August 15, 1995: Hours after Mickey Mantle’s funeral, a distraught Phil Rizzuto leaves Yankees broadcast booth early

Phil Rizzuto had the nickname “Scooter” because of how he got from place to place. He’d earned the moniker as a 5-foot-6 minor leaguer, with short and quick shuffles to any ball or base that needed him.1 He embodied it with the New York Yankees for 13 seasons, turning more double plays than all but one major-league shortstop before him.2 As a Yankees broadcaster since 1957, he proved equally fast at sprinkling in-game jolts – “Holy cow!” … “Did ya see that?” … “Boy, I’ll tell ya!” … “Look at that huckleberry!” – in between birthday greetings, get-well wishes, bites of cannoli, and stories about his fear of lightning. His style of leaving the broadcast booth in the seventh inning, to beat traffic on the George Washington Bridge, further endeared the Brooklyn-spun voice of summer as a man on the go.

Even so, by 2 P.M. Boston time on August 15, 1995, it was too late for Rizzuto to attend the funeral in Dallas. Lovers Lane United Methodist Church was on its way to being standing room only, all in honor of his former teammate through six seasons and two world titles: Mickey Mantle, who had died two days earlier.3 Rizzuto had bought plane tickets, but because broadcast partner Bobby Murcer was already there as a pallbearer, he’d chosen not to go.4 He figured the bosses at television station WPIX still wanted him at Fenway Park, to call that night’s Yankees-Red Sox game.5

Rizzuto settled for watching Mantle’s service from his hotel room near the ballpark.6 Both CNN and ESPN2 were airing it live.7 Musician Roy Clark kept his promise to Mantle by performing “Yesterday, When I Was Young,” a ballad about missed opportunities.8 Former teammate Bobby Richardson, a lay preacher whom Mantle used to jokingly call “that milk drinker,”9 eulogized the once-rowdy Oklahoman who had lost a son, gotten sober, and faced metastatic liver cancer with faith. Broadcaster Bob Costas recounted a “ninth-inning” rally: “In the last year, Mickey Mantle, always so hard on himself, finally came to accept and appreciate the distinction between a role model and a hero. The first he often was not. The second he always will be.”10

By the time it was over, Rizzuto’s guilt over not being there had set in. “I saw how big it was, how people traveled from all over the country to be there,” he said later.11 As he went on to tell reporters: “After I saw the funeral on television, I said, ‘This is terrible. I’ll never be able to make up for that.’”12

But he still had a game to announce. The Yankees, second in the American League East and seeking their first postseason berth since 1981, set out to end the first-place Boston Red Sox’ 12-game winning streak. Representing Boston was left-handed pitcher Rhéal Cormier. New York entered the night 14-22 in games against lefty starters. As long as the Texas Rangers lost to the Milwaukee Brewers that night, a Yankees win would tie them for the wild-card lead.

The first inning came and went. Yankees leadoff hitter Bernie Williams grounded out to third base. Catcher Jim Leyritz singled through the third-base hole, but Paul O’Neill grounded into a frame-ending double play. Against New York southpaw Sterling Hitchcock, the Red Sox went down in order: Willie McGee on a groundout, John Valentin on a pop fly to second, and Mo Vaughn swinging.

The Yankees’ half of the second inning began – and kept going. Rubén Sierra led off with a ground-rule double over the right-field wall. Mike Stanley, running on a grounder, slid into first base after a throw by shortstop Valentin pulled doorkeeper Vaughn off the bag. One out later, Vaughn bobbled a grounder by Randy Velarde to load the bases. Russ Davis walked to score Sierra. Pat Kelly doubled to center, scoring Stanley and Velarde. Williams tripled to right, scoring Davis and Kelly. Only after Sierra’s second at-bat of the inning, a groundout to the mound, did Cormier escape.

New York’s early 5-0 lead, on five unearned runs, deflated Fenway’s weeknight crowd of 34,616.

The 77-year-old Rizzuto, whose age and prolific smile had produced crinkles at the corners of his eyes, sounded quite somber himself. With Paul Olden handling play-by-play beside him, he drifted into talk of what had happened four hours earlier more than 1,700 miles away.13 “I’m just sorry I wasn’t there,” he said on air at one point. “I should have been there.”14

The next few innings brought more of the same. Aside from José Canseco’s 423-foot solo home run to start the Boston second, the Yankees continued monopolizing the scoreboard. A double by Kelly kicked off New York’s fourth-inning rally.15 A line-drive single by Williams sent Kelly home. Boston left fielder Mike Greenwell tried throwing Kelly out at the plate, but catcher Mike Macfarlane misplayed the toss. Williams went to second on the error, reached third on a wild pitch by Cormier, and scored on a double by Leyritz. Red Sox manager Kevin Kennedy removed Cormier from the game. The Yankees led, 7-1.

