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Vin Scully RIP


Carl Spackler

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Saw this factoid on the socials:

Vin Scully was a rookie broadcaster during Kennesaw Mountain Landis’ last years as MLB Commissioner. (Overlap 1939-1944) So the entire history of baseball has spanned just those two men until today.
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The absolute best.  I remember listening to him reading a grocery list and being awestruck by his voice.  I know @Sbbruin will share some thoughts and I look forward to them.  I can't imagine a greater voice for baseball or any sport.  I knew this day would eventually come and I have been dreading it.  

Vin, thank you.  You made listening to a broadcast an experience memorable and your talent will never be duplicated.

Excuse me if I spend the next few hours searching for recording of him describing Fernando Valenzuela on the mound and repeating it over and over.

RIP to my favorite announcer ever.  Second only to Harry Caray.  BTW, if you don't think much of Harry. find some old radio recordings, instead of what you heard on WGN after he was well past his prime, then reevaluate. 

Vin Scully NEVER left his prime.  There will never be anyone better.

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8 hours ago, Upgrayedd said:

 

They always play the Jack Buck call, but I always thought this one was sooooooo much better.  Vin knew exactly what to say and when to say it, even if that meant saying absolutely nothing at all.  I ALWAYS looked forward to 2-2 counts with 2 outs just to hear him say "dueces are wild"...I have no idea why, but I always loved that.  RIP to the absolute GOAT for announcing. 

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7 hours ago, PhillyD said:

The absolute best.  I remember listening to him reading a grocery list and being awestruck by his voice.

CSB: my father in law is a physician who practiced in Houston for almost his entire career. Some of his patients included guys in the Astros front office. One day, sometime in the 80s when the Dodgers were in town, one of his Astros patients asked if he could see Vin, who had some flu/cold symptoms.

So there he was, in an exam room, as Scully was telling him his list of symptoms, in that iconic voice, and my FiL was having trouble concentrating because he just kept thinking about how surreal the whole thing was.

RIP VS, that voice is synonymous with baseball.

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RIP to the greatest baseball announcer in my lifetime.  What I really like about Vin Scully is that he never made the game about him or took time lecture the fans. He let the moment come to him. While my Rangers have had good announcers in Jon Miller and Eric Nadal, they do not even come close to Scully. My favorite Vin Scully call was Hark Aaron's 715 HR. His call was clearly better than the Braves announcer who obviously had a practiced response.

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1 hour ago, Wally Pryor said:

Big, big loss. 

Great story from Verne Lundquist...Scully called Aaron's HR and turned his back to the field after Aaron hit so not to be tempted to interrupt the moment with any commentary. 

True definition of a legend. 

If only mouthy Milo Hamilton learned that.  

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"Fernando ready, and the strike-two pitch is hit back to the box, dribbling to second, Samuel on the bag, throws to first for the double play! Fernando Valenzuela has pitched a no-hitter at 10:17 in the evening on June the 29th, 1990. If you have a sombrero, throw it to the sky!"

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56 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

 

CSB: my father in law is a physician who practiced in Houston for almost his entire career. Some of his patients included guys in the Astros front office. One day, sometime in the 80s when the Dodgers were in town, one of his Astros patients asked if he could see Vin, who had some flu/cold symptoms.

So there he was, in an exam room, as Scully was telling him his list of symptoms, in that iconic voice, and my FiL was having trouble concentrating because he just kept thinking about how surreal the whole thing was.

RIP VS, that voice is synonymous with baseball.

I've often wondered how TV/radio voices in major sports leagues can maintain such a consistent sound, given the overwhelming exposure to various maladies...especially with the amount of hectic travel involved. Must have great immune systems and/or fastidious hygiene. 

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Not a dodger guy but my dad is so they've always had a soft spot in my heart. My grandpa took my 9 year old dad to the 63 world series against the Yankees. 50 years later my dad took me and my kids to a weekend series against the cardinals. Same stadium. Same announcer. 

Used to be able to hear him on KTLA at night as a kid and it was like a warm blanket and a cup of milk. Rest well Vin, you were the best that ever was or ever will be. 

