himself seriously. In short, his personality was the anti-Sterling.
   10. Justin T  Posted: June 12, 2008 at 12:09 AM (#2816564)
He said he sure was glad to be up in the booth. All those years of covering second on every steal attempt really wore him out.
   11. The Good Face  Posted: June 12, 2008 at 08:42 AM (#2816712)
Phil was the slightly daffy uncle every family has, and that's why he was so beloved. And he never took himself seriously. In short, his personality was the anti-Sterling.


Good description. When I was a kid in the 80s, I used to love watching Yankee games largely for Rizzuto. It really did feel like you were watching the game with your daffy uncle. Rizzuto had all kinds of flaws... he was a homer, it felt like he made several mistaken home run calls every game (the balls were invariably caught in shallow CF), and he'd ramble on in strange and sometimes downright bizarre directions. I'll never forget the time he was discussing Ricky Henderson's speed, and said that it came from Ricky's powerfully muscled butt. Long pause, and then Rizzuto added, "Nice butt." But he was charming and genuine in ways that modern broadcasters can't hope to approach. He loved baseball, he loved the Yankees, he loved people and he didn't care who knew it. I miss him.
   12. Slinger Francisco Barrios (Dr. Memory)  Posted: June 12, 2008 at 09:20 AM (#2816741)
a very excitable Latin type

It'd say he was probably thinking of Times Roman.
   13. SJ and the pants of freedom.  Posted: June 12, 2008 at 09:26 AM (#2816749)
I miss Scooter too. He is one of the major reason I am a baseball fan, and a Yankee fan.
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