TVSquad

Today's a sad day for any Yankee fan over the age of 30 or so, as Phil Rizzuto, a Hall of Fame shortstop for the team during the '40s and '50s, died today at 89. Of course, most Yankee fans remember "The Scooter" as a broadcaster; he did play-by-play on TV and radio from 1956 to 1996.

During that time, fans can fondly tell you chapter and and verse about how unconventional he was; he'd send out birthday wishes in the hopes that the Yanks would get a hit, he often talked about the great Italian meal he ate the night before with his wife Cora, and he'd joke around with his various broadcast partners, usually laughing and saying "you huckleberry!"

Of course, he's most fondly remembered for his signature call of "Holy Cow!", which he shared with Harry Caray (though they each said it differently). Those are the words that start this ad. It's one of many The Scooter did for The Money Store, a franchise of home loan stores. Notice the low-budget quality of the ads; that's basically how all the ads Rizzuto did for them turned out. As soon as they replaced him with Jim Palmer in the early nineties, the production quality of the ads skyrocketed.

I especially love the half-hearted "Auugggh!" Scooter lets out in this ad as he pushes the papers off the desk. It's just so cheesy, but a perfect example of those classic Money Store ads. Too bad the person who uploaded it to YouTube disabled embedding...

Anyway, my favorite Scooter moment was when, ever the homer, a Yankee hit a fly ball that he thought was a home run. When the ball was caught, Rizzuto said that it must have gotten caught by the wind. Which, of course, was when his broadcast partner, Bill White, reminded him that the game was being played indoors at the Metrodome. "Maybe it got caught in the air conditioning," said White, needling his partner and barely able to keep it together.

We're going to miss you, Scooter.