Hi John
 

1956 was an amazing year for Mickey.....your Dad picked a great game for you.

Indeed, it was a Triple Crown year with BA = .353, 52 HR, and 130 RBI's.

The last time that a Triple Crown winner hit for that high an Average, and hit over 50 HR's.


Switching back to Rizzuto.....your description of Miss Rizzuto, sounds like you dated Penny.


Take care, John


TED Z
.

Ah okay - i guess my argument was by proxy if Phil is in than Dom should be too and if he's not than does Phil really belong there. HOWEVER, since you agree w my assessment of Dom, my argument is fairly moot :) While we're at it though, Johnny Pesky was also an absolute beast - batted .307 over 10 seasons and led the league in hits 3 times - alas his career - like Dom's was just too short for the HOF...

It was actually a May 13, 1955 game:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bo...95505130.shtml

I happily stand corrected. Hell, it was a long time ago, but I remember clearly being with my dad, him having a couple of Ballantine Ales and the crack of the bat (it seemed to be louder and sharper) when the Mick launched one. It is very reassuring to know that there is a stats man ready for verification.

I hope you didn't mind. I share similar wonderful memories of going with my dad to the Stadium and rooting for the Mick!

The difference of being someone who is liked and popular with the media and someone who is perceived if not in fact a little bit of a dick. I met Maury a couple of times including interviewing him and found him to be a nice well mannered man. There are those who knock his career stats, but he was also a revolutionary and that should account for something.

One of the most amazing stats I have seen is stolen base leaders for 1962. In the NL, Wills led with 104. Aparicio led the AL with 31.

Hey guys

We cannot have a thread on The Scooter without some scans. Here are some not that often seen "oldies but goodies" of him.



........................ 1941 rookie card ...................................... rare Hi # variation ...................... color printing error

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...zzuto75x_1.jpg


http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...leafjarizz.jpg
TED Z
.

Phi's metrics really don't look very good. One does wonder, with due respect to Ted, how much Yankee bias played into his selection.

Hall Of Fame StatisticsPlayer rank in (·)


Gray Ink Batting - 46 (554), Average HOFer ≈ 144

Hall of Fame Monitor Batting - 87 (207), Likely HOFer ≈ 100

Hall of Fame Standards Batting - 23 (600), Average HOFer ≈ 50

JAWS Shortstop (35th), 40.8 career WAR/33.8 7yr-peak WAR/37.3 JAWS
Average HOF SS (out of 21) = 66.7 career WAR/42.8 7yr-peak WAR/54.8 JAWS

And look at the writers' voting:

Hall of Fame
1956 BBWAA ( 0.5%)
1962 BBWAA (27.5%)
1964 BBWAA (22.4%)
1964 Run Off ( 5.5%)
1966 BBWAA (17.9%)
1967 BBWAA (24.3%)
1967 Run Off ( 4.6%)
1968 BBWAA (26.1%)
1969 BBWAA (22.9%)
1970 BBWAA (26.3%)
1971 BBWAA (25.6%)
1972 BBWAA (26.0%)
1973 BBWAA (29.2%)
1974 BBWAA (30.4%)
1975 BBWAA (32.3%)
1976 BBWAA (38.4%)

Hey Peter

You (and some others here) are wasting your time trying to play the "numbers game" regarding why Rizzuto should not be in the HOF.

As I have said twice already in this thread, Ted Williams thought very highly of Phil's team play. Furthermore, Ted considered Phil to be
a very key factor in the Yankees winning 8 - AL Championships in the course of 10 years.

Therefore, Ted was very instrumental getting Phil into the HOF.

Now, tell me....who are we to question Ted Williams' opinion of a player (Rizzuto) that he closely observed for 12 years of his career ? ?


TED Z
.

Everyone including Ted Williams himself is subject to bias. Look at all the players Frank Frisch promoted, he saw them too. But most would argue he was guilty of cronyism.

