Courtesy of Ecco Press

Plenty of news and sports outlets are covering the death of Yankees shortstop and broadcaster Phil Rizzuto, but surprisingly few have mentioned his short but spectacular career as a poet. In 1993, Tom Peyer and Hart Seely assembled O Holy Cow! The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto, creating found poetry out of Rizzuto's broadcasting bons mots. We impulse-purchased the book in college solely to annoy our poet friend who always complained about publishing's abandonment of serious verse, but grew to love the wisdom of the great Scooter Rizzuto. In memoriam:

Reversal of Opinion

And he hits one in the hole
They're gonna have to hurry.
THEY'LL NEVER GET HIM!
They got him.
How do you like that.
Holy cow.
I changed my mind before he got there.
So that doesn't count as an error.

July 10, 1992, Seattle at New York, first inning

Phil Rizzuto, Yankees Shortstop, Dies at 89 [NYT]
Rizzuto, Yankee Hall of Famer, dies at age 89 [ESPN]