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Philip Francis Rizzuto
New York Yankees
Shortstop
Born: September 25, 1917, Brooklyn, NY
Signed: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1937 season
Major League Teams: New York Yankees 1941-1942, 1946-1956
Hall of Fame Induction: 1994
Died: August 13, 2007, West Orange, NJ (age 89)
Holy cow, it's the Scooter! Phil Rizzuto was the everyday shortstop for the Yankees for 11 seasons between 1941 and 1954, missing three full seasons due to his service in the Navy during World War II. A great defender at short, Rizzuto was a five-time A.L. All-Star, a seven-time World Champion and the A.L. MVP in 1950. He was a prototypical small ball player and known as one of the best bunters in baseball. He led the league in sacrifice bunts for four straight seasons between 1949 and 1952. A teammate of Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra (#110), Whitey Ford (#240), and Mickey Mantle (#135), Rizzuto is one of the most popular Yankees of all-time. He formed a steady double play combination with second baseman Billy Martin (#181) between 1952 and 1956.
Upon his retirement, he was second in Major League history in double plays turned (1,217) trailing only Luke Appling (1,424). His .968 career fielding percentage was second to Lou Boudreau's .973 among all A.L. shortstops. Rizzuto accumulated 1,588 career hits and was a lifetime .273 batter. He appeared in 52 World Series games with the Yankees, betting .246. In 1957 he began his second career as the long-time radio and TV voice of the Yankees where he called games for 40 seasons, retiring in 1996. Rizzuto's #10 was retired by the Yankees in 1985 and the Veterans Committee elected him into the Hall of Fame in 1994.
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| July 1982 - Pop-Pop and his grandkids |
December 25, 1987 - Card #52
This card represents a significant milestone in our set, as it was the first "big" card we added through a purchase after having decided to collect the set in the summer of 1987. Santa left the card for me under the tree on Christmas morning and I have no record of where the card actually came from or how much Santa had paid for it. Up until this point, we had our Original 44, four cards acquired from the Walker Gallery in Cooperstown in August 1987 and three more cards bought from Hummell's in Bridgeton, New Jersey that October. We could say we were dabbling with collecting the set up until the point this Rizzuto card entered our collection.
Connected to this, my maternal grandfather, my Pop-Pop, passed away suddenly on Christmas Eve, the night before I received this card. Christmas 1987 was extremely difficult for my family, so it's not surprising I have really no recollection of opening the package containing this card that Christmas afternoon. What I do remember is that throughout the 1980s, my Pop-Pop often yelled back at his television set when watching the Yankees after Rizzuto inevitably made a comment or observation that didn't make much sense. The Scooter was beloved among Yankees fans, but held in low esteem by my Pop-Pop. (He hated the Yankees in general.) We were usually able to choose among three baseball games to watch every day while living in South Jersey during this time period. The Phillies were on Channel 17, but if they were having a bad night, we could flip over to the Mets on Channel 9 or the Yankees on Channel 11. I have vivid memories of my Pop-Pop, who loved the Phillies' broadcast duo of Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn (#120), yelling at Rizzuto on Channel 11 or Tim McCarver on Channel 9. And McCarver got it worse than Rizzuto.
The Card / Yankees Team Set
Has the baserunner on this card ever been identified? My first guess was that it's an Indians player, and both Wally Westlake (#81) and Gene Woodling (#163) played for the Indians in 1955 and wore #31. Woodling is the more likely candidate here as he played in more games against the Yankees that year, although Rizzuto had lost his everyday shortstop job to Billy Hunter at this point. And who knows if the photo is even from 1955? In any event, I'm calling the runner out on the play.
The back of the card hits all the highlights - Rizzuto's nickname, his bunting proficiency and his 1950 A.L. MVP win. This card was reprinted for the 2011 Topps 60 Years of Topps insert set.
1956 Season
Rizzuto had offers from the Cardinals and the Dodgers, but he opted to retire as a player and had an interim stint as a Giants' broadcaster in September 1956. He was hired into the Yankees broadcast booth in 1957 where he'd stay for the next 40 seasons.
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First Mainstream Card: 1941 Double Play #61
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7): 1951-1956, 1961
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2020 Topps Decades' Best #DB-10
918 - Rizzuto non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/3/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year. Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.
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