Vin Scully

[dodgersfan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_Scully




Rudy

[Rob L]

Let me start off by saying I hate the Dodgers with every ounce of my being. I'm not even sure why. When I was a kid, the Garvey, Lopes, Russell, Cey infield was a favorite. But the one constant that I will alway remember is listening to Dodger games in my parents car with Vin calling the game. Anyone remember the Farmer John commercials? What a great voice and style for calling a game.

As many of you know, I'm an Angels homer, but no one can call a game like Vin.

[mwbosoxfan]

I am not a Dodger fan, but my wife's family are big Dodger fans. So, late at night when the west coast games are on, and if my team isn't playing, I do watch quite a few Dodger games, at least parts of them. There is no other like Vin Scully. He's his own play by play and color man wrapped up into one. Nobody can do it like him. The following is Vin's call of the ninth inning of Koufax's perfect game in 1965. My brother-in-law and I were talking about Scully one time and he e-mailed this piece to me. I would've been 2 years old at the time, but I can picture it as if I was there.


Three times in his sensational career has Sandy Koufax walked out to the mound to pitch a fateful ninth where he turned in a no-hitter. But tonight, September the 9th, nineteen hundred and 65, he made the toughest walk of his career, I'm sure, because through eight innings he has pitched a perfect game. He has struck out 11, he has retired 24 consecutive batters, and the first man he will look at is catcher Chris Krug, big right-hand hitter, flied to second, grounded to short. Dick Tracewski is now at second base and Koufax ready and delivers: curveball for a strike.
0 and 1 the count to Chris Krug. Out on deck to pinch-hit is one of the men we mentioned earlier as a possible, Joey Amalfitano. Here's the strike 1 pitch to Krug: fastball, swung on and missed, strike 2. And you can almost taste the pressure now. Koufax lifted his cap, ran his fingers through his black hair, then pulled the cap back down, fussing at the bill. Krug must feel it too as he backs out, heaves a sigh, took off his helmet, put it back on and steps back up to the plate.

Tracewski is over to his right to fill up the middle, Kennedy is deep to guard the line. The strike 2 pitch on the way: fastball, outside, ball 1. Krug started to go after it and held up and Torborg held the ball high in the air trying to convince Vargo but Eddie said nossir. One and 2 the count to Chris Krug. It is 9:41 p.m. on September the 9th. The 1-2 pitch on the way: curveball, tapped foul off to the left of the plate.

The Dodgers defensively in this spine-tingling moment: Sandy Koufax and Jeff Torborg. The boys who will try and stop anything hit their way: Wes Parker, Dick Tracewski, Maury Wills and John Kennedy; the outfield of Lou Johnson, Willie Davis and Ron Fairly. And there's 29,000 people in the ballpark and a million butterflies. Twenty nine thousand, one hundred and thirty-nine paid.

Koufax into his windup and the 1-2 pitch: fastball, fouled back out of play. In the Dodger dugout Al Ferrara gets up and walks down near the runway, and it begins to get tough to be a teammate and sit in the dugout and have to watch. Sandy back of the rubber, now toes it. All the boys in the bullpen straining to get a better look as they look through the wire fence in left field. One and 2 the count to Chris Krug. Koufax, feet together, now to his windup and the 1-2 pitch: fastball outside, ball 2. (Crowd boos.)

A lot of people in the ballpark now are starting to see the pitches with their hearts. The pitch was outside, Torborg tried to pull it over the plate but Vargo, an experienced umpire, wouldn't go for it. Two and 2 the count to Chris Krug. Sandy reading signs, into his windup, 2-2 pitch: fastball, got him swingin'! Sandy Koufax has struck out 12. He is two outs away from a perfect game.

Here is Joe Amalfitano to pinch-hit for Don Kessinger. Amalfitano is from Southern California, from San Pedro. He was an original bonus boy with the Giants. Joey's been around, and as we mentioned earlier, he has helped to beat the Dodgers twice, and on deck is Harvey Kuenn. Kennedy is tight to the bag at third, the fastball, a strike. 0 and 1 with one out in the ninth inning, 1 to nothing, Dodgers. Sandy reading, into his windup and the strike 1 pitch: curveball, tapped foul, 0 and 2. And Amalfitano walks away and shakes himself a little bit, and swings the bat. And Koufax with a new ball, takes a hitch at his belt and walks behind the mound.
I would think that the mound at Dodger Stadium right now is the loneliest place in the world.

