Vin Scully, beloved Hall of Fame broadcaster at the helm of the Dodgers for 67 years, died Tuesday at age 94. A cherished voice, not only among Dodgers fans but all who loved baseball, Scully was the longest-tenured broadcaster of a team in the history of pro sports.
“Vin Scully was one of the greatest voices in all of sports,” said Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten in a statement shared on Twitter. “He was a giant of a man, not only as a broadcaster, but as a humanitarian. He loved people. He loved life. He loved baseball and the Dodgers. And he loved his family. His voice will always be heard and etched in all of our minds forever. I know he was looking forward to joining the love of his life, Sandi. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family during this very difficult time. Vin will be truly missed.”
We gathered some of our favorite moments of Scully from the final years of his storied career.
“I didn’t want to say goodbye like they do in grand opera, where they say goodbye 25 times in 15 minutes. I’ll be saying goodbye to the people here at Dodger Stadium, I’ll be saying goodbye to baseball in general when I leave in San Francisco, and I couldn’t possibly think, and then I’m going to say goodbye from, let’s just say Washington or New York, doing radio in the playoffs. It just didn’t work right to me. So to me, we’ll tie the ribbon on the package in San Francisco, and that’ll be that.”
https://ftw.stagesmg.com/2016/09/vin-scully-conference-call-dodgers-giants-retirement-playoffs-mlb
“They have identified 27,000 species of fish on the Earth, and estimated 15,000 more have not yet been identified. You know what a rockfish is? Well, they say that a rockfish can live hundreds of years. They’re the longest living fish. Some of them can live over 200 years. Now that’s a fish story.”
“They got one of them in right field, and the other one is nailed down by Pagan in left field. Oh ho, and the crowd loved that. He went up to do something with Angel Pagan, who immediately grabbed him and slammed him to the ground … The crowd really applauding a little law enforcement.”
“He stood tall in a presidential dark blue suit, against the orchestra in summer white jackets and tops, and read Lincoln’s lines with sober conviction. Rather than attempt to make Copland’s climax on “government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth” sound exciting in the way a World Series home run might, he instead used his familiar voice to simply command attention. A full amphitheater erupted in what felt like the most uncommon of united applause.”
“Anyway, Jonny loved dogs — he’d never owned one. Though he had no idea about how serious a wolf might be. … So he walked up to the wolf and the man hollered at him, ‘No! It’s a real wolf, don’t pet it!’ … Jonny goes back to the wolf, saying something like ‘Oh, I’ll talk to him and it’ll be great.'”
“You were simply always there for me. I have always felt that I needed you more than you needed me and that holds true to this very day. I have been privileged to share in your passion and love for this great game.”
