VIN SCULLY,
1927-2022
The voice of Southern California summers for nearly 50 years has died. Vin Scully, the Dodgers announcer whose melodic and masterful storytelling filled the airwaves for 67 years—initially in Brooklyn and then L.A.—died at his Los Angeles home Tuesday at the age of 94.
In announcing his death, the Dodgers stated: “He was their conscience, their poet laureate, capturing their beauty and chronicling their glory from Jackie Robinson to Sandy Koufax, Kirk Gibson to Clayton Kershaw. Vin Scully was the heartbeat of the Dodgers—and in so many ways, the heartbeat of all of Los Angeles.”
When the Dodgers arrived in Los Angeles in 1958, it was Scully’s voice that echoed around the L.A. Coliseum, then Dodger Stadium, beginning in 1962, as fans brought transistor radios (new at the time) to games. For West Coast baby boomers and their children in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Scully was the educator, the friendly voice stirring up interest in Dodger baseball; his gentle and information-driven style was as important as the stars on the field, Koufax, Don Drysdale and Willie Davis among them.
And amid the stories about what was happening on the field were references to literature and military operations, Broadway musicals and long-forgotten ballplayers. In breaks from the action, Scully took delight in describing children in the stands. He even found the humanity in talking about opposing players despised by the Chavez Ravine faithful like Bob Gibson and Willie Mays.
A protégé of Red Barber's, Scully started broadcasting from Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field in 1950. He did TV as well, but the Dodgers had limited TV broadcasts from 1958 into the 1970s; day after day, especially at home games, Scully had to describe in detail the picture in front of him on the diamond for radio listeners. One of his most famous descriptions came at the close of Koufax’s perfect game on 9/9/65:
“On the scoreboard in right field, it is 9:46 p.m. in the City of the Angels, Los Angeles, California. And a crowd of 29,139 just sitting in to see the only pitcher in baseball history to hurl four no-hit, no-run games. He has done it four straight years and now he capped it: On his fourth no-hitter, he made it a perfect game. And Sandy Koufax, whose name will always remind you of strikeouts, did it with a flourish. He struck out the last six consecutive batters. So when he wrote his name in capital letters in the record books, that K stands out even more than the O-U-F-A-X.”
Scully initially shared broadcasting duties with Jerry Doggett, moving from KMPC to KFI in 1960, then KABC in 1974. Ross Porter was his partner from 1977 to 2004. Scully broadcast for KFWB from 2002 through 2007 before returning to KABC for four years. At the time of his retirement, in 2016, he was heard on KLAC.
A Bronx native whose childhood idol was the Giants’ Mel Ott, Scully played baseball at Fordham University, where he first entered the broadcast booth. After graduation, Barber tapped Scully to help call a 1949 Boston University/Maryland football game at Fenway Park. Less than a year later, after Ernie Harwell left the Dodgers, the team hired Scully as their #3 broadcaster.
Scully started to do national broadcasts in the 1970s, covering pro football and golf for CBS, then baseball for NBC in the ’80s and the World Series for CBS Radio in the ’90s. From 1998 to 2016, he stuck with local Dodger broadcasts.
He received the Ford Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 and was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1995, the same year he was honored with a lifetime achievement Emmy Award. He was named National Sportscaster of the Year four times (1965, 1978, 1982, 2016) and in 1992 was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association’s Hall of Fame. Years later, the association would name him Sportscaster of the Century. Major League Baseball presented him with the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award in 2014. He was the 14th recipient of the award, created to honor people who've made historically significant contributions to the game of baseball.
Following the Dodgers' victory over the Giants Tuesday, the Giants PA announcer paid tribute to Scully. Check it out below.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 3, 2022
No one was better at any job than Vin Scully was at his. And, a lovely man on top of that. It’s a beautiful night and we will miss you @Dodgers https://t.co/rmt4QjsvZZ
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) August 3, 2022
“The game of baseball has a handful of signature sounds. You hear the crack of the bat. You got the crowd singing in the seventh inning stretch, and you've got the voice of Vin Scully.”
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 3, 2022
From 2016, Vin Scully receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom. RIP pic.twitter.com/wmw9ZcWLOe
Vin Scully 🙏🏿✌🏽@Dodgers pic.twitter.com/yGlfuRHFQY
— Chuck D (@MrChuckD) August 3, 2022
RIP Vin Scully. 🎙 The greatest broadcaster ever and the voice of one of the most iconic calls in our history. pic.twitter.com/6B6bilKbrW
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 3, 2022
Dodger Nation, today we lost a Los Angeles and Major League Baseball legend, Vin Scully. Vin was the voice of the @Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles for over six decades. pic.twitter.com/MX6kNYbBrr
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) August 3, 2022
The Giants held a tribute to Vin Scully following tonight’s game 💙 pic.twitter.com/9BaOlaNNDb
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 3, 2022
