SPORTS SCENE
THE VOICE OF DODGER BASEBALL THE BLESSED CAREER OF VIN SCULLY BY CARTER BROOKS
"It's time for Dodger baseball! Hi, everybody, and a very pleasant good evening to you, wherever you may be"
O
n October 2nd, 2016, Vin Scully ended his baseball play-by-play career as the consensus number one commentator in Major League Baseball history. According to an online fan vote, Scully beat out names such as Bob Uecker, Harry Caray, Jack Buck and Ernie Harwell. His 67-year tenure with the Los Angeles Dodgers is the longest career of any broadcaster with a single team in all of professional sports. Easily recognized for his soft, yet illustrative play calling, Scully has worked his way into the hearts of many North American baseball fans. His trademark pre-game welcome, "It's time for Dodger baseball! Hi, everybody, and a very pleasant good evening to you, wherever you may be" in which he begins every broadcast with, has encapsulated Dodger nation for countless decades. Through retirement—at the age of 88—Scully walked away from the
30 SEVEN SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2017
game of baseball as a well-travelled lifelong fan, a true gentleman, and a Christian. Growing up in The Bronx, Scully realized his affinity for the game of baseball while walking by a laundromat one October evening. It was out of the corner of his eye that he caught the lopsided score of the second game of the 1936 World Series, featuring the dominant New York Yankees and the lowly San Francisco Giants. It was then, right there, standing outside the local laundry shop that eight-year-old Vin Scully decided that he would pursue a career announcing baseball. A handful of years later, following a brief stint in the military, Scully went off to broadcasting school to begin the pursuit of his childhood dream. It didn’t take long for the young New Yorker to land his first gig in the majors. 1950 was Scully’s first
year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and 1953 was his first World Series broadcast. Scully was 25 at the time—a record that still stands to this day. Scully called his final game in early October of 2016. Fittingly, it was against those same San Francisco Giants who had tugged at his heartstrings in 1936 at the laudromat—exactly 80 years prior, to the day. Following his final broadcast, Scully offered a goodbye message and prayer to his listening audience, speaking of God’s many gifts for every circumstance. In October of 2013, Scully spoke with the National Catholic Register about his life and his reliance on faith and the church. “I feel a tremendous degree of comfort in the Catholic Church,” Scully said. “It’s where I’ve grown
