Dodger Stadium, September 2015 (Photo: Jon Weisman)
I remember the Dodgers.
Tag: Vin Scully (Page 1 of 17)
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.)
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.)
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
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
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
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.
May 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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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.
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.
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.
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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After 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
Carl Erskine. Don Newcombe. Jamie Jarrín. And more, and more — all talking about Vin.
For our Dodger Insider tribute to Vin Scully, we presented numerous remembrances and tributes, offered in two different collections in the magazine.
The Legends’ Legend
Vin Appreciation Day
Please click each link above to read the full stories.
— Jon Weisman
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.
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.
