Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Category: Broadcasting (Page 1 of 5)

Jaime Jarrín to retire after 2022 season

The magnificent Jaime Jarrín has announced he will retire from the Dodgers at the end of the 2022 season. At that time, he will have broadcast Dodger games for 64 seasons, only three fewer than Vin Scully. 

While I can’t say I have listened to full broadcasts of his games in Spanish, I can speak to the unfettered kindness he has shown to me — a relative blip on his radar screen — in recent years. 

I’d like to take this opportunity to share the chapter I wrote about Jarrín in the 2021 edition of 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. 

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Thoughts about John Smoltz, in five parts

I’ve had a lot to say on Twitter about John Smoltz over the past 12 months, to the extent that columnist Tom Hoffarth sought my two cents for his recent column in the Times on the Fox Sports baseball commentator. I wanted to collect my thoughts in one place, so here they are.

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After wielding attire iron at Dodgers, it’s Joe Simpson who should be embarrassed

I’m not nearly the first tonight to weigh in on the bizarre, absolutely out-of-nowhere manufactured controversy in which Braves announcer and one-time Dodger outfielder Joe Simpson ripped his original team for their non-uniform batting practice attire tonight, but I want to make a few particular points about it.

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Vin Scully’s farewell words

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By Jon Weisman

I don’t doubt for a moment Vin Scully’s sincerity when he says that he has needed us far more than we have needed him, but I don’t think that he’s correct. I just don’t think, no matter how hard we try, we can traverse his humility to convey the enormous scope of how much we has affected us.

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After 67 years, here are Vin’s final words as a professional broadcaster.

You know friends, so many people have wished me congratulations on a 67-year career in baseball, and they’ve wished me a wonderful retirement with my family. And now, all I can do is tell you what I wish for you.

vin-sideMay God give you for every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.

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 needed me, and I’ll miss our time together more 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 it will be time for Dodger baseball.

So this is Vin Scully, wishing you a very pleasant good afternoon, wherever you may be.

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The final broadcast

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By Jon Weisman

Over the past several weeks, I have written stories, edited stories, read stories, looked at photos old and new, watched video, heard calls from the 1950s to the present, all trying to capture Vin Scully before he bids us, his audience, farewell.

The comfort is that there will be no shortage of ways to remember Vin, to relive and revive our keepsakes of him. You’d often come away from a Vin Scully broadcast with a wonderful story or some remarkably clever one-liner — much of which has been preserved, especially in recent history.

It’s the sensory experience of Vin in the present that will be gone forever. Sharing the moment in time with him.

His lack of attention to his own departure has reinforced that. His focus on what’s in front of him, rather than what’s moving past and behind him. Vin himself lives so in the moment, that riding on his airwaves becomes something of a spiritual journey. I’m cringing a bit as I write those words, fearing they sound far too over the top, but I don’t know that there’s a better description of his effect.

Vin has touched me in a way no one else has.

In the remaining few hours we have with Vin, do nothing more than just enjoy this connection we have had. Because this moment will pass, even if the memories will always remain, and the spirit will never die.

Quick game couldn’t slow Scully storytelling, with one day to go

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By Jon Weisman

Hardly standing on the ceremony of Vin Scully’s penultimate broadcast, the Dodgers and Giants raced through their game today in 2:15, the Dodgers’ fifth-shortest game this year.

But that didn’t stop Vin from weaving several stories into his call. One began with him commenting on the beauty of the setting at AT&T Park.

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Vin Scully and the flower children

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Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

In his third-to-last game behind the mic, Vin Scully almost avoided mentioning his impending departure entirely, except for a thank you to the night’s umpires for their pregame salute.

But the night didn’t leave us bereft of Vin providing his own color, thanks to a couple of spectators crashing the field in the fourth inning.

As is typical, the telecast steered clear of them, but Vin couldn’t avoid talking about them — and listeners were rewarded by a little flashback to a decade gone by …

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Joe Davis offers touching thanks and farewell to Vin Scully

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SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS VS LOS ANGELES DODGERSAfter Thursday’s game, Dodger play-by-play announcer Joe Davis bid farewell to Dodger fans for 2016, in words that were equal parts gratitude for his first season and a tribute to Vin Scully that hit just the right note.

Vin, of course, will handle TV chores for the final weekend of his 67-season career, with the broadcasts from San Francisco tonight through Sunday simulcast on SportsNet LA, KTLA and AM 570 LA Sports. All playoff games thereafter will be national telecasts, with the National League Division Series beginning on either Fox Sports 1 or MLB Network.

— Jon Weisman

AM 570 to simulcast Vin Scully’s entire final broadcast

Jill Weisleder/Dodgers

Jill Weisleder/Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Vin Scully’s entire final broadcast Sunday in San Francisco will be simulcast on SportsNet LA, KTLA and AM 570 LA Sports, meaning that radio listeners will hear Scully from start to finish.

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Vin Scully’s Dodger Stadium farewell is a lovefest

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By Jon Weisman

High above the champagne party in the Dodger clubhouse, the booth sits empty now. And yet it feels so full.

