Remembering the legendary Vin Scully
Tuesday evening, the sports world lost a legend. Vin Scully passed away at the age of 94.
Just like any other business, running this site is a handful, to begin with. There is plenty to do on a daily basis without adding something outside of our wheelhouse. But I would be remiss if I didn’t write something about the passing of Vin Scully on Tuesday at age 94.
Since I first heard the news, I listened to a plethora of today’s voices sing Scully’s praises. The past day plus has been flush with tributes. Maybe none more moving than the one from longtime broadcast partner Rick Monday during the Dodgers Tuesday night’s game against San Francisco.
Those interviewed talk about his grace and class. How always made time for a colleague or young player. Not to mention his mastery of the English language and literature.
Spinning a Tale
He was a magnificent storyteller. On ESPN, fellow Hall of Fame broadcaster Tim Kurkjian mentioned how the game always managed to allow Scully to finish a story. Even if the game had to give him a little help.
When Scully retired in 2016, Jason Stark wrote The Man, The Voice, The Stories, which I encourage baseball fans to read. This is one from former Major League pitcher Jerry Reuss.
“I was pitching a game for Houston — it was either ’72 or 73. It was a weeknight game, and there was maybe a crowd of 20,000 there. But as I stood there on the mound ready to deliver a pitch, for whatever reason, it caught my attention (from the sound of those transistor radios) that Vin was in midstory. …
It was the only time it ever happened, but I can hear by his cadence, his inflection, that he was in midstory. It just caught me. So I stepped off the mound, threw down the resin bag, rubbed my hand, and I could still hear him tell the story. … He got his point out, people laughed, and without missing a beat, he said, ‘Now Reuss is ready to deliver.’ … That’s the kind of respect that Vin Scully deserves.”
Touching Lives
There have been tributes from every corner of the sports world. It’s incredible how many lives he touched during his illustrious nearly seven decades in the business. And like the gracious man Scully was, he thanked the fans for blessing him.
As for me, I’ve heard and seen the best call games. Keith Jackson, Jim McKay, Curt Gowdey, Jack Buck, Marv Albert, and many of the legends (admittedly, Red Barber, Mel Allen, and Marty Glickman were before my time). But when Vin Scully was on the mic, whatever event he was covering felt that much bigger.
Among the major events he called were 25 World Series, 12 All-Star Games, 18 no-hitters, 3 perfect games (including Don Larsen’s gem in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, Hank Aaron’s 715th home run, Dwight Clark’s game-winning catch in the NFC Championship Game to send the San Francisco 49ers to Super Bowl XVI, and 8 Masters Tournaments.
I’m not really a big Dodgers fan, per se, but I listened to them. Vin had me from the moment he said, “Hi everybody, and a very pleasant good evening (afternoon) to you wherever you may be.”
Listening to him call a game was like putting on comfortable clothes. The familiarity of his voice was like an old friend.
Even though he retired some years ago, I’m going to miss that friend who so often came into my living room and made me smile.
Please share your memories of Vin Scully in the comments section below.