A number of folks wrote to suggest that yesterday's video clips of Vin Scully's five greatest "calls" didn't do justice to either Mr. Scully or those calls. Folks like Patrick Ford felt you couldn't appreciate Vinnie's poetry for the Kirk Gibson homer without seeing the whole thing. Here's the whole thing. You may also appreciate Scully's skill when contrasted to his co-commentator, Joe Garagiola. Garagiola was an okay sportcaster but he was no Vin Scully. He really has nothing to say but he says it anyway. Here's that famous moment of baseball…
And Bob Elisberg thinks I need to offer you the full version of Scully's famous radio description of Sandy Koufax's perfect game in '65. Bob writes, "What makes the Koufax call so stunning is not the "Strike three! Koufax has a perfect game," but what he says during the entire ninth inning. I've not only heard a tape of it, him setting up every single tense moment as if it was poetry, but I have a book of Great Baseball Writing and amid all these great writings, there is one chapter that is a transcript of Scully's play-by-play of the ninth inning, without a word changed, and it reads like great literature." Bob's right — as you'll hear if you click below…
