A few years ago, I wrote this on this here blog thing…
I am not a fan of the Dodgers. I am not even much of a fan of baseball. Once upon a time, I had some interest in both largely because my father did. This was back when the Dodgers were Maury Wills, Frank Howard, Willie Davis, Tommy Davis, Jim Gilliam, Johnny Roseboro, Don Drysdale, and Duke Snider.
And — oh, yeah — Sandy Koufax.
Only one member of the team is still at it today: Vin Scully. No, he didn't put on the uniform but he was the single most indispensable person in the stadium when the Dodgers played. And I always suspected he was secretly managing the team. Walter Alston was officially the manager then but it was easy to imagine Alston, just sitting in the dugout during the game, listening to Vin Scully like everyone else in the place. I'd hear Scully say, "This is the time when Walt Alston is probably deciding to take out the pitcher and bring in Ron Perranoski to throw to the next batter" and I was sure Alston would listen to that, then turn to someone and say, "Bring in Ron Perranoski to throw to the next batter."
At least, it sure felt like that.
I'm not sure how someone who hasn't lived in Los Angeles for a few decades can fully grasp what Vin Scully means to this town. He's beloved and he's respected. I can't think of anyone who does what they do better than how he's done what he's done. Here's Keith Olbermann with a personal reminiscence. Scully is a right-wing Republican but no one who isn't lets that get in the way of their affection for the man.
Vinnie's retiring after calling today's game and as far as some people are concerned, he might as well take baseball with him. There are dozens of great moments I could pick to embed here but here's just one. I like this because there's no video and thanks to the colorful narrative by Vinnie, you ain't missing a thing…