Ever since MLB Network launched in 2009, it's been a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine to watch the end of Dodgers home games during MLB Tonight. There was only one reason. If the Dodgers were away or they were showing another West Coast game, I watched something else. There's just something so soothing about Vin Scully putting you to bed.
For most of this week, I did the same thing. I knew that after Sunday I wouldn't be able to hear the Voice of Baseball anymore, so I wanted to savor every last moment of Vin Scully. I did it all season actually. Next season will be so weird. Tuning into a Dodger game and hearing somebody else just doesn't seem right.
Vin Scully is more than a legend. Most legends only last for one generation, then live on thru the stories that are passed down from those who saw them. Babe Ruth is a legend. Ted Williams is a legend. But with Vin Scully, nobody needed any stories passed down to them. Everyone has their own. He did this for 67 years! He was a rookie in 1950, the year before Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle. That was so long ago that he was calling games on radio for the Brooklyn Dodgers, who were competing in an eight-team National League. Think about that, he's been with the Dodgers so long that they were still in Brooklyn when he started. And they've been in LA since 1958!
With Vin Scully goes the last remaining vestige of the Brooklyn Dodgers, which is remarkable considering how long they've called California home. Some of my favorite stories about Vin Scully are from those early years in LA, when the Dodgers played in the massive LA Coliseum and fans were bringing their transistor radios to listen Vin, either because they couldn't see the action or, more likely, because they wanted to hear him describe it.
While he'll always be associated with the Dodgers first and foremost, we all remember the picture he painted of those memorable World Series moments in the 1980s, when he was NBC's lead play-by-play man. 1986: "Behind the bag. It gets thru Buckner. In comes Knight, and the Mets win it! The Mets are not only alive, they are well. And they will play the Red Sox in Game 7 tomorrow." 1988: "High fly ball into right field. She is gone! In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened."
There are plenty more moments, of course, and everyone has their favorites. (He also called Hank Aaron's 715th home run and Fred Lynn's grand slam in the All-Star Game.) What I loved the most, though, were those little anecdotes about the randomest of players that you were suddenly so interested in, which often led to him talking about something else entirely. I never knew that about that guy from Milwaukee who just got called up from Double-A, or that little tidbit from American history.
What made Vin Scully so great, and the true sign that he's the last of his breed, is that he did games alone. He didn't need a color man. There will never be another Vin Scully. Even though that's what every aspiring broadcaster tries to be. (A word of advice, kids, you won't be, so stop trying.)
His farewell at Dodger Stadium last Sunday was so poignant. The Dodgers players all tipped their cap to the broadcast booth on their way to the plate, and the fans gave him a standing ovation after LA won on a walk-off to clinch the NL West. And the recording of him singing "The Wind Beneath My Wings," which would've seemed so cheesy under any other circumstance or for any other announcer. But for Vin Scully, it was perfect.
Yes, it does seem odd that his final series was in San Francisco and his final moments on the air were describing the scene as the Giants clinched a playoff berth, but in a way, that's fitting too. The Dodgers' archrivals were on the field celebrating, and he was describing the scene with the same reverence he's always shown. It's really been his trademark for 67 years.
And for the last word, I'll give that to the man himself. Because he hit it out of the park with his final message to the fans. As usual. Would you expect anything else?:
You and I have been friends for a long time, but I know in my heart that I've always needed you more than you've ever needed me, and I'll miss our time together more than I can say. But you know what? There will be a new day and eventually a new year. And when the upcoming winter gives way to spring, rest assured, once again it will be "time for Dodger baseball." So this is Vin Scully wishing you a very pleasant afternoon, wherever you may be.
No comments:
Post a Comment