Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Phil Rizzuto (1917-2007)

"Rizzuto's cultural status was further elevated in 1993 when editors Tom Peyer and Hart Seely published O Holy Cow!: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto, a collection of Rizzuto's on-air monologues and ramblings, transcribed and reformatted as found poetry. Rizzuto donated his royalties from the book to a variety of children's charities." (Wikipedia)

Apodosis

Fly ball right field
It's gonna drop in.
No it's not gonna drop in.
Happy 46th wedding anniversary
Thomas and Mary Anne Clearwater.
That's it.
The last three, six, nine, twelve Yankees
Went down in order.
So that's it.
The game is over.

                         [June 4, 1991
                         Toronto at New York
                         Tom Henke pitching to Pat Kelly
                         Ninth inning, two outs, bases empty
                         Blue Jays win 5-3]

From O Holy Cow!: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto (NY: Ecco, 1993)

Phil Rizzuto, Yankees Shortstop, Dies at 89 (New York Times
Phil Rizzuto (Wikipedia)
Apodosis (Wikipedia)

comments: 2

Anonymous said...

I'm delighted that you acknowledged the death of Phil Rizzuto, about whom there are so many funny and wonderful stories (such as the time he was broadcasting an away game but snuck out in the 8th inning--after flying back to NY, he turned on the television to find that the game was still being played, now in the 22nd inning). As a fan who enjoys keeping score at games, I learned that Mr. Rizzuto had a special designation, WW, that he used on his own scorecards. Most scorekeepers use BB to indicate a base on balls (or IBB for an intentional walk), so I wondered what WW could mean. Turns out it stand for "wasn't watching."

Michael Leddy said...

Great story, Stefan. The world needs more such people, don't you think?