The visitors added another two runs in the fifth. Reliever Mike Maddux walked Don Mattingly. Velarde singled to right field; Davis did the same, which scored Mattingly. A double to right by Kelly put New York up 9-1.

It made little difference to Rizzuto. A win wouldn’t change the fact that he hadn’t been at Mantle’s funeral. His regret continued to resurface.

Before the fifth inning ended, Rizzuto left the booth.16 An Associated Press report described him as “too distraught to continue.”17 “They tried to drag me back,” he later recalled, “but I wouldn’t.”18

The rest of the game, which Olden handled himself, saw more failed opportunities from Boston’s bats. The Red Sox loaded the bases in the seventh, only for Luis Alicea to ground an inning-ending double-play ball right back to Hitchcock. An eighth-inning ground-rule double by McGee and a single by Valentin made the score 9-2, but the home team did not capitalize any further. A shot to deep left by Vaughn curved foul. And with the bases loaded against Yankees reliever Bob Wickman, Greenwell grounded into an inning-ending double play. Wickman stayed for the ninth, retiring three of four Red Sox to end the night – and Boston’s 12-game win streak.

Hitchcock earned the win, upping his season record to 6-7. Cormier’s loss made him 5-3. The Yankees were now 52-49, nine games behind the Red Sox. A Rangers victory later that night kept New York one game out in the wild-card race.

Rizzuto, meanwhile, declared three days later that Tuesday’s game had been his last. His 52 years of either playing or announcing Yankees baseball were, according to him, over. “When Mickey died and I didn’t go to see him buried, it brought it all to a head,” he told the New York Daily News.19 He told WCBS-TV, “I’m away six months every year. I’m away from my kids, and they grew up so quickly. I missed all of that.”20

And then, silence. Rizzuto stayed away from the booth for the rest of the 1995 season. The Yankees, after finally topping the Rangers for the first AL wild-card playoff berth, invited him to throw the first pitch before Game Two of the AL Division Series. A home crowd of 57,126 gave Rizzuto a standing ovation. He jogged out, smiled, laughed at his bouncing throw, and jogged off.21 In the end, the Yankees lost the series to the Seattle Mariners, and he stayed retired.

Until spring. In March 1996 Rizzuto announced his return for one final season. WPIX had agreed to reduce his workload and have him do 31 of the station’s 50 games, which allowed him more family time than before.22 The agreement also included a limousine driver for each of his 23 assigned home games, so he wouldn’t have to worry about navigating the George Washington Bridge.23 And Mickey Mantle’s three surviving sons had encouraged their father’s former teammate to come back.24

So came the passing of a torch. In the top of the fifth inning on Opening Day ’96, the first Yankees shortstop elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced the first major-league home run by Derek Jeter, who later became the second: “Oh, he got a run on that one! That’s gone! Holy cow!”25

Rizzuto retired for good that fall. He crossed the bridge one last time to his house in Hillside, New Jersey.26 He returned to Cora, his wife since 1943.27 He spent more time as a father to Patricia, Cindy, Penny, and Phil, Jr., and as a grandfather of two. He still watched the Yankees on TV, only without a microphone.28

Philip Francis Rizzuto died on August 13, 2007, 12 years to the day after Mantle.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for box scores and other material.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS199508150.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1995/B08150BOS1995.htm

Photo credit: John Mathew Smith/Creative Commons

Notes

1 Rizzuto first got his nickname while playing for the minor-league Kansas City Blues, from 1939 to 1940. Teammate Billy Hitchcock saw him play and told him, “Man, you’re not running, you’re scooting.” Bruce Markusen, “The Nickname Game: The Shortstops,” Hardball Times, May 7, 2010, https://tht.fangraphs.com/the-nickname-game-the-shortstops/.

2 When Rizzuto retired in 1956, his 1,217 career double plays ranked second all-time among shortstops, to Chicago White Sox shortstop Luke Appling’s 1,424. By that point, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Pee Wee Reese had turned 1,218 double plays: 1,216 as a shortstop, two as a third baseman.

3 Mike Baldwin, “Legend Laid to Rest: Mantle’s Triumphant Final ‘At-Bat’ Remembered,” Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), August 16, 1995: 21.

4 Rizzuto first made airline reservations as Mantle’s condition worsened. Richard Sandomir, “For Now, Rizzuto Leaving Yanks’ Broadcast Booth,” New York Times, August 19, 1995: A25.

