The October Twelve: Five Years of Yankee Glory 1949-1953

by Phil Rizzuto, Tom Horton

A Hall-of-Fame shortstop and thirty-five-year television announcer for the Yankees describes the seasons between 1949 and 1953 during which he and his teammates won five consecutive World Championships. Reprint.

Genres: Baseball, Sports

305 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1994

About the author

Philip Francis Rizzuto, nicknamed "the Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career with the New York Yankees (1941–1956), and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.
A popular figure on a team dynasty that captured 10 AL titles and seven World Championships in his 13 seasons, Rizzuto holds numerous World Series records for shortstops. His best statistical season was 1950, when he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player. Generally, Rizzuto was a "small ball" player, noted for his strong defense in the infield and as a great bunter. When he retired, his 1,217 career double plays ranked second in major league history, trailing only Luke Appling's total of 1,424, and his .968 career fielding average trailed only Lou Boudreau's mark of .973 among AL shortstops.
After his playing career, Rizzuto had a 40-year career as a radio and television sports announcer for the Yankees. He was known for his idiosyncratic, conversational broadcast style, and for his trademark expression "holy cow!"

Reviews

[Lane]

A good Yankee book for the baseball fan. It wanders like Rizzuto is broadcasting but some interesting insights on the 1950's players who were in the 5 straight winning WS teams.

[Jerry]

Really have to be a Yankee fan, like I am, or really be into baseball to follow the play-by-play way the book is written.

[Ronald]

read SOMETIME in 1999