HILLSIDE, N.J. (AP) -- Patricia Rizzuto did not have to think long to recall one of the fondest moments she had with her father, New York Yankees' great Phil Rizzuto.
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Rizzuto had just returned from spring training in 1951, the one year the Yankees had camp out west, in Phoenix. He brought father-daughter cowboy hats back for his eldest child.
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"I put it on, and we just walked around together,'' Patricia Rizzuto said Tuesday as she stood in the doorway of the home her parents shared for over a half-century on a tree-lined street about 20 miles from Yankee Stadium.
Rizzuto had pneumonia and died in his sleep late Monday night, she said. The 89-year-old shortstop-turned-broadcaster had been in declining health for several years and was living at a "residential community'' in nearby West Orange, she said.
"He died very peacefully,'' Patricia Rizzuto said.
Former teammate Yogi Berra and former broadcast partner Bill White were among those who regularly visited Rizzuto in recent weeks, she said.
A private, family funeral is planned, but the family is working with the Yankees on a memorial to be held at Yankee Stadium, said Patricia Rizzuto, who lives in Manhattan.
She said her father loved being a Yankee, and he was unapologetic about pulling for his favorite team and delivering homespun shtick during broadcasts.
"He would keep getting in trouble with WPIX for announcing birthdays and anniversaries,'' Patricia Rizzuto recalled.
Her father also gave fans he met what they wanted to hear: "He would always have a, 'Hi, Holy cow!' for everyone,'' Patricia Rizzuto said, invoking her dad's trademark exclamation.
She asked that any donations be directed to St. Joseph's School for the Blind in Jersey City, a favorite cause of her father's (www.sjsnj.org).
Edward J. Lucas, a former student at the school, met Rizzuto soon after losing his sight at age 12 when a line drive struck him between the eyes. The accident happened on Oct. 3, 1951, when Lucas went outside to play ball after watching Bobby Thomson hit the "Shot Heard 'Round the World'' to win the National League pennant for the New York Giants.
Rizzuto stuck with the boy. "He has been a friend every since,'' said Lucas, now 68, a baseball radio reporter. ``He's been here and helped us out tremendously.''
Lucas, of Union, is chairman of the school's Phil Rizzuto Celebrity Charity Golf Classic, whose 17th edition is Aug. 20 at the Brooklake Country Club in Florham Park. It has raised more than $2 million, allowing the school to open a new building in February.
"We have more space for more students now,'' Lucas said. "Last year was the first year he (Rizzuto) missed it.''
Rizzuto also introduced Lucas to the woman he would eventually marry. The ceremony was last year at home plate at Yankee Stadium.
Lucas said of the 5-foot-6 Rizzuto, "He may be short in stature, but his heart was bigger than all of Yankee Stadium.''
Joe Ward, who has delivered the mail to Rizzuto's house for 13 years, said he cried when he heard that Rizzuto was dead.
"I had surgery twice. He was the first one (to offer well wishes) on my answering machine,'' said Ward, 44, as he walked his mail route Tuesday. "Let me tell you, he took care of me. He was good.''
State Senate President Richard J. Codey said he met Rizzuto several times at sports banquets.
"He was about as frugal and as cheap as you can get,'' Codey said with a laugh. "Every time we got the check, I would say, 'Holy cow, Phil doesn't have any money.'''
He said Rizzuto called him "Irish'' and joked with him about marrying an Italian woman.
"There was no airs about him,'' Codey said, describing him as "down-to-earth.''
Although Rizzuto was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., "He was a bona fide New Jerseyan we could all be proud of,'' Codey said. "We'll miss him. He was ours.''
Berra, another New Jersey transplant who now lives in Montclair, said, "Phil was a gem, one of the greatest people I ever knew -- a dear friend and great teammate.''
"He was a heck of a player, too. When I first came up to the Yankees, he was like a big, actually small, brother to me. He's meant an awful lot to baseball and the Yankees and has left us with a lot of wonderful memories,'' Berra said in a statement.
When a park a mile from Rizzuto's house was dedicated in his name by Union County just over three years ago, the former shortstop was pleased, even though the renovated park no longer had any baseball fields.
Rizzuto said he and his wife had often visited the park. On Tuesday afternoon, a crew placed black and purple bunting on its gazebo, as children frolicked under a water-sprinkling tower and ran along a well-used soccer field.
Children at the park are not familiar with Rizzuto's exploits, but they often stop to study the bronze tablet dedicated to "The Scooter'' when it's time to go home, said Lisa Freeman, 39, of Hillside, who was there with her four children and two nephews.
Freeman said, "They read off the plaque when they're stalling to leave.''
At the dedication in 2004, Rizzuto discussed his hope for the park.
"Kids who live in apartment houses, they don't have any back yard,'' Rizzuto said during the festivities. "Here, they can come out all they want. Now they have a place to play.''
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