Phil Rizzuto 1917-2007

A scrawny shortstop, Scooter was an essential piece of the mighty postwar New York Yankees. He appeared in nine World Series over a 13-year career, but in 1956 the former American League MVP was cut by the Yanks and sent to its broadcast booth, where he would lead the majors in ellipticality until 1996. A simple call — "Strike on the outside corner" — could randomly extend to a soliloquy on Italian pastry or the traffic or the luck of his buddy Yogi Berra and back to baseball with Rizzuto yelling "Holy cow! Did you see that?" Yes, Scooter, we're watching. But we liked the call anyway.