I fell in love with baseball listening to Jack Buck broadcast the St Louis Cardinals. I would lay on my bed in the dark, looking out my window at the starry sky, and let the sounds of the crickets and my AM transistor radio take me away. What a team the Cardinals had! Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Bob Gibson.…
When we relocated to SoCal, my new adopted team, of course, had to be the Dodgers. And all of Los Angeles is blessed with their announcer, who has been spinning stories for Dodger fans since 1950. Yes, this is Vin Scully’s 63rd year broadcasting Dodger baseball.
Vin is 84 years old, and he’s cut his schedule back so he only does games in California and Arizona. He does have some senior moments. He confuses names now and again. But his pipes are sound, his vocabulary is unequaled in sports broadcasting, and his fans adore him. Of COURSE the Dodgers have a bobble head giveaway for him this year; he is more beloved than the players. To paraphrase Babe Ruth, he’s having a better year.
You may have heard Vin doing CBS NFL games in the 70s and 80s, or NBC MLB games in the 80s. You may even remember him as the announcer in Kevin Costner’s best baseball film, “For Love of the Game.” Vin paints pictures with words, and brings games to life on radio and TV.
His play-by-play is great, but it’s the stories and thoughts that he weaves through the games that make him a hall of fame announcer.
Against the Giants 6/28, Top of the 4th:
“Interesting statistical note; we were talking about the fact that the Giants have had 121, and this will be 122 consecutive sellouts, so a sellout means 42,000 and change, right? OK, the Giants say their home attendance averages 41,000 … so you say, ‘So how does that work?’ ”
Against the Mets, 6/29, bottom of the 1st:
In a discussion of the NY Mets’ starting pitcher, Chris Young, who is 6’-10” tall – and not the tallest player on the Mets’ roster! –
“If there are youngsters watching the ballgame, they might ask you the question, and in case you don’t have the answer, we’ll be happy to give it to you. … Who was the tallest person in history? … The tallest person was Robert Pershing Wadlow, born in Alton, IL, and he was 8’11”. … Just in case anybody asks you ….”
Also 6/29, bottom of the 4th, as the Dodgers break a 33-inning scoreless streak, their longest since 1962:
“Ring the bell, alert the orchestra, the Dodgers score on a triple by Tejada!”
(note the triple was by Herrera, not Tejada … who was the Met making the relay throw, not the hitter. But the alliteration was better the way Vin called it.)
To watch Dodger baseball is to hear a master at work. Do yourself a favor and listen to him this season. We may not hear his kind again for a very long time.
