God may have needed to call up a shortstop, but He also took one of the most entertaining broadcasters as well. Phil is one of the reasons why I am an old-time Yankees fan. Don't get me wrong, I hate those Damn Yankees of right now along with everyone else, but I love the old teams from the 20's, 50's and 70's. I may even love the teams of the 90's one day, assuming I can ever work through my Jim Leyritz trauma.
Those 50's teams are my favorite though. Any team with Zen masters like Yogi and Casey holds a special place in my heart, and Scooter was as Zen as any of them at times. I'll take a broadcaster like Phil any day over self-involved incompetent analysts like Morgan or McCarver. Sure, Phil had the occasional WW (wasn't watching) in his scorecard, but at least he was entertaining. Phil is one of those Hall of Famers that make stat geeks pull their hair out, but if being immortalized in both an Ogden Nash poem and a Meatloaf song isn't fame, what the hell is? Besides, he has championship rings coming out the wazoo and he was the 1950 MVP. Plus he came in second to Ted Williams in 1949 in a year his OPS was .710. Choke on it stat geeks!
My cards from the 50's are among the favorites in my collection. It hurts every time I look through the headlines and see another player whose card I've collected is gone. Rizzuto especially hurts, there's not many like him. Rest in peace Scooter, I'll eat a cannoli for you.
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