The baseball world lost a legend on Tuesday night. Longtime Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster and Hall of Famer Vin Scully has died at his home in California.. He was 94 years old. Bronx-born Scully called national football and golf broadcasts, including CBS Sports from 1975-82, in addition to his baseball duties.
“He was the voice of the Dodgers, and so much more. He was their conscience, their poet laureate, capturing their beauty and everything from Jackie Robinson to Sandy Koufax, from Kirk Gibson to Clayton Kershaw. “The Dodgers — and in many ways, the heartbeat of all of Los Angeles,” the team said in a statement.
Truth be told, Scully’s most famous calling didn’t involve baseball. It was a touchdown pass to Joe Montana’s Dwight Clark in the 1982 NFC Championship Game, known simply as “The Catch”.
Scully pitched countless games in his 67-year career, including 18 no-hitters and three perfect games. Speaking as someone who grew up on the East Coast, Scully was often the last voice I heard before bed each night, and staying up late to listen to his broadcasts is one of my fondest baseball memories. There is one. I’m sure there are others who feel the same way.
Here are Scully’s 10 most memorable baseball calls. This is not a hierarchy, there is no need to discuss these things and we can appreciate them all equally. It’s a trip down memory lane with the greatest work of all time.
October 8, 1956: Don Larson’s Best Game
The only perfect game in World Series history was thrown in Game 1 of the 1956 Fall Classic, and Scully was at Yankee Stadium to call it. Of course he was. Larson threw his best game against the then-Brooklyn Dodgers. Here’s Scully’s call on the final out:
September 9, 1965: Sandy Koufax’s Best Game
There have been 23 perfect games in baseball history, including Larson’s in the World Series, and Scully was behind the microphone for 13 percent of them. He called Larson’s Perfect Game in 1956, Koufax’s Perfect Game in 1965, and later Dennis Martinez’s Perfect Game in 1991.
April 8, 1974: Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth’s record.
Scully was a great broadcaster not so much because of the way he described the game on the field, but because he was curious about the game and always had a story to tell, and he was the best. Could put moments in perspective. That same night Aaron became the all-time home run king, explaining why it’s more than just a milestone home run.
October 5, 1986: Bill Buckner’s mistake
The baseball gods have a way of putting the right people in the right place at the right time, and Scully found himself on the call in what seems like every iconic moment of the past 75 years. Here Scully calls Buckner’s walk-off error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series at Shea Stadium.
October 15, 1988: Kirk Gibson’s home run
Essentially the most famous home run in baseball history — Gibson’s hobbled walk-off homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series — gave The most famous broadcaster in baseball history. “In a year that was so impossible, the impossible happened.” A legendary call that will last as long as this game is played.
October 23, 1993: Joe Carter’s home run
This is one of the few occasions in which Scully’s call is only the second most famous. Tom Gall’s legendary “Touch ’em all Joe! You’ll never hit a bigger home run!” Call with Live forever, but of course Scully was at home for Carter’s World Series-winning walk-off blast in Game 6 of the 1993 Fall Classic.
March 9, 2008: Public Enemy no. 1
The baseball world didn’t know much about Clayton Kershaw in spring training in 2008. He was a Double-A pitching prospect at a time when prospect video was much more difficult to find. In a Cactus League game that spring, Kershaw froze Sean Casey with his hallmark curveball, much to the delight of Mr. Key. Scully
August 6, 2012: Jim Tracy’s meltdown
Long before the days of lip-readers turning manager tirades into viral videos, Schooley put his own spin on Tracy’s meltdown after the umpires called and overturned a trap call in center field. “It’s blinky fertilizer.”
June 8, 2014: Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter
Scully has thrown 18 no-hitters in his incredible career and the last was by Kershaw in 2014, an error by Hanley Ramirez in what was far from a perfect game. Kershaw’s 15 strikeouts were the most no-hitter ever.
October 2, 2016: Final sign-off
Scully retired in 2016. He did an emotional sign off during the game.. His final call was a Rob Segeden fly ball to Angel Pagan in left field at what was then called AT&T Park, which clinched the wild-card spot for the Giants. A happy ending to one of the greatest and happiest broadcasting careers in sports history.
“I have said enough for a lifetime, and for the last time, I wish you all a very pleasant afternoon.”
