Don't You Love Vin Scully

[DownUnderDodger]

What a classic piece of :radio by Vin when Jeff Kent was airing his grievances to the Ump over the disputed base call today. It was very obvious what kent was saying, but Vin, in his calm, soothing style made it sound pretty tame:
"That was fertiliser"
"He mucked up that call"

And as a Dodger fan, I believe kent was in the ...........wrong! I think he was fractionally off base when he caught the ball.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

What a classic piece of :radio by Vin when Jeff Kent was airing his grievances to the Ump over the disputed base call today. It was very obvious what kent was saying, but Vin, in his calm, soothing style made it sound pretty tame:
"That was fertiliser"
"He mucked up that call"

And as a Dodger fan, I believe kent was in the ...........wrong! I think he was fractionally off base when he caught the ball.

No, I don't really like him. To me he is kinda boring. An announcer does not have to scream and shout, but he is absolutely the opposite: Almost no emotion.

[DownUnderDodger]

I used to think the same when I first heard him, but I have a deep respect for him as a very knowledgable and totally unbiased announcer. I thought he handled today's events with great applomb!

[blacksilverfan12]

I thought it was funny how he kept trying to censor what Kent said..."You missed the call!" You know, because we all know he said "missed"

For me, there's nothing better than a warm summer night, listening to Vin's voice

[Captain Cold Nose]

LA fans have been very lucky to have had both Scully and the late Chick Hearn for so long (although Hearn should have never been allowed near a boxing ring.) Scully knows it is never about him when he's in the broadcast booth, something too many announcers, good and not-so-good, forget from time to time.

"My golf game is terrific."

[LouGehrig]

Vin Scully shames most other announcers. Just listen to him on the radio. He is supposed to tell fans what is happening. No one does it any better.

[KCGHOST]

I have never cared for him and I have been listening to his stuff since his Brooklyn days. I once listened to a game that the Dodgers were trailing by four with 2 out in the bottom of the ninth and the sacks loaded. The call went like this: "there'saflyballtoleft.itsdeep.homerun". He may as well have been reading the phone book.

[willisraverchk77]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8G_trnJJYuI

[Lafferty Daniel]

LA fans have been very lucky to have had both Scully and the late Chick Hearn for so long (although Hearn should have never been allowed near a boxing ring.) Scully knows it is never about him when he's in the broadcast booth, something too many announcers, good and not-so-good, forget from time to time.
"My golf game is terrific."

It's refreshing to hear an announcer who cares more about the game than trying to win an Emmy.

[blacksilverfan12]

One thing about him that does bug me is that he repeats the same stories about players

[Los Bravos]

Scully knows it is never about him when he's in the broadcast booth, something too many announcers, good and not-so-good, forget from time to time.

I didn't really care for Vin in his NBC game of the week days, but looking back now, I know that two factors were involved there: I was too young to appreciate his style and he had to lug the execrable Garagiola around on his back.

Now that I have regular access to his Fox games, I've grown to really like listening to him. He doesn't need a color man, and he never sounds like an old man past his prime, which many guys his age can fall prey to.

He's always had my respect. Now he has my affection.

[Dodgerfan1]

I would assume most all Dodger fans would regard Vinnie in the highest esteem and consider him a national treasure. He has been one of the (if not THE) premier announcers in baseball for well over half a century. As someone who has heard his style and class for a long, long time, it's very hard for me to believe there are actually people who don't like him but, I guess that's just human nature. Most people tend to think their hometown announcer is better than others since they not only listen to him far more frequently than others and have become accustomed to his style, but also because so many broadcasters are 'homers' and openly root for the hometown team, which appeals to some fans of the team.

