Vin Scully: ‘One Of The Greatest Voices In Sports . . . A Legend In Our Game’

By Barry Janoff

Photo Monrtage: Los Angeles DodgersAugust 3, 2022: Stating that “we have lost an icon,” the Los Angeles Dodgers said that Vin Scully, the Hall of Fame broadcaster who covered the Dodgers and MLB for nearly 70 years, passed away Aug. 2 at the age of 94.

Scully is the second sports legend to pass away this week following the death of Basketball Hall of Famer and social activist Bill Russell July 31.

"We have lost an icon," Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said via the team.

"Vin Scully was one of the greatest voices in all of sports. 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 . . . Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family during this very difficult time. Vin will be truly missed."

The Dodgers will wear a Vin Scully jersey patch for the remainder of the 2022 season with the name Vin above a microphone (see below) and are in the process of planning additional honors in Dodger Stadium for Scully.

Scully, born Nov. 29, 1927, in The Bronx, NY, began his broadcasting career at 22 when was hired by a CBS radio affiliate WTOP in Washington, D.C.

In 1950, Scully joined Red Barber in the the Brooklyn Dodgers radio booth.

His final sign-off was on Oct. 2, 2016.

“You and I have been friends for a long time,” he said that last day to a broadcast audience and fans in Dodger Stadium. "But I know in my heart that I’ve always needed you more than you’ve needed me, and I’ll miss our time together more than I can say.”

In 1953, at age 25, Scully became the youngest person to broadcast a World Series game when the Dodgers faced their long-time rival New York Yankees.

All told, he called 25 World Series and 12 All-Star Games.

When the franchise relocated to Los Angeles for the 1958 season, Scully moved with them.

While maintaining his Dodgers job, he also did national broadcasts that included the NFL and PGA Tour, handled broadcast and radio duties for CBS from 1975-82 and was NBC’s lead baseball announcer from 1983-89.

“Today we mourn the loss of a legend in our game," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said via the league.

"Vin was an extraordinary man whose gift for broadcasting brought joy to generations of Dodger fans. In addition, his voice played a memorable role in some of the greatest moments in the history of our sport.

“I am proud that Vin was synonymous with baseball because he embodied the very best of our National Pastime. As great as he was as a broadcaster, he was equally great as a person.”

Scully joined Twitter in August 2020, where he sat in the comfort of his home shared his baseball and life observations, memories and stories.

Among his classic lines during his career:

“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,” Scully told a national TV audience when Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run on April 8, 1974 to break Babe Ruth’s MLB record.

"Vin Scully was one of the greatest voices in all of sports. He loved people. He loved life. He loved baseball and the Dodgers."

“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 for Henry Aaron.”

After Kirk Gibson’s home run to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series against the Oakland A’s: “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Brooklyn Dodgers are the champions of the world.” he said for the only time in Brooklyn when the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1955 World Series.

After Don Larsen’s World Series perfect game for the Yankees against the Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series: “The final score: The Yankees two runs, five hits and no errors. The Dodgers, no runs, no hits, no errors. In fact, nothing at all.”
Photo: L.A. Dodgers
On Sept. 17, 2001, to open the Dodgers broadcast of their first game following 9/11: “The President of the United States has said it is time to go back to work. And so, despite a heavy heart, baseball gets up out of the dirt, brushes itself off, and will follow his command, hoping in some small way to inspire the nation to do the same.”

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 and also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that year. The Dodger stadium press box was named for him in 2001, and the street leading to the stadium’s main gate was renamed for him in 2016: 1000 Vin Scully Avenue.

Fittingly, the MLB All-Star Game was played in Dodger Stadium last month for the first time since 1980.

In 2016, he also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.

In 2020, Scully auctioned a significant portion of his personal memorabilia, raising more than $2 million, some of which he donated to UCLA for ALS research.

“Vin Scully’s voice connected generations of fans over an incomparable 67 years behind the microphone and is synonymous with our national pastime," Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, said via the organization. “The Museum was honored to present him with the 1982 Ford C. Frick Award for broadcast excellence.

“On behalf of our Hall of Fame members and all of us in Cooperstown, our heartfelt thoughts are with his family, friends and the millions of fans around the world who loved him and were devoted to his broadcasts.”

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