The Scooter remembered 5 years after his death.

[chisox]

Phil Rizzuto passed away 5 years ago this coming Monday.

The Daily News in the Sunday edition has a classic Scooter story.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...icle-1.1134527

In 1988 I was going to school in Massachusetts and working at a small TV station in Maine during the summer. Our station got credentials for a Boston-Yankees game but when we got to the press gate we were told our passes would be down in a few minutes.

Rizzuto shows up and they wouldn't let him in and told him to wait. Well we start talking and he agrees to be interviewed. We asked him why on earth would he have to wait for a pass at Fenway and he replied "They have been pulling this crap on me for forty years" and then talked about a great Italian seafood place in Maine that he liked.

To top it off - the Red Sox waved his colorman Billy Martin right in.

[hardrain]

thanks for the post and RIP Scooter!

[CalYankeeFan]

Thanks for sharing a couple of great Scooter stories. RIP Scooter.

[Sixty one]

Phil Rizzuto passed away 5 years ago this coming Monday.

The Daily News in the Sunday edition has a classic Scooter story.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...icle-1.1134527

In 1988 I was going to school in Massachusetts and working at a small TV station in Maine during the summer. Our station got credentials for a Boston-Yankees game but when we got to the press gate we were told our passes would be down in a few minutes.

Rizzuto shows up and they wouldn't let him in and told him to wait. Well we start talking and he agrees to be interviewed. We asked him why on earth would he have to wait for a pass at Fenway and he replied "They have been pulling this crap on me for forty years" and then talked about a great Italian seafood place in Maine that he liked.

To top it off - the Red Sox waved his colorman Billy Martin right in.

Great story! I also had the good fortune of meeting him in Flemingtion, NJ and he was as gracious as you can imagine. I remember telling him that Boggs had just homered against the Yanks and he winced when I told him. I, a total stranger, was amazed at how cordial he was to me. I did something the next day that I never had done before, I wrote him a letter thanking him for being so nice to me and he sent me an autographed picture of him when he won the MVP award in 1950.

[trappedinrsnation]

Great story and Rizzuto was right, Anjon's is great. What TV station in Maine were you working for? I used to work at the local CBS station in Portland.

[tpan413]

About 25 years ago, (I was 10) my brother and I found ourselves on the club level in the old stadium. When we went in we saw Scooter go into a door so we went to the door and kept pounding on it for what seemed like forever but was probably only 2 minutes. A lady comes to the door and says Mr. Rizzuto is busy sorry. We said OK and when she went back in we started pounding again. Needless to say we drew some attention and other people on the level we asking who was in there. We told them Scooter and a line started forming. Well the 2nd time Scooter came back with her and said "what do you little huckleberries want" we said an autograph and so did a few other people. He asked our names (only my brother and I) he then closed the door. The lady came back with an autographed press photo in one hand and a bunch of papers in the other. The photo said "To Thomas & Philip...and he signed it Phil Rizzuto." She handed us the photo first.

Now here is the funny part... Those papers that were in her other hand were distributed one to each person on the line. My brother and I were upset because we didn't get one. When we asked them what he gave them it was a photocopy of the press photo that he gave us that said To Thomas & Philip...Phil Rizzuto."

You can't make this stuff up... RIP Scooter

[Sparky]

About 25 years ago, (I was 10) my brother and I found ourselves on the club level in the old stadium. When we went in we saw Scooter go into a door so we went to the door and kept pounding on it for what seemed like forever but was probably only 2 minutes. A lady comes to the door and says Mr. Rizzuto is busy sorry. We said OK and when she went back in we started pounding again. Needless to say we drew some attention and other people on the level we asking who was in there. We told them Scooter and a line started forming. Well the 2nd time Scooter came back with her and said "what do you little huckleberries want" we said an autograph and so did a few other people. He asked our names (only my brother and I) he then closed the door. The lady came back with an autographed press photo in one hand and a bunch of papers in the other. The photo said "To Thomas & Philip...and he signed it Phil Rizzuto." She handed us the photo first.

Now here is the funny part... Those papers that were in her other hand were distributed one to each person on the line. My brother and I were upset because we didn't get one. When we asked them what he gave them it was a photocopy of the press photo that he gave us that said To Thomas & Philip...Phil Rizzuto."

You can't make this stuff up... RIP Scooter

Great story, but I gotta ask - how did you "find" yourself on the Club level and after banging on a door how did you not get kicked out of there? The old Club level was where the Suites were and there were closed doors for access with a guard and folks couldn't just wander in there . . .

[yankees2010]

Great story, but I gotta ask - how did you "find" yourself on the Club level and after banging on a door how did you not get kicked out of there? The old Club level was where the Suites were and there were closed doors for access with a guard and folks couldn't just wander in there . . .

The author is obviously not going to reply here, but there was an elevator just on the third base side of home plate (behind the popcorn.lemonade stand in later years). It was a service elevator but often left unguarded, I am assuming he used that way in.

There were also emergency doors to the right and left of the glass doors, on the loge level and the ramps up to it.

On a side note, anyone remember Tuesdays were the night WPIX would beam into Florida? Scooter really loved that Spaghetti House

[tpan413]

Great story, but I gotta ask - how did you "find" yourself on the Club level and after banging on a door how did you not get kicked out of there? The old Club level was where the Suites were and there were closed doors for access with a guard and folks couldn't just wander in there . . .

Someone was exiting the door and we caught the door before it closed. The guard wasnt there because we went right through the glass door

[tpan413]

The author is obviously not going to reply here, but there was an elevator just on the third base side of home plate (behind the popcorn.lemonade stand in later years). It was a service elevator but often left unguarded, I am assuming he used that way in.

There were also emergency doors to the right and left of the glass doors, on the loge level and the ramps up to it.

On a side note, anyone remember Tuesdays were the night WPIX would beam into Florida? Scooter really loved that Spaghetti House

Thanks for answering but we actually went right through the glass doors. Guess the stadium wasn't like Fort Knox like it is now.

[yankees2010]

Thanks for answering but we actually went right through the glass doors. Guess the stadium wasn't like Fort Knox like it is now.

My apologies I thought you were cutting and pasting form an article didn't realize that was your own story.

[chisox]

Great story and Rizzuto was right, Anjon's is great. What TV station in Maine were you working for? I used to work at the local CBS station in Portland.

WCSH NBC - Worked with Bruce Glasier ( who just retired )