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Turn Back The Clock: February 25th, 1994-Scooter Gets The Love!

By Billy Brost

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Seems like every time I do a Turn Back The Clock, something special in my life occurred on that day as well. If you hadn’t heard by now, this is my final week with Yanks Go Yard as co-editor, as well as the Fansided Network. I’m stepping away from writing altogether, and will focus my energy on other things that need my attention right now. In my last piece, I sent a shout out to my oldest daughter Alexa, who turned 16-years old on back on February 18th. This time around, the shout out goes out to my beautiful bride of the past nine years, Karri. It was on this day, nine years ago, she made me the happiest fella on the planet, and my everlasting gifts from her are our two children, Braden 5, and Kamryn 3. Happy Anniversary sweetheart, I love you!

Enjoying our final visit to the original House! Mandatory Credit: Billy Brost

Anyway, as I just said, this is my final week with Yanks Go Yard, and this is my final entry into the Turn Back The Clock realm, at least for this site. I looked throughout the week, and wanted my final entry in this series to be something that was near and dear to my heart. Phil Rizzuto was one of those old time Yankees’ legends that you just had to root for. He was never The Mick, or Joe D, or even Berra, but Scooter was an integral part of some very successful Bombers’ teams of the era. 

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Rizzuto was a member of seven World Series winners in New York, and prior to the arrival of Derek Jeter, was the shortstop in which all others in pinstripes were measured. He was a controversial figure, not because of anything he said or did, but because the Veteran’s Committee finally decided to induct the former AL MVP into Cooperstown, almost a full decade after his Brooklyn contemporary, Pee Wee Reese was enshrined.

He, like many others from the era, missed several of his peak years to serve our country during World War II. Regardless, the numbers just don’t pop upon first glance. However, he did finish in the top 10 of AL MVP voting three times and was a five-time AL All-Star in his thirteen year career. Scooter finished tops in terms of defensive WAR in three separate seasons as well, topping out at 3.4 in 1942. For his career, he finished with a 22.9, good for 27th all-time.

While most of us are far too young to recall having witnessed Rizzuto having played, but almost all of us recall his antics as a play-by-play man in the Yankees’ booth for many years. Does it get any better than “Holy Cow”? The Yankees have already retired Scooter’s #10, and it resides in Monument Park. It was on this day, back in 1994, the Veteran’s Committee righted a wrong, and gave a man who is one of the best all-around players in Yankees’ and baseball history, his just due, and selected him for enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I wish to thank each and every one of you that have been loyal readers of this Turn Back The Clock series since I brought it to Yanks Go Yard in December of 2013. I often get asked, “Where did you get the term Turn Back The Clock?” Well, having been a kid of the 1980’s and early 1990’s, and being a baseball card junkie, one of my favorite sub-sets was the Turn Back The Clock series in the 1986 Topps Baseball Set. It was a special set of cards that looked back on a special moment in baseball history, and gave some details. I thought I would pay homage to that sub-set, and bring it back to life during my run here at Yanks Go Yard. Now that my time is coming to an end, so will the TBTC series. If I choose to pursue writing as my creative outlet at some point down the road, and I find myself delving into the history of the Yankees or the game in general, perhaps TBTC sees the light of day once again. Thank you again for all of your support, and enjoy the 2015 baseball season!

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