Remembering legendary sportscaster Vin Scully
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A tribute to Vin Scully is shown on the scoreboard following the Dodgers-Giants game in San Francsico on Tuesday night. Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Vin Scully, who provided the soundtrack of summer for Dodgers fans for 67 seasons and called baseball games in a way that made it feel like he was sitting in your living room, died Tuesday. He was 94.
What they're saying: Joe Davis, who replaced Scully in 2017, reported the news to viewers in the bottom of the fifth inning at Oracle Park where, fittingly, the Dodgers were playing the Giants.
"There will never be another one like him. The greatest there ever has been and the greatest there ever will be."— Davis, via L.A. Times
The big picture: Scully's Hall of Fame career (1958-2016) spanned the Dodgers' move from Brooklyn to L.A., and the nation's move from transistor radios to streaming video. His voice is baseball's history.
Looking back: Born in 1927 in the Bronx, Scully was the son of a silk salesman who died of pneumonia when he was a child. He grew up playing stickball in the streets and attending games at the Polo Grounds.
- After briefly serving in the U.S. Navy, Scully attended Fordham University, where he played center field on the baseball team and flourished as a sports broadcaster for the school's radio station.
- After graduating in 1949, Scully worked as a fill-in at CBS Radio affiliate WTOP in Washington, D.C., where he did sports, news and weather and caught the ear of Dodgers broadcaster Red Barber.
- In 1953, the 25-year-old Scully became the youngest person to call the World Series. Five years later, he moved west with the Dodgers and quickly became as much a part of L.A. "as the freeways and the smog."
Historic calls:
1956: Don Larsen's perfect game
"Got him! The greatest game ever pitched in baseball history by Don Larsen, a no-hitter, a perfect game in a World Series."
1965: Sandy Koufax's perfect game
"You can almost taste the pressure now. There are 29,000 people in the ballpark, and a million butterflies."
1974: Hank Aaron's 715th HR
"What a marvelous moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol."
1986: Bill Buckner's error
"Little roller up along first ... Behind the bag! It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight, and the Mets win it!"
1988: Kirk Gibson's walk-off
"High fly ball into right field! She is GONE!!! ... In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened."
The last word: Scully would always open his broadcasts with the same familiar greeting — 14 words that possess such a profound warmth and will forever resonate on summer nights in the City of Angels...
"Hi everybody, and a very pleasant good evening to you wherever you may be."
Watch: Remembering the iconic Vin Scully (MLB Network)
