Dodger Thoughts

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

Tag: Vin Scully (Page 1 of 17)

Vin Scully, talk-show host

[Borrowed from a free post at Slayed by Voices]

Hello there. And a very pleasant half-hour program, wherever you may be.

I’ve known for some time that Vin Scully hosted a talk show in the 1970s, but I had never seen a full episode. Well, take that off the bucket list.

This half-hour edition of The Vin Scully Show, with cigar-smoking Carroll O’Connor as the special guest, was taped January 24, 1973, when Vin was 45. The 48-year-old O’Connor literally came downstairs for the interview from the studio at CBS Television City where All in the Family was taped. Not surprisingly, Vin brings out the best in him. While sitting very close to him.

In case you were in any danger of forgetting that Vin’s voice was perfection, here’s your antidote.

Like any good ballgame, there are big moments building toward a slam-bang finish.

You might think the best moment with Vin is the joke he tells in his opening monologue.

You might think the best moment with Vin is when he says to O’Connor about playing the notorious sexist racist Archie Bunker: “You are such a natural for the role.” Then Vin, realizing what he said, adds with a laugh: “And I don’t mean as a bigot.”

You might even think it’s the sketch where Vin plays a suitor for a grumbly old man’s daughter — like Archie and Gloria, but not exactly — capped by a genu-ine Old School rim shot.

But stay tuned until the very end, when Vin spins a tale about an Irish gambler in a perfect brogue. That’s a Hall of Fame moment. That’s our Vin.

100 Things book excerpt: Vin

The chapter in 100 Things Dodgers on Vin Scully … 

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Oh, Vin

I didn’t know when it was coming, but I knew it was coming. 

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Thinking of Vin

Today’s Instagram post by Vin Scully has shaken me.

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Sheltered, Part 6: There used to be a ballclub right here

Dodger Stadium, September 2015 (Photo: Jon Weisman)

I remember the Dodgers.

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Clayton Kershaw and ‘Public Enemy No. 1,’ 10 years later: Where it all began

Believe it or not, Friday marked 10 years since Vin Scully announced Clayton Kershaw’s arrival with the debut of “Public Enemy No. 1.” (Sad to say I’m two days late with this anniversary post.)

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Who needs a Vin Scully fix?

Vin Scully spoke for about 15 minutes to the kids of Simi Valley to kick off Opening Day of Simi Youth Baseball last week, and it’s music to our ears. (Link via Ernest Reyes of Blue Heaven.)

Video: Happy retiree Vin Scully on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’

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Enjoy these clips below from 11-day retiree Vin Scully’s lively appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Thursday, taped during Game 5 of the National League Division Series but airing shortly after the marathon ended.

— Jon Weisman

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Vin Scully to appear Thursday on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Vin Scully will give his first post-retirement interview on Thursday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC, which airs at 11:35 p.m.

— Jon Weisman

Video: Vin Scully is timeless

MLB Network put the spotlight on Vin Scully one more time in this video promoting the National League Division Series that only gets more dramatic as it goes.

— Jon Weisman

Vin Scully’s farewell words

vins-farewell

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.

[wpvideo FyN10Rnb]

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.

[mlbvideo id=”1201655483″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

The final broadcast

vin-young

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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Blach party sends Dodgers on road to start NLDS

kershaw-pitching

By Jon Weisman

Eight years, six months and 23 days ago, Vin Scully called a Clayton Kershaw inning for the first time. It was Spring Training — a meaningless day — that linked the artist of this generation to the artist of all generations.

Scully and Kershaw teamed up for the last time this afternoon in San Francisco. For Dodger fans, the result was not storybook like Vin’s last game in Los Angeles, but there’s no such thing as a bad story when Vin is behind the mic.

“It really is, when you think about it, a David and Goliath game: Clayton Kershaw against a young pitcher starting out,” Vin said, and on some level, I’m guessing the broadcaster didn’t mind terribly that David won.

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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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