The October Twelve: Five Years of Yankee Glory 1949-1953

Baseball player and sports broadcaster Phil Rizzuto was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 25, 1917. From 1941 to 1956, he was a shortstop for the New York Yankees. He served in the United States Navy during World War II and played on the Navy's baseball team from 1943 to 1945. He was a member of the Yankees for the swept to five consecutive show more World Series titles from 1949 to 1953 and was selected the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1950. When his baseball career ended, he worked as a radio and television sports broadcaster for WPIX-TV/Channel 11 and called Yankee games until 1996. In 1994, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by a Veterans Committee vote. In 1993, editors Tom Peyer and Hart Seeley published a collection of his on-air calls and anecdotes in the form of poetry entitled O Holy Cow!: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto. He died from pneumonia on August 13, 2007. (Bowker Author Biography) show less