Can you name anyone alive who's better at their job than Vin Scully is at his? As we near sixty years of "The Ol' Redhead" doing play-by-play for the Dodgers, I'm still stunned by this perfect match of man and mission. My interest in the team (in baseball at all) plunged when my local team no longer consisted of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills and others of that era. To this day, when I tune in a game, it's not because of whoever's currently wearing the Dodger uniforms. It's to enjoy the sheer beauty of Vin Scully describing whatever the hell those guys out there pretending to be Dodgers are doing.
Yesterday afternoon, I attended a luncheon in Mr. Scully's honor. Most of it consisted of colleagues heaping praise on the man and him turning the color of his hair in humble embarrassment. The first speaker was Jonathan Winters who, I'm happy to report, looked to be in pretty good health. The last before the honoree was Tommy Lasorda, who was nice enough to leave some food for the rest of us. Vin told a hilarious story about Dodger history which I can in no way recreate here…and anyway, you'd have to hear him tell it.
This was a function of the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, a group which among its other activities, honors three "legends" of TV or radio each year with these luncheons. Sometimes, the criteria for honorees seems a bit thin and you can tell that some in the hall are pondering, "Why are we toasting that guy?" Not this time. This time, everyone was asking why they're only now getting around to Vin Scully. The sheer unanimity of respect was something to behold.