Scully credited the birth of the transistor radio as “the greatest single break” of his career. Scully, who played outfield for two years on the Fordham University baseball team, began his career by working baseball, football and basketball games for the university’s radio station. He thought he’d like to call the action himself.

With a snack of saltine crackers and a glass of milk nearby, the boy was transfixed by the crowd’s roar that raised goosebumps. His mother moved the family to Brooklyn, where the red-haired, blue-eyed Scully grew up playing stickball in the streets.Īs a child, Scully would grab a pillow, put it under the family’s four-legged radio and lay his head directly under the speaker to hear whatever college football game was on the air. He was the son of a silk salesman who died of pneumonia when Scully was 7. I know he was looking forward to joining the love of his life, Sandi.” He was a giant of a man, not only as a broadcaster, but as a humanitarian,” Kasten said. “Vin Scully was one of the greatest voices in all of sports. He always said he wanted to see things with his eyes, not his heart. He opened broadcasts with the familiar greeting, “Hi, everybody, and a very pleasant good evening to you wherever you may be.”Įver gracious both in person and on the air, Scully considered himself merely a conduit between the game and the fans.Īlthough he was paid by the Dodgers, Scully was unafraid to criticize a bad play or a manager’s decision, or praise an opponent while spinning stories against a backdrop of routine plays and noteworthy achievements. The Dodgers changed players, managers, executives, owners – and even coasts – but Scully and his soothing, insightful style remained a constant for the fans. In the 1990s, it was Mike Piazza and Hideo Nomo, followed by Clayton Kershaw, Manny Ramirez and Yasiel Puig in the 21st century. He began in the 1950s era of Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson, on to the 1960s with Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax, into the 1970s with Steve Garvey and Don Sutton, and through the 1980s with Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela. “His voice will always be heard and etched in all of our minds forever.”Īs the longest tenured broadcaster with a single team in pro sports history, Scully saw it all and called it all. “We have lost an icon,” team president and CEO Stan Kasten said in a statement. Scully died at his home in the Hidden Hills section of Los Angeles, according to the team, which spoke to family members.

Sign in pandora with password