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August 3, 2022 12:13 am  #1


Vin Scully RIP

Legenday baseball boradcaster Vin Scully has passed at age 94.

Mr. Scully was the voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers for 67 years.

May he rest in peace
 


  
 

August 3, 2022 12:19 am  #2


Re: Vin Scully RIP

The Associated Press notes that, not only was he one of the legends of the broadcast booths, he also set a record that may never be matched. He was the "longest tenured broadcaster with a single team in pro sports history."

He started when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn and followed them out to L.A,. only retiring a few years ago.


Vin Scully, Dodgers broadcaster for 67 years, dies at 94

 

August 3, 2022 12:25 am  #3


Re: Vin Scully RIP

One of my all time favourite baseball stories comes from the great play-by-play man Jon Miller, who was in Japan a number of years ago covering a tournament. He took a cab in Tokyo, and the driver had the radio on, where a broadcaster was doing the Yomiuri Giants game, one of the biggest teams in the country. And of course, he was speaking Japanese.

As they drove on to his destination, Miller couldn't take his ears off the radio. He knew there was something familiar about the announcer, but he couldn't put his finger on it. And then suddenly, it clicked in - the guy was doing Scully! He had the cadence, the mannerisms, he even said "Ball Four" in English at one point that sounded like the great man himself. 

Miller was stunned - but it just shows how big an influence Scully was that thousands of miles away, people somehow found a way to imitate his unique and unforgettable style.  

 

August 3, 2022 7:28 am  #4


Re: Vin Scully RIP

There are two Scully calls that have stayed with me all these years. One of them was during the Yankees-Braves World Series in, I think it was 1996. The Yanks were being managed by Joe Tory and when New York won, he said something like this:

"The Yankees have taken Atlanta for a second time. The first by a General named Sherman, the second by a general named Tory." 

Brilliant! A history lesson and a classic baseball call all at the same time.

But for his best calls, it's hard to beat this one - the time a nearly lame Kurt Gibson came to the plate and hit a home run to win a World Series game for the Dodgers against The A's. 

Notice how he lets more than a minute go by without saying a single word. And then when he finally does, they are words I've remembered to this day. Maybe next to Tom Cheek's Joe Carter home run, this is my favourite call of all time - even though I couldn't stand Gibson! Scroll to 6:30 to hear it. 


 

August 3, 2022 7:54 am  #5


Re: Vin Scully RIP

A side note that long time SOWNY lurkers will have noticed is that both the late moderator Craig Smith and current moderator R. Active were/are die-hard MLB fans


 

 

August 3, 2022 11:04 am  #6


Re: Vin Scully RIP

The voice of summer, the voice of baseball.


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

August 3, 2022 11:20 am  #7


Re: Vin Scully RIP

I always wanted to do an Internet meme based on the X-Files. You see David Duchovny as Mulder, talking about UFOs to Scully. Except in this case, Scully turns out to be Vin Scully, who says the only UFO he's ever seen was one Duke Snider launched in Brooklyn back in 1961...

Yep, Mulder & Scully. If only I was good at Photoshop!

 

August 8, 2022 11:41 am  #8


Re: Vin Scully RIP

I always find the most interesting part of any famous person's life is how they got started, and what happened to them before we all knew their name.

The article below traces how a fresh faced 22-year-old Vin Scully got out of college with few prospects and managed to impress another baseball radio legend, Red Barber, how Scully's mother accidentally told him a great comedian had called him about his first big gig and the way it almost ended in a disaster for the nascent broadcaster. 

"He hustled to the park, only to learn there was no room for him in the press box. With only a light topcoat to defend himself against the cruel New England elements, he had to call the entire game from the roof, braving the winds on a chilly fall day with only a 60-watt light bulb to warm his hands. Barber, initially unaware of Scully’s plight, later wrote that when he learned his announcer had called the game from the roof, he was impressed by the young broadcaster’s stamina and even more impressed that Scully had never complained about the brutal conditions."

How Vin Scully scored his Dodgers gig at 22 years old