[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 26 (Thursday, March 10, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    HOLY COW! THE ``SCOOTER'' IS IN!

                                 ______


                       HON. SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 10, 1994

  Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Speaker, on February 25 of this year, a great 
injustice was corrected, and baseball fans everywhere breathed a 
collective sigh of relief as news spread that Philip Francis Rizzuto 
was finally elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 
Cooperstown, NY.
  Rizzuto, now 76, will be honored along with the late Leo Durocher and 
pitching great Steve Carlton as this year's inductees into baseball's 
hallowed shrine on July 31. Finally receiving the necessary 75 percent 
support of the Veterans Committee after 12 dry runs, Rizzuto was 
clearly ecstatic over this belated honor. ``It's something they'll 
never be able to take away from me,'' he exclaimed.
  The odds were long as the committee considered scores of candidates, 
and Rizzuto needing 75 percent of the vote for induction. But what 
seemed to do it for him was the recent addition to the committee of 
Bill White, Pee Wee Reese, and Yogi Berra, all of whom possessed the 
infinite wisdom to recognize the Scooter's extraordinary baseball 
talent and his enduring contributions to the game.
  Rizzuto's detractors always point to the fact that he only played 13 
seasons. But let's face it, he was, what Mel Allen once described, ``* 
* * The heart and guts of the ball club.'' Even with the interruption 
of World War II, Rizzuto led the Yankees to 10 pennant championships 
and 7 World Series victories; not to mention an MVP award in 1950.
  Rizzuto's handsome countenance will now adorn the hallowed halls of 
Cooperstown, joining many of his Yankee teammates--and his baseball 
glove. Not bad for a short guy who started off playing stick ball in 
the streets of Brooklyn.
  Phil, we're all happy for you, you deserve it.

                          ____________________