Me and Phil

Phil Rizzuto, hall of fame baseball player and legendary New York Yankee’s broadcaster passed away yesterday at the age of 89. He was a scrappy little fellow who was able to make a contribution on teams alongside Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, and Yogi Berra. Rizzuto was the American League MVP in 1950, a five time American League All Star, and he played on and helped win seven World Series Championships for theYankees.

Philip Francis Rizzuto was born on Sept. 25, 1917, in Brooklyn. At age 4, his father, a trolley operator, gave him a baseball bat and glove. He tried out for all three New York Major League Baseball teams after high school, and was rejected by the New York Giants and his boyhood favorite, the Brooklyn Dodgers, because of his relatively small 5-foot-6, 160-pound frame.

The Yankees signed him and sent him to the minor leagues in 1936. He was called up to the Yankees five years later as the replacement for longtime shortstop Frank Crosetti. He said his new teammates were slow to accept him until DiMaggio interceded. The two became lifelong friends. Rizzuto batted .307 with three home runs, 46 runs batted in and 14 stolen bases as a rookie in 1941 as the Yankees won the World Series. He played another season before enlisting in the U.S. Navy, where he served three years in the Pacific in World War II.

Returning to the Yankees after the war he played through the 1956 season and then became part of the Yankees play-by-play coverage in the broadcast booth. He became a beloved character to Yankee and baseball fans all around the world, finally retiring in 1996.

Why am I writing about Phil Rizzuto? He was known as a fireball that put his all into whatever he did. Some complained that he was a showboat but those who knew him and knew the game of baseball understood he was a never-say-die, fierce competitor. Those within the dugout gave credence to his work ethic and how his attitude positively impacted the entire team. But in the end there were still those critics who called him a “hot dog” undeserving of the honors he had rightly achieved.

This is where I come in. Back in the mid 1980’s we had a major management shake-up at the big company with new leadership brought in to bring a new perspective on information systems moving forward. I ended up reporting to one of these new guys who, while he did have an MBA, was certainly not ready for “prime time” when it came to charting the future for our program. Upon his promotion and coming to our company his picture appeared in the widely circulated Computerworld Magazine with a caption that said he was committed to dealing with the myopia that existed within the traditional information services mindset. This was just too good to believe because somehow the photo was blurred and he looked about as cross-eyed as you could imagine. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and yes, God does have a sense of humor!

At any rate, after a few months with us he and I met where he told me he was designating me as the “Phil Rizzuto” of the computing department because of my style and approach to my job. This was not flattery because he went on to say that in his opinion I had earned that title by my hot dogging ways. He said that I, like Phil Rizzuto, would always dive at an easy ground ball in order to hear the applause of the crowd. His words stung but I had to consider the source and can proudly say that he and the dude who brought him in were unceremoniously shown the door after about four years. My organization did have some things in common with Phil Rizzuto. We busted our rear ends every day and did our very best for our team, which in our case was our company.

I did not know Phil Rizzuto personally. I did play five years of Little League and Dixie League baseball and my heroes were Al Kaline and Stan Musial. But today as I think back I am proud to have been singled out to be associated with such a distinguished man as Phil Rizzuto, and I only have this to say to Mr. Myopic Vision, “I do hope wherever you are and whatever you are doing, you are enjoying the view!” May God rest the soul of the legendary Phil Rizzuto. More later……………..