I was in France and missed the news that Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto died. Of course, I never liked the Yankees or anything to do with them. Still, I used to get a kick out of listening to Rizutto call Yankee games even if I'd never have admitted that to anyone.
Rizzuto wasn't particularly good at announcing baseball games (truth is, I thought he was terrible), but he was entertaining. And, he was old school: old school baseball, old school decency and old school funny. I loved his old stories about playing with the great players of the past, but I also liked his regular Brooklyn Italian guy stories and his grandfatherly hokiness. He was a character, but not the sort of false, invented 'character' that too many of today's sports broadcasters are.
{For anyone who never heard Rizzuto call a baseball game, you may know his voice from Meat Loaf's Paradise By The Dashboard Light.}
