There will never be another Vin Scully. In school, I was taught to never write or speak in absolutes. I’m willing to risk the F here: There will – NEVER – be another Vin Scully.
The legendary voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers passed away last Tuesday after 94 incredible years on this earth. I could not imagine that, given the opportunity before stepping out of this life, Vin Scully could’ve found many regrets. The only issue would’ve been the fact there has never been another that would be qualified to narrate the story of Vin Scully’s life. That honor should’ve been wholly reserved for, well, Vin Scully.
Scully called his first Dodger’s game in 1950 – in Brooklyn, mind you – and his melodic voice would describe that team until his retirement in 2016. Imagine a man who was so good at his job that, in his first Dodgers game, Jackie Robinson hit clean up and in his final Dodgers game, Yasiel Puig did. Scully literally bridged the gap from the man that broke the color barrier batting fourth to his final line-up including a black player, two Cuban players, a Mexican player and a pitcher from Japan.
I grew up in Anniston, Alabama, part of an exit sign on I-20 between Birmingham and Atlanta. We were fed a steady diet of Braves games on The SuperStation WTBS. The single most popular Braves player was Dale Murphy. We all tried to emulate the every move of Murph. Those Braves teams were awful so you didn’t have to go too far down the list of most popular Braves until you got to the names Ernie Johnson, Skip Caray and Pete van Wieren. They were the Braves TV and radio guys and could find a way to keep a team that was 15 games back entertaining.
There is nobody that would make an argument those announcers, great as they were, are the most important parts of Braves history. But Vin Scully is on that list when you are discussing the L.A. Dodgers. And this is a franchise that has won seven World Championships we are talking about here. In what would be one of the most storied halls of fame in sports, Scully would be a first ballot choice in the Dodgers Hall of Fame. He would also be the only choice for master of ceremonies.
Though I am not an antique, I did grow up in a day in which not every single game was televised. As a Southerner, I can tell you few people were more important in the Deep South than John Ward, Jim Fyffe, John Forney and Larry Munson. Those men caused the world to stop in places like Eastaboga, Alabama and Ellijay, Georgia. They were the voice of record for Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama and Georgia football. They painted the pictures in the minds of millions of people of big wins and gut-punch losses.
But now, all the games are televised and, in many ways, the old school radio play-by-play announcer has become the voice of the highlights of the biggest plays. Three and a half hours of work is often consumed in fifteen second sound bites later on. It is just not the iconic job it once was.
Scully beat that system. He was, simultaneously, the TV and radio voice of the Dodgers, an incredibly difficult thing to pull off. I remember vividly the first time I purchased MLB Extra Innings, giving me access to all 162 Vin Scully games. Many summer nights I’d simply turn on that Dodgers game and listen to a few innings of Scully’s stories. I had zero concerns with the outcome of the game. In fact, for me, the game was simply the canvas that held the art of Scully’s work.
The stories were what set him apart. A base hit was an unwelcome event in an at bat, I wanted every batter to have a full-count so Vin had plenty of runway for his stories. He could time them out in a manner that it seemed Clayton Kershaw was in on the production and would hold his delivery to match a perfect pause in Scully’s stories. As ESPN’s Buster Olney said of Scully on my show, “If he needed a foul ball to finish his story, he always got one.”
I don’t imagine any artist ever walked inside the Sistine Chapel and said out loud, “You know, I could’ve done this a lot better.” I doubt many architects walk past the Hagia Sophia and say, “I would’ve put in more windows.” Likewise, there is no sports announcer worth their salt that would say, “Vin could’ve been so much better.”
Nope, Vin Scully did it perfectly. Then he gently dropped the mic and graciously walked off. Rest well, Mr. Scully, I can’t imagine there are many regrets. Our only one is there is nobody left behind remotely qualified to voice the story of your life.
Ryan Brown is a columnist for Barrett Sports Media, and a co-host of the popular sports audio/video show ‘The Next Round’ formerly known as JOX Roundtable, which previously aired on WJOX in Birmingham. You can find him on Twitter @RyanBrownLive and follow his show @NextRoundLive.