Vin Scully clocked in at Dodger Stadium for the final time today, a day that encapsulated so much of what made him baseball’s premier voice.

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‘Welcome to my Thanksgiving’: In moving ceremony, Los Angeles begins its final farewell to Vin Scully

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By Jon Weisman

We might need time. We might need 67 years to get over this one.

Emotionally charged from the opening video salute to the final blue-carpet walk lined by Dodger players and coaches, tribute was paid to Vin Scully tonight, in an hour-long ceremony infused with heartstopping thoughts from guest speakers and heartwarming words from the man himself. For carpet cleaning services, people can check here! 

It was a valediction for Vinny, and a validation of our love.

In an evening that would conclude with John Williams conducting members of the Los Angeles Philarmonic in the National Anthem, so many moments played like perfect notes in a symphony.

“Vin is that favorite sweater of yours that you can’t wait to put on on a chilly day,” said Dick Enberg in the video.

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#VinTop20: No. 1, ‘She is … gone!’

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In the Vin Scully Appreciation Day pregame ceremony this evening, the Dodgers finished revealing the results of the fan vote ranking Scully’s top 20 Dodger calls of all time. And here it is, No. 1: Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run.

— Jon Weisman

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Previously:
No. 2, Koufax’s perfect game
No. 3, Henry Aaron’s 715th
No. 4, Returning after 9/11
No. 5, ‘If you have a sombrero …’
No. 6, Roy Campanella tribute
No. 7, Don Larsen’s perfect game
No. 8, Monday captures the flag
No. 9, ‘We go to Chicago!’
No. 10, Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter
No. 11, Joe Ferguson’s throw
No. 12, Fernandomania begins
No. 13, ‘The Squeeze!’
No. 14, Nomo’s No-No
No. 15, the 4+1 Game
No. 16, Don Drysdale’s streak stays alive
No. 17, Mike Piazza, Giant-slayer
No. 18, Yasiel Puig’s first slam
No. 19, Manny’s Bobbleslam
No. 20, Mark McGwire hits it way, way out

#VinTop20: No. 2, Koufax’s perfect game

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In the Vin Scully Appreciation Day pregame ceremony this evening, the Dodgers finished revealing the results of the fan vote ranking Scully’s top 20 Dodger calls of all time. Here’s No. 2: Sandy Koufax’s perfect game.

— Jon Weisman

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Previously:
No. 3, Henry Aaron’s 715th
No. 4, Returning after 9/11
No. 5, ‘If you have a sombrero …’
No. 6, Roy Campanella tribute
No. 7, Don Larsen’s perfect game
No. 8, Monday captures the flag
No. 9, ‘We go to Chicago!’
No. 10, Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter
No. 11, Joe Ferguson’s throw
No. 12, Fernandomania begins
No. 13, ‘The Squeeze!’
No. 14, Nomo’s No-No
No. 15, the 4+1 Game
No. 16, Don Drysdale’s streak stays alive
No. 17, Mike Piazza, Giant-slayer
No. 18, Yasiel Puig’s first slam
No. 19, Manny’s Bobbleslam
No. 20, Mark McGwire hits it way, way out

#VinTop20: No. 3, Henry Aaron’s 715th

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Between now and Vin Scully Appreciation Day on September 23, the Dodgers are revealing the results of the fan vote ranking Scully’s top 20 Dodger calls of all time, one at each home game. Here’s No. 3: Henry Aaron’s 715th home run.

— Jon Weisman

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Previously:

No. 4, Returning after 9/11
No. 5, ‘If you have a sombrero …’
No. 6, Roy Campanella tribute
No. 7, Don Larsen’s perfect game
No. 8, Monday captures the flag
No. 9, ‘We go to Chicago!’
No. 10, Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter
No. 11, Joe Ferguson’s throw
No. 12, Fernandomania begins
No. 13, ‘The Squeeze!’
No. 14, Nomo’s No-No
No. 15, the 4+1 Game
No. 16, Don Drysdale’s streak stays alive
No. 17, Mike Piazza, Giant-slayer
No. 18, Yasiel Puig’s first slam
No. 19, Manny’s Bobbleslam
No. 20, Mark McGwire hits it way, way out

#VinTop20: No. 4, Returning after 9/11

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Between now and Vin Scully Appreciation Day on September 23, the Dodgers are revealing the results of the fan vote ranking Scully’s top 20 Dodger calls of all time, one at each home game. Here’s No. 4: Coming back to the field for the first time after 9/11.

— Jon Weisman

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Previously:
No. 5, ‘If you have a sombrero …’
No. 6, Roy Campanella tribute
No. 7, Don Larsen’s perfect game
No. 8, Monday captures the flag
No. 9, ‘We go to Chicago!’
No. 10, Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter
No. 11, Joe Ferguson’s throw
No. 12, Fernandomania begins
No. 13, ‘The Squeeze!’
No. 14, Nomo’s No-No
No. 15, the 4+1 Game
No. 16, Don Drysdale’s streak stays alive
No. 17, Mike Piazza, Giant-slayer
No. 18, Yasiel Puig’s first slam
No. 19, Manny’s Bobbleslam
No. 20, Mark McGwire hits it way, way out

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