Santiago
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3511
Registered: 8-27-2003
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RIP Vincet Edward Scully
By now, most of us have heard that Vin Scully passed away this week. Talk about a life well lived. He was instrumental in forming how the summers
played out in my childhood.
When the Dodgers in 1957 left Brooklyn and came to LA, he came along as well, with Jerry Doggett doing the color and Vin doing the play-by-play.
Transistor 9-Volt radios were all the rage and my dad bought me one; I listened to the entire season that first summer, sleeping on a screened-in
porch in the Bakersfield heat. Dido the next four or five years.
Little did I know then that almost the entire game attendees would also bring radios so that they could understand what was happening - many of the
seats in the Colosseum were so far away it was difficult to see anything - no jumbo screens then.
When Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's lifetime home run record, the hometown fans cheered so long and loud that Vin simply stopped talking for nearly two
minutes and let the roar wash over the listeners. And when Kurt Gibson hit what is arguably the greatest pinch-hit home run ever against Eckersley in
the LA/Oakland World Series, he did the same. Two minutes of dead air- a giant no-no in his field but perfect. He later said of those two quiet
moments that there was nothing he could say that would be any better.
Later, whenever I would hear his voice on a broadcast I would immediately be transported back to my youth when baseball was all consuming.
Yesterday, while sitting on the edge of the kiddy pool while the grandkids splashed around, I was reminded of an interview I watched a few years ago
when Vin said his happiest moments are when his grand kids come over for swimming. Spot on, a life well lived indeed.
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JZ
Select Nomad
Posts: 10555
Registered: 10-3-2003
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He had a beautiful voice.
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Hook
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9010
Registered: 3-13-2004
Location: Sonora
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Mood: Inquisitive
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SOOOOO.......you are on MLBTR, too I believe?!
I am Sonora Wind.
No doubt about it, Scully is the reason I am STILL a baseball fanatic; though I am not into all that fantasy league stuff.
I feel very fortunate to have grown up listening to Scully and Chick Hearn.
[Edited on 8-7-2022 by Hook]
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BornFisher
Super Nomad
Posts: 2107
Registered: 1-11-2005
Location: K-38 Santa Martha/Encinitas
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Santiago--Well said.
Hook-- I said basically the same thing last night to my wife. I told her that listening to Vin call a game was just captivating. There is so much more
on the baseball field that you don`t see or know about. Vin Scully brought us so much more than the count and score. He took us to the ballpark and we
watched the game through him.
Oh yeah, Jim Healy was a must listen too!
"When you catch a fish, you open the door of happiness."
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1715
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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To put Vince Scully's long career into perspective, the Rolling Stones, who all look like death warmed over, have "only" been together 60 years.
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Don Pisto
Banned
Posts: 1282
Registered: 8-1-2018
Location: El Pescador
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Mood: weary like everyone else
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growing up my father hated that man with a passion, I remember him watching games with the volume down and listening to Jerry Doggett on the radio, he
was also a rabid Dodger hater, this pretty much ruined baseball for me forever. years later I did quite a bit of work for mr. Skully at his Hidden
Hills home. Vin Skully was a great man, my father was the biggest azzhole i've ever known and i've known some azzholes! about my only memory of his
broadcasts were " eastern most in quality western most in flavor" my uncles from minnesota would laugh and say "at home we say just the opposite"
there's only two things in life but I forget what they are........
John Hiatt
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