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13 hours ago, Upgrayedd said:

 

I have watched this so many times I couldn't begin to count, and I get completely choked up every single time.  

I've been bawling like a little bitch off and on since I heard.  This one hurts more than most.  Maybe more than any of someone I didn't know personally (although knew his daughter Erin during HS years).

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1 hour ago, Sbbruin said:

I have watched this so many times I couldn't begin to count, and I get completely choked up every single time.  

I've been bawling like a little bitch off and on since I heard.  This one hurts more than most.  Maybe more than any of someone I didn't know personally (although knew his daughter Erin during HS years).

Not scully related, but I usually watch above the right field seats to see the brake lights come on. Could be coincidental, but I imagine it’s people listening (to vin I guess) to the end of the game on the radio and panicking when they hear it. 

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17 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Not scully related, but I usually watch above the right field seats to see the brake lights come on. Could be coincidental, but I imagine it’s people listening (to vin I guess) to the end of the game on the radio and panicking when they hear it. 

Yeah, what a gut punch that would have been.  "Let's beat the traffic!"  I get doing that in a midseason game up or down 3-4 runs, but the WS in a one run game?  They got what they deserved.

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28 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

Yeah, what a gut punch that would have been.  "Let's beat the traffic!"  I get doing that in a midseason game up or down 3-4 runs, but the WS in a one run game?  They got what they deserved.

well to be totally fair... there was a guy named Eckersley on the mound and in 1988 his save percentage was something outrageous like 90%+

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6 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Not scully related, but I usually watch above the right field seats to see the brake lights come on. Could be coincidental, but I imagine it’s people listening (to vin I guess) to the end of the game on the radio and panicking when they hear it. 

I always think the same thing.  

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Probably about 2013, wife and I were watching a DBacks-Dodgers game, and I always watched those on the Dodgers broadcast because of Scully.  Vin also just freakin' loved Paul -- always called him "Goldy;" have never heard another announcer call an opposing player exclusively by his nickname.  And anyways, this night Paul comes up to bat, and Vin busts out with:

"Goldy didn't always want to be a baseball player.  When he was little, he loved soccer."  And he told this story about how Paul's mom signed him up for baseball and Paul didn't want to go and she made a deal with him that if he went to one practice, he could quit if he didn't like it.  And he went to that practice, loved it and the rest is history.  

My wife is sitting over on the other couch looking at me and laughing, because she knows how much I hate soccer.  

And I said, "There's no way that story is true."

Meanwhile, Paul's PA ended, and Cody Ross was up next.  Vin says, "When Cody was a child, he wanted to be a rodeo clown!"

And I yelled, "He's just making shit up!"

I immediately grabbed my phone and messaged Paul about the episode and asked if it was true.  The next morning, I had a message that said, "I don't know about Cody, but the story about me is 100% true."

I replied, asking him how Vin Scully got that story.  His response: "I have no idea."

 

I guess when you're Vin Scully, you just know things.

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not sure if it's been mentioned, or if people even realized, but other than national games like the world series, he typically would broadcast the entire game by himself.  he did play by play and color, and told stories, and never got boring, regardless of what was going on on the field. 

can't imagine anyone ever doing that again, especially these days where they cram 3+ people in the booth and have at least one sideline reporter doing god knows what.

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Another csb:

Back in 2011, some buddies and I flew out to la to meet up with an old friend/ucla alum for the game at the rose bowl (case’s first start, marquise goodwin nearly decapitated a bruin defender in the win that day). While we were out there, we decided to head over to Chavez Ravine to catch a dodgers game. Somehow we managed to score front row seats right behind home plate on the cheap.

It was a blowout..like 10-0 after three. Anyway, we stuck around because we had good seats and nothing better to do. Needless to say, there weren’t a whole lot of fans left by the seventh inning stretch, but the folks in our section had been calling out to Vin from below during the monotony of the middle innings, so he made a big show about leading “take me out to the ballgame” regardless of the meager crowd (as I’m sure he did all the time). We appreciated the gesture. He definitely got the loudest applause of that game..and rightly so. He was an absolute gem. 

My lasting memory will be of him waving at us from up in the booth that Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

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