Former Dodgers baseball broadcaster Vin Scully dies at age 94

Vin Scully, broadcaster for the Dodgers major-league baseball team for 67 seasons from their time in Brooklyn to its move to Los Angeles during the late 1950s, died Tuesday at age 94, according to the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets.

Scully retired after the 2016 season. The Times reported this about Scully’s broadcasting gifts helping the Dodgers quickly gain acceptance in Southern California:

Wooing a new fan base, he was on his way to becoming one of sports’ greatest broadcasters, blessed with a knack for storytelling and, as veteran commentator Bob Costas put it, “the sheer sound of his voice.” […]

Back then, Scully spoke in a slightly higher pitch, his words quicker. It would take a few years for this cadence to slow to a rhythm that fit Southern California’s less hurried pace, his voice growing ever more melodic. Fans became accustomed to the announcer with the neatly combed hair and pressed blazer, the man that late Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray dubbed “the Fordham Thrush with the .400 larynx.”

Working alone for much of his career, Scully could spread an anecdote across several pitches, batters even, without a hitch. And he never relied on catchphrases to punctuate critical moments.

One of his most famous calls was Sandy Koufax’s perfect game in 1965 against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium:

Another was Kirk Gibson’s famous pinch-hit home run to win Game 1 in the 1988 World Series:

The Los Angeles Times also had this to say about Scully when he retired:

Scully has been in Angelenos’ ears ever since, from South Central to Beverly Hills and from Antelope Valley to San Pedro, announcing games with the friendly intimacy of a favorite uncle — the one with great anecdotes who enjoyed your time together as much as you did. A consummate professional, he mastered the art of shutting up when the weight of a moment was self-evident but also filled the slower passages with his deep knowledge of the game and anecdotes and side stories (aided by a small staff) that added a breadth unrivaled by other sports announcers. Like the time Jonny Gomes was attacked by a wolf, or when Satchel Paige threw a baseball through a hole in the center field fence from 60 feet, six inches away to win a bet of a bottle of bourbon.

And Scully has, for the vast majority of us, always been there. More than 85% of the nation’s population was born after Scully began calling ballgames. No one is irreplaceable in a business, which is exactly what Major League Baseball is, but Scully comes awfully close.

This column by sportswriter Joe Posnanski was one that Scully proclaimed as “the best story anyone has ever written about me.”

For almost six decades, many a Route 66 traveler heard Scully on the radio while driving past Dodger Stadium or, if they got lucky, went to a ballgame there.

Scully literally spent a lifetime providing memories that will last a lifetime. His influence on the Los Angeles region — and baseball — will persist well after his death.

(Image of Vin Scully and his Emmy Awards for broadcasting excellence by Peter Bond via Flickr)

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