5 The New York Daily News initially paraphrased Rizzuto in saying that “WPIX’s refusal to let him fly to Dallas … hastened his decision [to quit]. With broadcast mate Bobby Murcer already committed to serve as a Mantle pallbearer, WPIX told Rizzuto to stay in New York and handle the broadcast duties after the funeral ‘to convey the message to fans about Mickey.’” But within days, as the Associated Press reported, Rizzuto revised his explanation, “saying he had initially agreed with the station’s decision to send fellow broadcaster Bobby Murcer to represent WPIX at the funeral”; “I had nobody to blame but myself,” Rizzuto told reporters. See Bill Madden, “Scooter Scoots: Forced to Miss Rites for Mick,” New York Daily News, August 19, 1995: 5; Associated Press, “Holy Cow! Rizzuto Is Retiring,” Gloucester County Times (Woodbury, New Jersey), August 24, 1995: B4.

6 Richard Sandomir, “Holy Cow Sent to Pasture as Rizzuto Retires,” New York Times, August 24, 1995: B19.

7 Pastor William Jennings Bryan III opened Mantle’s funeral service by saying, “If [Iraqi leader] Saddam Hussein is watching CNN today, he’s here with us at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church.” John Jeansonne, “Hero’s Sendoff,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), August 16, 1995: A74. A clip from ESPN2’s live broadcast of Mantle’s funeral is available here: “Yankee Great Bobby Richardson Shares at Mickey Mantle Funeral,” YouTube video (David Simpson), 14:59, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJtRfrXHJsY&t=53s. Accessed May 2025.

8 Clark told the funeral’s audience, “A promise is a promise, but I didn’t expect it to be this soon.” See Richard Justice (Washington Post), “Friends Say, ‘So Long, Mick,’” Los Angeles Times, August 16, 1995: C1. See also “Roy Clark Sings at Mickey Mantle’s Funeral,” YouTube video (David Simpson), 2:56, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bR_WsdCV8s. Accessed May 2025.

9 Justice.

10  “Bob Costas Gives Eulogy for Mickey Mantle,” YouTube video (MLB), 10:24, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa61H0FbtXA&t=202s. Accessed May 2025.

11 “For Now, Rizzuto Leaving Yanks’ Broadcast Booth.”

12  Chris Sheridan (Associated Press), “Scooter: I Quit,” Staten Island (New York) Advance, August 19, 1995: C1.

13 “Fenway Park to Lovers Lane United Methodist Church,” Google Maps, http://bit.ly/3F4wtmi. Accessed May 2025.

14 “For Now, Rizzuto Leaving Yanks’ Broadcast Booth.”

15 Nick Cafardo, “Sox Snapped Out of It; No Contest as Yankees Strike Down Boston’s Bid for 13th in a Row,” Boston Globe, August 16, 1995: 37.

16 “Holy Cow Sent to Pasture as Rizzuto Retires.”

17 Sheridan.

18 “For Now, Rizzuto Leaving Yanks’ Broadcast Booth.”

19 “Scooter Scoots: Forced to Miss Rites for Mick.”

20 Quotes from Rizzuto’s interview with WCBS-TV appeared in Steve Zipay, “Rizzuto Quits; WPIX Hopes He’ll Decide to Come Back,” Newsday, August 19, 1995: A36.

21 Video of Rizzuto’s ceremonial first pitch on October 2, 1995, is available here: “SEA@NYY Gm2: Rizzuto Throws Out First Pitch,” YouTube video (MLB), 0:47, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6xO8ibOHoY. Accessed May 2025.

22 Richard Sandomir, “Rizzuto to Come Back to Broadcast Booth,” New York Times, March 13, 1996: B14.

23 Carlo DeVito, Scooter: The Biography of Phil Rizzuto (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2010), 304.

24 A fourth Mantle son, Billy, had died in 1994. Details on the encouragement the three surviving sons provided Rizzuto come from “Rizzuto to Come Back to Broadcast Booth.”

25 “Watch Derek Jeter’s First Career Home Run in 1996,” YouTube video (MLB), 0:54, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k935zu2xE4. Accessed May 2025.

26 Rizzuto first moved to Hillside, New Jersey, in 1945. Kristie Hanley, “Lifelong Fan Displays His Scooter Dream: Rizzuto Memorabilia Gets Permanent Home in Hillside,” Newark Star-Ledger, November 24, 1994: UE-1.

27 Ken Davidoff and Bob Herzog, “MVP in Hearts of Yankee Fans,” Newsday, August 15, 2007: A4.

28 An article published shortly after Rizzuto’s death notes that “when Rizzuto wasn’t watching Clark Gable movies, he was watching the Yanks.” Ian O’Connor, “Rizzuto’s Legacy of Friendship,” MILB.com, August 21, 2007, https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-292621.