After 54 years with the Yankees, 15 on the field and 39 in the broadcast booth, Phil Rizzuto has called his last "Holy Cow."
Rizzuto, a member of the Hall of Fame and arguably the most popular announcer in New York, said Friday he has quit his job."I think I've definitely made up my mind, even though everybody keeps telling me I can't do this," Rizzuto said.
Revered as much for his golf stories and greetings to fans as his game descriptions, Rizzuto was to Yankee fans what Harry Caray is to Cubs fans - a familiar voice of summer who added a homespun twist to every broadcast.
In Rizzuto's case, any surprise brought a "Holy Cow." A wayward broadcast mate was a "Huckleberry." He rooted openly for the Yankees.
He made his decision to quit after he missed the funeral of Mickey Mantle last Tuesday. At the behest of station executives at WPIX-TV, Rizzuto stayed in Boston and broadcast the Yankees-Red Sox game. He left the booth after five innings, too distraught to continue, and left the stadium.
"After I saw the funeral on television, I said `This is terrible. I'll never be able to make up for that. If I had a little more get-up-and-go, I would have just gone on down to the funeral and let the chips fall where they may.
"People are trying to get me to bow out a little more gracefully.," Rizzuto said in a telephone interview from his home in New Jersey.
WPIX executives asked Rizzuto to reconsider his decision, "and he said he would," station vice president Michael Eigner said.
"I've been there for 39 years and I'm not tired or anything, but I had relegated my family to the background, and when I saw what Mickey said about that, I thought it was about time," Rizzuto said.
The next WPIX broadcast is Sunday from Anaheim, Calif. Rizzuto said he has an open-ended ticket in case he changes his mind.
Rizzuto, 76, played shortstop for the Yankees from 1941-56 and played in 10 World Series.