RIP Vin Scully

Aaron’s 715, The Catch, Gibson’s home run and hundreds of other Dodgers moments. Vin called them all.

 

I covered the Dodgers from 1981-83 for the Santa Monica Evening Outlook. I knew Vin pretty well, but we did not exactly pal around. One thing I noticed was that you never saw him on the road. He was always on the bus to and from the game, and at the ballpark. Yes, you saw him then. But never before or after. He never hung out in the hotel lobby or in nearby coffee shops. He must have had room service for every meal.

My paper circulated to Pacific Palisades, where he lived, so he read it. One time, I caught a foul ball in the press box and he said over the air, "Nice catch by Chris Long of the Santa Monica Evening Outlook."

One road trip took us from Chicago to St. Louis. A Sunday game in Chicago, then a short flight to St. Louis. There was not much happening in St. Louis in Sundays. I finished my work and went down the hotel bar at the Marriott. And guess who comes off the elevator and into the bar? Vin Scully. I had never seen this before. There were only a couple of people in there. He came right up to me and said, "Can I sit here and buy you a beer?" Me: "Uhhhhh, of course, yes, thank you."

Sidebar: There is a genetic eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa. No cure. It is the opposite of macular degeneration in that your peripheral vision deteriorates until you barely have tunnel vision, then you go blind. This condition runs rampant through my family. My mom was one of six sisters and four of them had it. My brother has it, lots of cousins have it. Anyway, I heard around that time that Vin's wife, Sandi, had a brother with this disease. Vin attached his name to a fundraising campaign and we were very appreciative.

So Vin and I are sitting in the St. Louis Marriott having a beer and I told him this story, about the disease and my family. And I thanked him for getting involved with fundraising. But I had a question. The main office in L.A. was in Century City. I just wondered why they have expensive office space in Century City when there are cheaper places available in other cities around the area. He said, hmmm, I never thought about that. And that was the end of it ..... I thought.

About 2 weeks later, back at Dodger Stadium, the press box usher came to me at my seat and said that Mr. Scully wanted to talk to me. I went over to his booth. He said, "Chris, remember when you told me about Retinitis Pigmentosa and the office in Century City." I said yes. He said, "Well I check it and that office is donated."

I was floored. With all he has on his mind, he remembered what I had said. He actually checked on it and got back to me. Awesome individual. The voice we grew up with.

RIP, sir.

 

The best. And at least in baseball, there is no second.

 

A certain irony that the Dodgers are playing the Giants tonight.

MTM posted "The Catch" utopic. Scully also had the call on the other great moment (not counting the earthquake) at Candlestick in the 80s, Will Clark's hit off Mitch Williams in the 1989 NLCS.

And he did his last game in 2016 from then-AT&T Park.

 

The voice of Oregon State, Mike Parker grew up a huge Vin Scully fan - and i flipped to the summer league game he was calling (he hadn't heard yet), to say he gave a moving tribute is an understatement, explaining that Scully made him want to be a sports announcer and shared various stories of his youth, hearing him for the first time, meeting him for the first time etc. All while never missing a pitch or play of this 10-0 summer league game. Vin would have been proud.

 

Let's pick a night, maybe Friday, and after every team's regular game, re-air a game Vin called that involves their team. Maybe it's vs. the Dodgers, maybe a national broadcast, maybe famous, maybe not. Let everyone put him under their pillow one last time.

The only complications I see are possibly the Rays, though even they've had to play at Dodger Stadium a few times while he was working, and the fact that the Cubs are at home Friday doing one of their usual matinees, against the Marlins.

 

There are seven HOFers there: Reese, Snider, Robinson, Hodges, Campy, Ashburn and Roberts.

 

As a lifelong Giants fan, VIN was absolutely one Dodger thing I couldn’t make fun of. Sometimes on a random night I could catch him on AM radio and it was like magic. What a treat, just so warm and folksy listening to him. Even on the MLB app at times a few years ago I’d put Vin on if it was an LA home game.

Thanks for the memories Mr. Scully. RIP.

 

And this chance encounter with a future president.

 

Bush stole a base, just like his son stole Ohio.