If Ted Williams' opinions of the "Scooter" are frozen, I doubt that he will be changing his mind anytime soon regardless of what the forum thinks.

I think I'm more of a HOF than Dom DiMaggio. Jeezeeeeeeee. Now that truly can't be a serious acquisition.

Agreed on Scooter not being a HOF either.

As well as whomever said the disappointment of Diamond Star fans on how many shouldn't be in.

baaaaaaahahahaha!

.

It really isn't. 80 runs a year skewed by 30% of them being crammed into two outstanding years. He had 5 full seasons under 70 runs during his career.

Attendance that day at Yankee Stadium: 7,177. Boy...times have changed!

Scooter...............

Because he was the greatest announcer in history!! Who else would say things like:

"Well, its Tuesday so that means that Scooter and Anne down in Florida are bar-b-queing some good on the grill right about now. And hey, i had a great cannoli at Luigi's last nite after the game, really great. Wasn't that traffic on the George Washington Bridge terrible today? Hey, its the 7th inning, I gotta leave to beat the traffic home!!".

"The Scooter"
 

Ok guys......say what you may regarding Rizzuto. Here's an anecdotal story that I would like to share with you.

April 1984, I was at Newark Airport going to Chicago on business. Standing in front of me at the ticket counter was Phil flying out to Comiskey Park.

I tapped him on the shoulder, and we started talking about our old neighborhood. We proceeded to the gate for our flight. Our flight was delayed
for a couple of hours and Phil kept bringing over coffee as we reminisced about our neighborhood, our families, and our neighbors. Phil and Cora
still lived in their modest English Tudor home in Hillside, NJ. At that time, I lived in Toms River (NJ).

We boarded the 737. I was back in coach and Phil was in 1st class. Then, I saw Phil approaching me. He invited me to sit in 1st class with him. It
was fine with the Stewardess.

For 2 hours, Phil and I were "talkin baseball". Or, I should say Phil did most of the talking and I did most of the listening. Phil enthusiastically told
me about many of the big name ballplayers he played with. I asked him about several of my favorites back the late 1940's and 1950's and he had
an interesting story for each of them.

The 2-hour flight wasn't enough, I could of listened to Phil for many hours and hours. The man was an awesome person to know. I fully agree with
Ted Williams....Phil was a very important factor in the Yankees Championship years (1941..1942..1947..1949 - 1953).

"That's all folks !"


TED Z
.

And Seinfeld

Because he plaied a great part in the song "paradise by the dashboard light"?

that should qualify him for the rock and roll hof!

The year before Rizzuto got in via the vets commite, Charlie Gehringer, a long time member who always spoke against Phil, died. Charlie and another member had to be replaced. The 2 replacements were Pee Wee Reese and Yogi Berra. They and Bill White were long time Rizzuto friends on the 18 member vets committe. When I heard this, I said to my friend Ted z that Phil was a lock to get in the next year and I was right.

The Two Teds got it right
 

I like the Two Teds' response better than mine but I'll share it anyway:

Some believe the National Baseball Hall of Fame ought to include more than the first 25 or so players. If nearly 20,000 played big league baseball (and a few thousand others were barred but were of MLB quality), then a reasonable HOF membership might be 3-5 percent, perhaps less. If 2% is right, then there ought to be 350-400 players enshrined. (I didn't count them but, exclusive of officials, umps, etc., there are a whole lot less than 350 players as members.) Therefore, Phil Rizzuto belongs - he just got there a little before he "should" have, according to some folks. Like I said, I like Ted Z's and Ted W's answer better. (See below if you missed it.)

Interesting that Williams would be so high on Rizzuto and not on his own ss Pesky. Pesky's numbers are comparable to Phil's and he played fewer years.

Their defense might have had something to do with it; the Yankee infield had a reputation for being airtight, while in Summer of '49, Halberstam seems bearish on Pesky's defense.

Per baseball reference I did not see much difference in the their defensive stats.