# Did Phil Rizzuto die? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 14, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555 "2007-08-14T15:01:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/1 "2007-08-14T15:01:38Z")
Robin Quivers announced it on the Howard Stern show but I see no confirmation of this anywhere and I don’t trust Howard Stern enough to take his word for it. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/2 "2007-08-14T15:04:50Z")
Do you trust [Wiki?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Rizzuto) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/3 "2007-08-14T15:12:54Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Do you trust [Wiki?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Rizzuto) [/QUOTE] Not in a circumstance like this. Somebody like me could have heard it on Howard and put it in. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/4 "2007-08-14T15:16:29Z")
Do you trust [WNBC?](http://www.wnbc.com/news/13887653/detail.html) ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/5 "2007-08-14T15:17:24Z")
[CNN.com](http://CNN.com) has it as Breaking News right now as well. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/6 "2007-08-14T15:19:50Z")
> **[CBS New York - Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of NY](https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/)** > > Latest breaking news from New York City. > **[NBC New York](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/)** > > New York News, Local News, Weather, Traffic, Entertainment, Breaking News > **[ABC7 New York - NY News, Local News, Breaking News, Weather](https://abc7ny.com/)** > > New York's source for breaking news, weather and live video. Covering NYC, New Jersey, Long Island and all of the greater New York City area. They all have the Rizzuto story. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/7 "2007-08-14T15:22:23Z")
That’s a shame. I’ll be at the game tonight, I’m sure it will be an emotional evening. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/8 "2007-08-14T15:23:04Z")
Yeah, just heard it on WCBS. RIP, Phil. Listening to you call a play was more fun and exciting than watching the play. And a lot of times it was because the plays were sooo different. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/9 "2007-08-14T15:40:18Z")
Damn right, Biggirl. 🙂 We loved Scooter, even if he… wasn’t… exactly… the most objective. Looks like he’s gone over the bridge for the last time. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/10 "2007-08-14T15:59:00Z")
Holy Cow. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/11 "2007-08-14T16:13:40Z")
Growing up watching Yankee games, Scooter was, for me, the standard against which all other baseball broadcasters are measured. He spoke to NY baseball fans in their language like no other before or since. Goodbye, Phil. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/12 "2007-08-14T16:17:04Z")
I never got to hear him until I got a satellite dish in the mid 1980s and picked up WPIX. He made the games so much fun to listen to. His scoresheets were legendary, having such entries as “DSI” (didn’t see it) and “WL” (wasn’t looking). The interplay between him and Bill White was a lot of fun. So long, Scooter. We’ll miss you. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/13 "2007-08-14T17:24:40Z")
They just played Meatloaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Lights in honor of Phil. I thought it was just some random voice-over guy doing that play by play, but it was The Scooter. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/14 "2007-08-14T17:37:43Z")
Yep that was Phil. Apparently he had no idea he wasn’t talking about baseball. Holy Cow! Stolen base. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/15 "2007-08-14T17:43:41Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] Yep that was Phil. Apparently he had no idea he wasn’t talking about baseball. Holy Cow! Stolen base. [/QUOTE] Meat Loaf & Jim Steinman always vehemently denied this story, saying that Phil had heard the whole song and knew exactly what it was about. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/16 "2007-08-14T17:56:58Z")
I saw the noon news coverage on Eyewitness News while I was at the gym. Scooter was the best. I grew up watching the Yankees on WPIX and listening to Rizzuto and Bill White–what a team! They noted that he’d played 13 years and all of it for the Yankees (and spent 2 years out for WWII), and was an announcer for 40 years. He was the best–even when he didn’t have the slightest idea what he was talking about. You could always trust him to have something great to say. I remember when he was teaching the young whippersnappers to bunt, too. Kind of a lost art. Goodbye Scooter. We’ll miss you. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/17 "2007-08-14T18:52:08Z")
I broke down and cried when I heard the news. I grew up listening to Phil. I always felt almost like he was everybody’s Uncle. I learned how to bunt, just listening to the Scooter. He was a great player, a great broadcaster and by all accounts one of the nicest men that ever lived. Beloved by teammates and opponents. Ted Williams and Pee Wee Reese always argued strongly for his induction into the Hall of Fame. Williams said, “If we’d had Rizzuto in Boston, we’d have won all those pennants instead of New York.” Pee Wee liked to tell a story about when they both went into the service. They were on the same training base. Pee Wee played second for that team because as Pee Wee said it, Scooter was the better short stop. NPR had a good Yogi quote about Phil: [QUOTE=Yogi] When I first came up to the Yankees, he was like a big — actually, small — brother to me. He’s meant an awful lot to baseball and the Yankees and has left us with a lot of wonderful memories. [/QUOTE] I know I am not the only one, but I really feel like I lost a favorite Uncle today. I have one thing to remember him by. There was an auction last year of a lot of his stuff. He and Cora knew the end was nearing. I purchased a baseball sign by Yogi, Mattingly and 8 others and presented to Phil at a charity golf tournament. This ball has a special place among the little bit of memorabilia I own. Phil, I’ll miss you. I hope you are in Heaven and I am sure they will serve you Cannolis every day. Thank you for the wonderful memories, Jim ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/18 "2007-08-14T23:50:31Z")
To quote the man himself: “Well, that kind of puts a damper on even a Yankee win!” ☹ ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/19 "2007-08-14T23:52:36Z")
Bob Shepard was at the Stadium today to due the announcing for the pre-game ceremony. There was a lot of sad faces at the stadium. Jim ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555/20 "2007-08-15T00:04:25Z")
The [Baseball Hall of Fame site](http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/index.jsp) confirms the news. The [Dead People Server](http://dpsinfo.com/dps/rnames.html#prizutto) records, however, have yet to be updated. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-phil-rizzuto-die/415555.md?page=2)