Not ALL fans of a certain team appreciate homerism, though; myself included in that mix. To me, there's something almost unprofessional in that. I know that's not so, since these guys are all professionals and many of them are quite good, despite the blatant home team bias, but there's just something a bit more 'classy' about an announcer who can seemingly distance himself from homerism and call the game in an interesting and informative way, something Vinnie has been doing for many, many years. In the 50+ years that he has been broadcasting, there are no doubt isolated examples of homerism from Scully, but his normal style is certainly not given to it. No, he's not one of those excitable announcers who scream and shout during a bang-bang play, but neither is he an Al Helfer type (look up THAT name, kiddies!) who is blasé most of the time and almost seems disinterested in the game. He is always a treat for me to listen to, and I would say the same thing if a different team were fortunate enough to have his services.

We Dodger fans have truly been blessed to be able to sit back, relax and listen to the best of the best for so long now. I have heard several announcers admit that when they were starting out in the biz, they wanted to be the best so they naturally tried to emulate the best and, to them, the best was Scully. I have heard both Al Michaels and Jon Miller say this.

One other thing I really like about Vin is the fact that he never went out of his way to develop some silly catch phrase or unique home run call like so many others. It is true that he does have a home run call which he uses frequently, which goes something like this, “Long drive, deep left field, back goes (name of the fielder), a WAY back…. GONE!” I may be biased, but to me that doesn’t sound nearly as contrived or silly as some home run calls. It’s also the same call he makes for BOTH teams 99% of the time, and made in the same tone of voice, which is one thing I meant by him not being an obvious homer.

Way to go, Vinnie. Deserved kudos!

[Kitty Kaat]

Scully's 1986 Game 6 Call

I bought the 1986 World Series on CD and was looking forward to how he handled the Buckner play after it happened. Almost no announcers would do what he did. He said nothing after the ball went through Buckner's legs and all you heard and saw was the Mets and the crowd going crazy for a few minutes. There were no words to describe what had happened. He knew he had nothing to say that would have have made the moment better. He respected the audience's knowledge by letting the pictures speak for themselves. I often think how more enjoyable postseason baseball would be with Scully doing the announcing instead of who FOX has.

[Dodgerfan1]

I bought the 1986 World Series on CD and was looking forward to how he handled the Buckner play after it happened. Almost no announcers would do what he did. He said nothing after the ball went through Buckner's legs and all you heard and saw was the Mets and the crowd going crazy for a few minutes. There were no words to describe what had happened. He knew he had nothing to say that would have have made the moment better. He respected the audience's knowledge by letting the pictures speak for themselves. I often think how more enjoyable postseason baseball would be with Scully doing the announcing instead of who FOX has.

Kitty, I had forgotten about that, but you are right, he didn't go on and on about the error, he just let the tape roll, sat back and let the crowd and the moment speak for itself, for the most part.

Another historic moment that Scully had the opportunity to broadcast was, of course, the famous Kirk Gibson home run during the 1988 World Series. Even though he announced for the Dodgers all that season, the call he made on Gibby's HR, while he was obviously excited, was even more understated than Jack Buck's call; further testament to his lack of blatant homerism. True, he was announcing on network television at the time, which does not lend itself to homerism as much as a local radio or television broadcast does, but still, there you are. A classy call from a classy guy, IMHO.

Not to pick on the Giants, but since I live here in the Bay Area, I do get a chance to hear and see Giants broadcasts frequently, and one of the things I truly detest is the catch-phrase developed by Mike Krukow whereby if a hitter on the opposing team strikes out, Krukow will often proclaim, "Grab some pine, meat!" That's just an 'in-your-face' type statement, and you wouldn't find Vin Scully being caught dead saying something like that at any time. In defense of the Giants and Krukow, I'm sure there are others who engage in the same type of thing, and it's probably indicative of the way society has evolved today. So much onus is placed on 'attitude' that these guys come off sounding like schmucks to me. So, maybe all in all, I'm just an old-fashioned weirdo who prefers class to attitude. What the hell do I know?

[lovethegame]

NO I DON'T
Vin is the keystone of all the Damon Runyon wannabes at the mike
Shut up ,keep your ceaseless anecdotes to yourself and display the game