Sandy fussing, looks in to get his sign, 0 and 2 to Amalfitano. The strike 2 pitch to Joe: fastball, swung on and missed, strike 3! He is one out away from the promised land, and Harvey Kuenn is comin' up.

So Harvey Kuenn is batting for Bob Hendley. The time on the scoreboard is 9:44. The date, September the 9th, 1965, and Koufax working on veteran Harvey Kuenn. Sandy into his windup and the pitch, a fastball for a strike! He has struck out, by the way, five consecutive batters, and that's gone unnoticed. Sandy ready and the strike 1 pitch: very high, and he lost his hat. He really forced that one. That's only the second time tonight where I have had the feeling that Sandy threw instead of pitched, trying to get that little extra, and that time he tried so hard his hat fell off -- he took an extremely long stride to the plate -- and Torborg had to go up to get it.

One and 1 to Harvey Kuenn. Now he's ready: fastball, high, ball 2. You can't blame a man for pushing just a little bit now. Sandy backs off, mops his forehead, runs his left index finger along his forehead, dries it off on his left pants leg. All the while Kuenn just waiting. Now Sandy looks in. Into his windup and the 2-1 pitch to Kuenn: swung on and missed, strike 2!

It is 9:46 p.m.

Two and 2 to Harvey Kuenn, one strike away. Sandy into his windup, here's the pitch: Swung on and missed, a perfect game!

(38 seconds of cheering.)

On the scoreboard in right field it is 9:46 p.m. in the City of the Angels, Los Angeles, California. And a crowd of 29,139 just sitting in to see the only pitcher in baseball history to hurl four no-hit, no-run games. He has done it four straight years, and now he caps it: On his fourth no-hitter he made it a perfect game. And Sandy Koufax, whose name will always remind you of strikeouts, did it with a flurry. He struck out the last six consecutive batters. So when he wrote his name in capital letters in the record books, that "K" stands out even more than the O-U-F-A-X.

[karamaxjoe]

It's all about who you grew up listening to. I would guess Vin Scully has introduced baseball on the radio to more listeners than anyone else. How many announcers are still left that can say they did Brooklyn Dodger games? None

I grew up with Harry Caray and Jack Brickhouse in Chicago. Those two voices will always take me back to a great time. Oh, and by the way that's Harry Caray with the SOX and not his stint with the Cubs.

[bigtruck260]

None better than Jack Buck - I know that as a kid, my Dad would turn down any Cards broadcast that was not on KMOX just to listen to Jack...

Not arguing about Scully - but rarely does a broadcaster bring tears to your eyes the way Jack could. He is sorely missed in my home. Sorely.

[karamaxjoe]

Not arguing about Scully - but rarely does a broadcaster bring tears to your eyes the way Jack could. He is sorely missed in my home. Sorely.

I'm pretty sure Jack made a lot of A's fans cry after game one of the World Series in 1988 - "I DON'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!!"

[encinorick]

He called the game. He told you the score, he told you the balls and strikes, he told you what the hitter hit in earlier innings, how the pitcher was pitching. It was all about the game, the stuff in between the lines.

And then, once in awhile, he'd talk about Jackie, or Campy or Koufax and Drysdale. Or the hapless Dodgers of the 1940's. And he'd mention Mel Ott, his favorite player, or Mickey and DiMaggio. And the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers or 1981 Dodgers.

But, it always about the game, the game in between the lines.

When I was a kid, I had a small radio under my pillow and would fall asleep to the sound of Vin (Jerry Doggett, did 3-6 innings, Vin 1-3, 6-9) calling Koufax, Wills, Willie and Tommy Davis, vs. the hated Giants, Mays, McCovey, Marichal, Perry, Cepada, et all.

Nothing better, never.

[bigtruck260]

I'm pretty sure Jack made a lot of A's fans cry after game one of the World Series in 1988 - "I DON'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!!"

My point exactly - Jack even made competing teams happy once in a while...I'm sure that's a call that every Dodgers fan will never forget once they've heard it. Timeless.

[Fraudfinder!!]

Curt Gowdey had the best baseball voice IMHO. He could call a game....