Am:erican Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame (Inducted in 1992) Plaque:
"As the voice of the Dodgers for over 40 years, Vin Scully is recognized as one of the truly great baseball announcers. To baseball fans, including the original Brooklyn Dodgers diehards, Vin is beloved as much as the game of baseball itself.
A native of New York City, Scully spent two years in the Navy before he graduated from Fordham University where he was a varsity basketball player. Scully began his broadcasting career at WTOP-AM in Washington, D.C. In 1950, the late Red Barber, together with Connie Desmond, chose Vin to broadcast the Brooklyn Dodgers games. Thus began Vin's illustrious baseball broadcasting career. In 1982 Vin rejoined the old Red Head, this time in the broadcast wing of baseball's Hall of Fame as the recipient of the Ford Frick Award.
Vin moved with the Dodgers when "Dem Bums" relocated to Los Angeles in 1958. With NBC and CBS Sports, Scully has covered 12 World Series and six All-Star Games for television as well as many of baseball's most thrilling moments. A master of the English language, steeped in the knowledge of the sport and with an understanding of what fans want to "see" and "hear", Vin has enriched and refined the art of sportscasting.
Scully is the recipient of virtually every honor which can be bestowed upon him including the George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting. In 1985, Vin was honored by the American Sportscasters Association with it's Sportscaster of the Year Award."
"At times I'll be listening to him and I'll think, Oh, I wish I could call upon that expression the way he does. He paints the picture more beautifully than anyone who's ever called a baseball game." - Dick Enberg
"It may sound corny, but, I enjoyed listening to Vin (Scully) call a game almost more than playing in them. He's been a special broadcaster for a lot of years and he's been wonderful to listen too for a lot of years. He definitely is the All Century broadcaster as far as I'm concerned." - Sandy Koufax
"On the baseball field, it was my good fortune to play with many Hall of Famers. Today, that good fortune continues as I work the booth with another Hall of Famer, my good friend Vin Scully." - Don Drysdale
Radio Hall of Fame (Inducted in 1995) Plaque:
"Vin Scully holds the distinction of the longest consecutive service of any current major league broadcaster for one team. When you think of Vin Scully, you think of the Dodgers.
Born in the Bronx on November 27, 1927, Scully began his broadcasting career while attending Fordham University. He announced baseball games over the University's radio station and also got some experience 'in the field' by playing for the team for two seasons.
A year after graduating, Vin joined the Dodgers in 1950, where he worked alongside Radio Hall of Famer and baseball legend Red Barber.
Because he has been with the Dodgers both in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, Scully has described the heroics of some of the greatest players of the second half of the 20th century. The exploits of Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax, as well as the world championship seasons of (1955 - Not On Plaque) 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981 and 1988, have unfolded before the perceptive eyes of Vin Scully. In 1965, Scully brought the thrill of Sandy Koufax's perfect game to Dodger fans everywhere.
Scully is so well-regarded for his mastery of the English language and his enviable demeanor that the 'voice of the Dodger' has become the 'voice of the World Series' year after year for the CBS Radio Network. In 1976, Dodger fans voted Scully the 'most memorable personality' in Los Angeles Dodger history."
"There is no broadcaster in baseball with Vinny's eloquence, sense of humor, knowledge of baseball history, and genuine class." - DodgerBlues.com
"Vin Scully has the most musical voice in baseball. He doesn't have the clipped, old-time-radio cadence of most broadcasters who date back to the '50s and beyond. Although his timbre is thin, everything is smooth and rounded. The words slide into each other. He has flow. The melody rises and falls on the tide of the game. You can almost hum along to Vin Scully. He's often referred to as baseball's poet laureate, and those who don't get him parody him by quoting Emerson or spouting flowery language. But even though he will occasionally toss off some verse (he's likely to find the lyrics of an old show tune more apt) or call a cheap base hit "a humble thing, but thine own," the real metaphor for Vin Scully isn't poetry, or even music: It's painting. Other radio announcers can tell you what's happening on the field, and you can imagine it. With Vin Scully, you can see it. His command of the language and the game is so masterful that he always has just the right words to describe what's going on. He paints you a picture."
- Gary Kaufman in Salon (2000)
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There are countless moments that Scully left in the eternal memory of sports broadcasts, not only in baseball, so it is unfair to choose the best of all time, however, there are two moments that transcended epochs and both were in the 80s.
The Catch
For many the most important play in NFL history, yes you are reading that right NFL, was narrated by Vin Scullly when the San Francisco 49ers forever changed their history by facing Tom Ladry's mythical Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game.On January 10, 1982, a young quarterback by the name of Joe Montana faced "America's Team" at Candlestick Park, the Cowboys had a 27-21 lead with 58 seconds to play and on 3rd and 3, Montana rolled to the right and with Ed "Too Tall" Jones lying in wait he threw a high pass that Dwight Clark literally dropped out of the sky in the corner of the end zone, which was christened "The Catch".
That iconic action was accompanied nationally with the unmistakable voice of Vin Scully.
Kirk Gibson's homerun
Speaking of MLB baseball, Scully was there for great
moments, also narrating Perfect Games and unforgettable
moments, but none more so than that miracle in Game 1
of the 1988 World Series between the Dodgers and
Oakland Athetics.
On October 15 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles,
California, Kirk Gibson was unable to walk with injuries
to both knees, yet when the game was dying, in the bottom
of the ninth inning, with two outs and a man on base, the
A's were leading 4-3, Tommy Lasorda put Gibson in as
a pinch hitter, and in his only activity in the entire World
Series he hit a homerun that gave the Dodgers the victory
to the ecstasy of all the fans at Chavez Ravine.
"In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible
has happened..."
"High fly ball into right field...
She is GONE..." Vin Scully
"In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has
happened!" are the words with which Vin Scully will
forever be remembered, as Gibson limped across the
diamond.
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