“I would come home to listen to a football game — there weren’t other sports on — and I would get a pillow and I would crawl under the radio, so that the loudspeaker and the roar of the crowd would wash all over me, and I would just get goose bumps like you can’t believe. And I knew that of all the things in this world that I wanted, I wanted to be that fella saying, whatever, home run, or touchdown. It just really got to me.“
If Vin Scully were an inanimate object, he would probably be a nighttime freight train that has run the same country tracks, at the same times, bringing the same vital cargo to small-town America for each of the last 60 years — the lone whistle comes drifting in, loud and true, a soothing presence in the midst of darkness and uncertainty, allowing the dreamer to rest and relax, as all is well in an uncertain world.
“Hi everybody, and a very pleasant evening to you, wherever you may be. It’s time for Dodgers baseball!” The words spoken from a wise sage of baseball, indeed, of life, who has seized upon the hearts and minds of baseball fans for 60 years. Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Steve Garvey, Maury Wills, Ron Cey, Kirk Gibson, Darryl Strawberry, Orel Hershiser, Manny Ramirez, and the rest of Dodgers immortality.
Born in the Bronx on November 29, 1927, Vin Scully turns 82 years-young this year. For 60 years, he’s showed up to work EVERY DAY, having missed only five scheduled broadcasts in that time. Repeat, in over 60 years of broadcasting Vin Scully has missed only five scheduled broadcasts in that time frame. This includes the untimely, heartbreaking death of his first wife, Joan Crawford, in 1972.
He’s an emblem of all things right about man, and of the nature of kindness, simplicity, and blessed character. He has spoken to race riots, war, famine, presidential assassinations, catastrophes, and everything in between. Somehow, Vin Scully always has something good and proper to say. Somehow, Vin knows just what the listener needs to hear.
Case and point:
In 1974, Hank Aaron was facing death threats as he approached the all-time home-run record. Vin Scully’s words on that fateful evening: 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. And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly Hank Aaron.
On June 29, 1990, one of Vin’s favorite Dodgers, Mexican-born Fernando Valenzuela, hurled a no-hitter near the end of his career with the team. Vin’s call of the final out: If you have a sombrero, throw it to the sky!
Vin Scully recently announced he would be retiring after his next season with the Dodgers — in his characteristically self-deprecating manner, he stated, “If they’ll have me back again.”
For his service to the Dodgers, Major League Baseball, and the entire world of sportsmanship and athletic competition, Vin Scully is a hero to me.
“As long as you live keep smiling because it brightens everybody’s day.” O.K., Vin, we’ll try, but it seems so easy for you.
Administrator 1%, 21st Century Culture, Athletes as Artists, Aural Pleasure, Heroes, The Good Life, baseball America, art, athletes, baseball, broadcasting, courage, Dodgers, hero, heroic, kindness, Los Angeles, Major League Baseball, radio, spirit, sports, strength
