The Voice Of The L.A. Dodgers And Their City Was 94

By
Tom O'Brien
-
0
142

Vin Scully, who was the radio and television voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers for over 67 years, and which in so doing became synonymous with the city’s name, has died Tuesday, according to the Dodgers organization. He was 94.

“We have lost an icon,”Stan Kasten, Dodgers President and CEO, said the statement. “The Dodgers 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. 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.”

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

Scully began his career in Dodgers baseball in Brooklyn in 1950. At age 22, he was the third man to join Red Barber and Connie Desmond in the radio booth. After the team moved to Los Angeles in 1958, he was there as the main radio and TV announcer. He retired in 2016 at the age of 88.

Scully, in between all of this, became the voice for baseball in the city. Per Scully’s official bioCooperstown Sports Illustrated’s Robert Creamer wrote 1964: “In the six years that he has been in California, Scully has become as much a part of the Los Angeles scene as the freeways and the smog.”

Scully called some of the biggest moments in sports for various networks including CBS from 1975-1982, including calling tennis, golf and NFL telecasts (the latter including Dwight Clark’s “The Catch”From Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers during the 1981 NFC Championship Game. Later, he moved to NBC and was the play-by-play announcer at NBC for most of the 1980s. He also worked alongside Joe Garagiola. He also hosted a CBS talk show on the Television City lot.

But baseball provided the fodder for his most memorable calls, from Hank Aaron’s 715th home run in 1974 breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time record to hobbled Kirk Gibson’s famous home run in the 1988 World Series. He also called Don Larson’s perfect game for the New York Yankees in the 1956 World Series — the only one to do that — and also charted Fernando Valenzuela’s meteoric rise in the 1980s.

All of those iconic baseball moments came calling games for the Dodgers and his legion of fans, many of whom half-eschewed the sounds of Dodger Stadium while attending games by putting one earpiece in their ears to catch Scully’s calls from above in the press box.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a member in 1982. This was one of several honors, including being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016).

Scully was part of Los Angeles’ rich announcing heritage that included three other eventual Hall of Famers: Lakers announcer Chick Hearn, who like Scully has a street named after him in the city; Kings announcer Bob Miller; and Scully’s Spanish-language counterpart Jaime Jarrín who has been with the Dodgers since 1959.

As news broke of Scully’s passing, Los Angeles and beyond reacted:

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here