“Forgotten Hollywood”- Vin Scully’s Final Week…

Posted on September 19, 2016 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

vin-scully-numbers-091916   Vin Scully is heading into his final week behind the mic at Dodger Stadium before concluding his career on October 2nd in San Francisco, where the Los Angeles Dodgers end the regular season against the rival Giants. His 67 years with the Dodgers make Scully the longest-tenured broadcaster with a single team in professional sports.

   Scully discovered his love of baseball walking home from grade school. He passed a Chinese laundromat and saw the score from Game 2 of the 1936 World Series. His aspirations came true at 22 when he was hired by a CBS radio affiliate in Washington, D.C. The next year, he joined Red Barber and Connie Desmond in the Brooklyn Dodgers‘ radio and television booths.

   In 1953, at age 25, Scully became the youngest person to broadcast a World Series game, a mark that still stands. Though the years, Vin Scully has entranced generations of baseball fans with his dulcet tones as he spins stories about the game and its players while working alone on the air. He credits the birth of the transistor radio as the greatest single break of his career. In 1958, he accompanied the Dodgers when the franchise relocated to Los Angeles from Ebbets Field. Fans had trouble recognizing the players during the team’s first four years at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. That habit carried over when the team moved to Dodger Stadium. Fans at the games held radios to their ears, and those not present listened from home or the car, allowing Scully to connect generations of families with his words.

   The Dodgers plan to honor their second-longest tenured employee (behind former manager Tom Lasorda) starting Tuesday night with a Scully bobblehead giveaway. Friday is an appreciation day for Scully with a pregame ceremony featuring speakers from his career. Commissioner Rob Manfred will offer a $50,000 donation from Major League Baseball to the Jackie Robinson Foundation in Scully’s name with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts toting the oversized check on stage. After the speeches, both teams will line up on each side of home plate, remove their caps, and listen to John Williams conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the national anthem behind the mound. And, there will be a post-game fireworks show is set to the top calls of Vin’s career. The first 50,000 fans at Saturday’s game against Colorado will receive a limited edition solid bronze coin. On the front is an image of Scully with his signature introduction:

 It’s time for Dodger baseball

   Previously, at the start of each series, the umpires have turned to face Scully’s booth and tipped their caps to him. To his surprise and delight, players and managers have come to him. Throughout the season, they’ve made the long trek from the visiting clubhouse in right field to his fifth-floor broadcast booth in the press box named for him, bringing gifts. In San Francisco, the Giants will honor Scully at his final game. Two Bay Area television stations will carry an inning of his broadcast, as stations in other cities have done this season.

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   Now 88, Scully was adamant about not having an extended farewell. For the last time at home on Sunday, Vinnie will open his broadcast with the same reassuring greeting:

Hi everybody, and a very pleasant good afternoon to you wherever you may be

images   Vin Scully influenced me and hundreds of Southern California talent to enter radio broadcasting. Fittingly, his last game will be 80 years to the day he saw that 1936 score. The man who has been the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers for my entire life and beyond has earned a serene retirement.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Monday, September 19th, 2016 at 11:02 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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