Vin Scully

[Mays-Fan]

Vin Scully has been broadcasting baseball for as long as I can remember. And even though he is basically a Dodger, I always found his calls entertaining, almost soothing. All hell could be breaking loose, but as long as Vin Scully was doing a game, all was right with the world. (Cue James Earl Jones soliloquoy from "Field of Dreams"...) He is one of the few connections to my long-ago childhood that stiill exist. An icon. An institution.

However, listening to him last night on MLBTV was pretty sad. While he seemed lucid mentally, his voice is going. It's taking on that shaky, Katherine Hepburn quality. I had to turn it off. It was too mindful of my own mortality.

There will be a day soon when he will be unable to broadcast, and that will be a sad day indeed, Dodger or no.

Vin Scully, legendary Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster, further trims '12 travel schedule - ESPN Los Angeles

 

[tzill]

Agreed. I also noticed that he mentioned 3 or 4 times that Belt's HR was helped considerably by the wind. True or not, that seemed to be a bit homerish, confirming criticisms I've heard about him over the last few years.

 

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

I am still a youngster (18) but listening to some of the older Vin Scully games is always interesting. Even if they are D....Do..DD
F*** I can't say it

 

[gp956]

Agreed. I also noticed that he mentioned 3 or 4 times that Belt's HR was helped considerably by the wind. True or not, that seemed to be a bit homerish, confirming criticisms I've heard about him over the last few years.

I tuned in late to last nights game, and the first thing I learned from Vinny is that Belt's homerun was "wind blown". My first thought was that comment sounded awfully petty.

 

[MarcoPolo]

Agreed. I also noticed that he mentioned 3 or 4 times that Belt's HR was helped considerably by the wind. True or not, that seemed to be a bit homerish, confirming criticisms I've heard about him over the last few years.

The last few years whenever I've been forced to listen to the Dodger's broadcast team, I've noticed that Vin repeats quite a few things during the game. Last night it was Belt's HR. It could have just as easily been that Vogelsong was out of baseball until signing with the Giants last year or that Posey suffered a collision at the plate that ended his 2011 season (or all of the above).

He really has gone downhill these last few years.

 

[the_broom]

The last few years whenever I've been forced to listen to the Dodger's broadcast team, I've noticed that Vin repeats quite a few things during the game. Last night it was Belt's HR. It could have just as easily been that Vogelsong was out of baseball until signing with the Giants last year or that Posey suffered a collision at the plate that ended his 2011 season (or all of the above).

He really has gone downhill these last few years.

Yep...I used to live in SoCal, and even though I was a Giants fan I saw a couple hundred Dodger games. Scully was a fantastic broadcaster, now he is a shell of what he was. The voice is going out, and the short term memory seems to have taken a hit as well. He was always a homer, but has gotten worse over the last ten years.

 

[filosofy29]

Over the last 3 or so years, I've been thinking that Vin is in the broadcast booth sitting there with a wife-beater, blue and white striped boxers, and dress shoes on sipping on a bourbon on the rocks doing the games.

He just seems like he's on permanent cruise control.

 

[ColinCoby]

Over the last 3 or so years, I've been thinking that Vin is in the broadcast booth sitting there with a wife-beater, blue and white striped boxers, and dress shoes on sipping on a bourbon on the rocks doing the games.

He just seems like he's on permanent cruise control.

For a minute there, I thought you were referring to Stokes...

 

[ColinCoby]

Vin Scully has been broadcasting baseball for as long as I can remember. And even though he is basically a Dodger, I always found his calls entertaining, almost soothing. All hell could be breaking loose, but as long as Vin Scully was doing a game, all was right with the world. (Cue James Earl Jones soliloquoy from "Field of Dreams"...) He is one of the few connections to my long-ago childhood that stiill exist. An icon. An institution.

However, listening to him last night on MLBTV was pretty sad. While he seemed lucid mentally, his voice is going. It's taking on that shaky, Katherine Hepburn quality. I had to turn it off. It was too mindful of my own mortality.

There will be a day soon when he will be unable to broadcast, and that will be a sad day indeed, Dodger or no.

Vin Scully, legendary Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster, further trims '12 travel schedule - ESPN Los Angeles

Nice post Mays. it is for this reason why I can't go see some of my favorite bands from the '80s when they do their reunion tours. Just too depressing, and certainly reminds us that youth is fleeting and life is short.

 

[filosofy29]

For a minute there, I thought you were referring to Stokes...

lol, post of the week.

EDIT: Sorry though Stokes.

 

[Heathbar012]

Great announcer. Also, extremely overrated. I have always found his voice to be grating. Of course, it doesn't help that I was raised in a Giants' home in the heart of a town that, at the time, held mostly Dodgers' fans (always amazing what a World Series Championship does for fickle fans... so many Cardinals hats all of the sudden... hmmmmm).

Yes. He is done and should stop, but he has certainly earned the right to do whatever he wants. He is a Hall of Famer, but not the greatest baseball announcer of all time. His voice, at its best, wouldn't even crack my Top 5. I'd take Hank Greenwald over Vin Scully any day, but that has more to do with Hank being under-appreciated than Vin being over-appreciated (for once).

 

[the_broom]

Great announcer. Also, extremely overrated. I have always found his voice to be grating. Of course, it doesn't help that I was raised in a Giants' home in the heart of a town that, at the time, held mostly Dodgers' fans (always amazing what a World Series Championship does for fickle fans... so many Cardinals hats all of the sudden... hmmmmm).

Yes. He is done and should stop, but he has certainly earned the right to do whatever he wants. He is a Hall of Famer, but not the greatest baseball announcer of all time. His voice, at its best, wouldn't even crack my Top 5. I'd take Hank Greenwald over Vin Scully any day, but that has more to do with Hank being under-appreciated than Vin being over-appreciated (for once).

Repped...

 

[ColinCoby]

lol, post of the week.

EDIT: Sorry though Stokes.

I meant it as a compliment.

 

[coffeeman]

Yep...I used to live in SoCal, and even though I was a Giants fan I saw a couple hundred Dodger games. Scully was a fantastic broadcaster, now he is a shell of what he was. The voice is going out, and the short term memory seems to have taken a hit as well. He was always a homer, but has gotten worse over the last ten years.

It is sad to see these once great announcers get old. I remember listening to Lon Simmons in 2002 describing a Home Run. As he is still talking you could hear the wood of the bat make contact.... "Bonds hits it deep to left {FOG HORN IN THE BACK GROUND} way back {FOG HORN NUMBER 2 GOES OFF} way back.... you can tell it good bye {Bonds back in the Dugout}
Still love Lon but those memories are the freshest ones.

One of my favorite Vin Scully lines...." The Dodgers are such a .500 team that if there was a way to split a three -game series they would find it"