Vince Scully

2022 - 8 - 2

vin scully death

Vin Scully, the famed Los Angeles Dodgers baseball broadcaster ... (NPR)

The longtime Dodgers broadcaster was known for his quick wit, keen insight and deep baseball knowledge. His distinct voice was a joy to listen to and for a ...

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Vin Scully, Hall of Fame broadcaster and longtime voice of the ... (USA TODAY)

Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, the radio voice of the Dodgers for nearly seven decades, has died. He was 94.

"Vin Scully was the heartbeat of the Dodgers — and in so many ways, the heartbeat of all of Los Angeles." He loved baseball and the Dodgers. And he loved his family. "He was the voice of the Dodgers, and so much more. It was during this stint that he made some of his most memorable calls. He then moved to NBC, where he was the network’s lead baseball play-by-play announcer from 1983-89. Scully’s velvety voice and smooth story-telling style made him one of the most beloved figures in the history of the Dodgers’ franchise.

Vin Scully, iconic former Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster, dies at ... (ESPN)

Vin Scully, Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, died Tuesday, the team announced.

He said he realized time was the most precious thing in the world and that he wanted to use his time to spend with his loved ones. After retiring in 2016, Scully made just a handful of appearances at Dodger Stadium and his sweet voice was heard narrating an occasional video played during games. The street leading to Dodger Stadium's main gate was named in his honor in 2016. Scully also received the Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award, which recognizes accomplishments and contributions of historical significance, in 2014. He often said it was best to describe a big play quickly and then be quiet so fans could listen to the pandemonium. "A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol," Scully told listeners. He loved baseball and the Dodgers. And he loved his family. He moved west with the Dodgers in 1958. Although he was paid by the Dodgers, Scully was unafraid to criticize a bad play or a manager's decision, or praise an opponent while spinning stories against a backdrop of routine plays and noteworthy achievements. With a snack of saltine crackers and a glass of milk nearby, the boy was transfixed by the crowd's roar that raised goosebumps. His mother moved the family to Brooklyn, where the red-haired, blue-eyed Scully grew up playing stickball in the streets. As the longest tenured broadcaster with a single team in pro sports history, Scully saw it all and called it all.

Vin Scully, beloved sportscaster, dies at 94 (The Washington Post)

The former radio and television play-by-play voice of the Dodgers was widely considered the greatest announcer in baseball history.

“I don’t use the word ‘fans’ ever, because it’s short for fanatic,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2016. He had two children from his first marriage, Kevin and Erin Scully, and a daughter from his second marriage, Catherine Scully-Luderer. A son from his first marriage, Michael Scully, died in a helicopter crash in 1994. In 2005, Bob Costas, the longtime NBC and HBO announcer, said of that call: “I’ve heard other announcers with great, great calls of home runs, great calls of exciting plays, but what Vin is really great at is all the moments of anticipation leading up to the big moment. But tonight, September the ninth, nineteen hundred and sixty-five, he made the toughest walk of his career, I’m sure, because through eight innings, he has pitched a perfect game.” In 1974, when announcing Aaron’s 715th home run, which broke Babe Ruth’s record, Mr. Scully captured the historic grandeur of the event: “What a marvelous moment for baseball. He has done it four straight years, and now he caps it: On his fourth no-hitter, he made it a perfect game.” No broadcaster spent longer with one franchise than his 67 seasons with the Dodgers, including 59 in Los Angeles. With NBC in the 1980s, he became a fixture of baseball’s Saturday “Game of the Week,” as well as on playoff and World Series telecasts. In 1955, Brooklyn’s “Boys of Summer” won their only World Series title before the franchise moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. Mr. Scully’s career began in 1950 — which means he called baseball games for more than two-thirds of the sport’s entire broadcast history. In 1950, when he just 22, he was hired to join Red Barber and Connie Desmond on the Brooklyn Dodgers’ broadcast team. Mr. Scully continued to announce Dodgers baseball through 2016, retiring on the season’s final day.

Vin Scully, legendary sports broadcaster and Los Angeles Dodgers ... (CBS sports.com)

Scully was the Dodgers' play-by-play man from 1950-2016 and worked for CBS Sports from 1975-82.

He loved baseball and the Dodgers. And he loved his family. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. "He was the voice of the Dodgers, and so much more. In addition, his voice played a memorable role in some of the greatest moments in the history of our sport. Or, as it came to be called, simply, The Catch: Scully, who called various nationally televised football and golf contests for CBS Sports from 1975 to 1982, started his broadcasting career in 1949 after attending Fordham University, where he studied journalism and was a student broadcaster.

The Beautiful Life of Vin Scully (Sports Illustrated)

The legendary Dodgers broadcaster, who died Tuesday at age 94, was a modern Socrates, only more revered. He was simultaneously a giant and our best friend.

It is eternal, not because of the preservation of his famous calls, but because of how he lived a beautiful life. It is based on humility: The speaker begins with the needs of the audience, not a personal agenda. But what made Vin the voice of summer, not just baseball, was the natural ease of his manner. For 19 minutes he revealed as much of his personal philosophy as he ever did. On the call was Vin Scully. “I like people to think of me as a friend,” he once said. The intersection of car culture, the transistor radio and few televised Dodger games in the team’s first decade in Los Angeles? Sure, all of that. What made Vin Scully the greatest baseball broadcaster ever, one of the most trusted media personalities and one of America’s best 20th-century storytellers? Having worked the national radio broadcast for the last All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium in 1980, one of 12 such Midsummer Classics he did, Vin kidded on the square about his goal working those games, when substitutes enter in waves: “Just don’t mess it up,” he said. I mean, I have a big debt to pay in heaven—I hope when I get there—because the Lord has been so gracious to me all my life.” He said just so when Sister Virginia Maria of the Sisters of Charity at the Incarnation School asked her grammar school students to write an essay on what they wanted to be when they grew up. “I remember I was so excited because it was Opening Day and Don Newcombe was pitching,” Scully said.