Vin Scully

Vincent Edward Scully (born November 29, 1927 in The Bronx, New York) is an American sportscaster, known primarily as the play-by-play voice of Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball games.

Memorable Calls

One of Scully's most memorable moments from his early years in Los Angeles is his commentary on the perfect game pitched by Sandy Koufax in 1965. http://archive.salon.com/people/bc/1999/10/12/scully/

Related Topics:
Perfect game - Sandy Koufax

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Concluding Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Scully uttered arguably the most famous call of his career: "A little roller up along first ... behind the (first-base) bag ... it gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight ... and the Mets win it!" Scully then remained silent for approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds, letting the pictures and the crowd tell the story. Scully finally said, "If one picture is worth a thousand words, you have seen about a million words, but more then that, you have seen an absolutely bizarre finish to Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The Mets are not only alive, they are well, and they will play the Red Sox in Game 7 tomorrow!"

Related Topics:
1986 World Series - Buckner - Knight - Mets - Red Sox

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Two years later, in Game 1 of the World Series, Scully made a call that no Los Angeles baseball fan will ever forget, when Kirk Gibson of the Dodgers hit a dramatic, walk-off, two-run home run to beat the Oakland Athletics 5-4. Over the course of the season, Gibson had injured both legs (to swing a bat, Scully announced, Gibson would only be able to use his upper-body strength, because "he can't push off , and he can't land .") and was being treated in the trainer's room, out of sight, during the entire game. In the ninth (and final) inning, pinch-hitter Mike Davis was awarded first base on a two-out walk, "and look who's coming up," Scully said. After two strikes, Gibson hit a ball on the ground, limped about 50 feet toward first base before the ball bounced foul, "...and it had to be an effort to run that far." Finally, on a 3-balls, 2-strikes pitch to Gibson from relief pitcher Dennis Eckersley, Scully was as stunned as anyone when he nearly screamed, "High fly ball into right field, she i-i-i-is... gone!!!" Holding to his long-standing belief that the noise of the fans best tells the story, Scully did not speak for 67 seconds before announcing, incredulously, "In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!" Later, Scully said to his broadcast partner (Garagiola) and to the viewers, "What an opening act, huh? I think we've got a leading man, and many of them, between now and the end of this great 1988 World Series." Kirk Gibson would not make another appearance in the series, which the Dodgers won, 4 games to 1. Scully would later say that he was still in such disbelief several hours later, he couldn't sit down.

Related Topics:
World Series - Los Angeles - Fan - Kirk Gibson - Home run - Oakland Athletics - Body - Trainer's - Inning - Pinch-hitter - Walk - Two strikes - Foul - Relief pitcher - Dennis Eckersley

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While at the 1989 All-Star Game, Scully watched the gifted and versatile Bo Jackson, who was leading off for the American League, hit a towering home run off of Rick Reuschel. The ball that Jackson hit sailed high and far, soared over the center-field fence, and landed an estimated four-hundred-forty-eight feet from home plate. Scully reacted to the homer by saying on the NBC telecast "And look at that one! Bo Jackson says hello!"

Related Topics:
All-Star Game - Bo Jackson - American League - Rick Reuschel

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The final Major League Baseball game that Vin Scully called for NBC was on October 9, 1989. Scully was at San Francisco's Candlestick Park to broadcast Game 5 of the National League Championship Series between the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs. The Giants were on the brink of winning their first National League pennant in 27 years. In a moment that no San Francisco baseball fan will ever forget, Giants first baseman (and eventual NLCS MVP) Will Clark broke up a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the 8th inning after getting a base hit (with the bases loaded) off of the Cubs' relief ace, Mitch Williams. Prior to the showdown between Clark and Williams, Scully summarized it by simply saying "I guess we figured it should come down to this." Clark took the first fastball for a strike, then fouled one away. Williams' next pitch missed the outside corner to bring the count to 1-and-2. After Clark fouled off two more pitches, he hit a screaming line drive up the middle to bring in two runs. "Line drive, base hit into center field! In comes one, in comes Butler, going to third is Thompson! 3 to 1 San Francisco!!!" After Giants pitcher Steve Bedrosian gave up a run in the top of the 9th, he was able to get Ryne Sandberg to ground out and end the game. "Breaking ball hit to Robbie Thompson...and that's it!"

Related Topics:
October 9 - 1989 - San Francisco - Candlestick Park - San Francisco Giants - Chicago Cubs - First baseman - Will Clark - Mitch Williams - Fastball - Outside corner - Butler - Thompson - Steve Bedrosian - Ryne Sandberg - Breaking ball

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On October 27, 1991, Scully (calling the game for CBS Radio) was on hand for a game considered by fans to be one of the most intense in the sport's history. Game 7 of the already exciting World Series (between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves) was scoreless going into the 9th inning, and an emotionally drained Scully said, "after eight full innings of play, Atlanta nothing, Minnesota nothing... I think we'll be back in just a moment." In the bottom of the 10th inning, Gene Larkin won the game for the Twins with a high fly-ball into left field (which allowed Dan Gladden to score) off of Alejandro Peña.

Related Topics:
October 27 - 1991 - World Series - Minnesota Twins - Atlanta Braves - Gene Larkin - Dan Gladden - Alejandro Peña

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On October 2, 2004, the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the NL West Division title with a seven-run 9th inning rally capped by Steve Finley's walk-off grand slam home run. Scully, doing the radio broadcast for KFWB AM 980, exclaimed "High fly ball into deep right field! Wherever it goes, the Dodgers have won and it's a grand slam home run."

Related Topics:
October 2 - 2004 - Los Angeles Dodgers - Steve Finley - Grand slam - KFWB

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For regular Dodger Stadium fans, however, every game that Scully has called has been ripe with memorable observations and ad libs. Scully enjoyed an easy rapport with the home-team fans and never criticized them, even when they would leave a Dodgers' game in the seventh inning in order to make their way out of the parking lot before the rest of the stadium emptied out. Between calls, Scully would give tongue-in-cheek observations of what was going on in and around the playing field. During one Sunday afternoon Dodgers rout, fans began leaving the stadium en masse in the seventh inning. "You know what they say in opera: 'It's not over 'til the fat lady sings,'" Scully ad-libbed. "Well, folks, the fat lady is singing in the parking lot!"

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