Word: rizzuto
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...That settles it," exclaimed many a baseball fan last week, "the Yankees will win the pennant." What elicited this flat prophecy was a headline: DRAFT BOARD DEFERS RIZZUTO IN CLASS...
...months fans have buzzed about Philip ("Scooter") Rizzuto, 22, a rookie the Yankees recently refused to sell for $150,000. Scooter Rizzuto at shortstop and his pal, Gerry Priddy, at second base, had made Kansas City the bugaboo of rival American Association clubs. Last year these Keystone Kids led Kansas City to its second consecutive pennant and set a new league record for double plays: 130. Both are extraordinary hitters, extraordinary fielders. But it was Rizzuto, the Scooter, who caught the fans' fancy...
Smaller and nimbler than the average ballplayer, Rizzuto does everything with a pinch of snuff. He leaps for balls, slides for bases, scoots around like a catnipped rabbit. Last year he led the American Association in assists, putouts, stolen bases. As if that were not enough for a five-foot-fiver, Rizz the Whizz batted .347, an average good enough to lead the league until the season's final fortnight. For these accomplishments Scooter Rizzuto was voted the Most Valuable Player in all 43 minor leagues...
...Rizzuto's rise to baseball's top crust has been almost as spectacular as his playing. Son of a $20-a-week Manhattan dock worker, he captained his high-school team, was picked up by Yankee Scout Paul Krichell four years ago-after the Dodgers had turned him down because he was too small. He was started off in the Yankees' Class D club in the Bi-State League, progressed rapidly to its Class B club at Norfolk, to its AA club at Kansas City. This spring Yankee Manager Joe McCarthy brought Rizzuto and Priddy...
...exhibition games he had batted .438, a better average than that of any other Yankee, including Batting Champion Joe Di Maggio. But the Scooter had a low number in the draft, had been examined at St. Petersburg, pronounced physically fit. Last week, in time's nick, Rizzuto's home-town draft board granted his request for deferment (because of dependents), gave the approaching baseball season the most spectacular rookie since Bob Feller...