It’s taken me several days think about what I wanted to say in this particular space.
Growing up as a sports fan, I love experiencing a great game. I am a radio professional…so even now to hear a great play-by-play broadcaster paint the pictures through my earbuds holds a special place for me. Some really stand out. These days…Kevin Harlan, Dave Sims, Jon Miller, Beth Mowins, Dan Shulman and (my friend and former co-worker) Taylor Zarzour are among the best out there.
But…if Major League Baseball — the sport itself — had a voice, it would be Vin Scully’s. He died August 2nd at 94…and the whole of baseball and sports broadcasting bowed its head.
It was Scully’s voice that was associated with baseball’s Dodgers in Brooklyn and L.A. His very last NFL game on TV featured “The Catch” — San Francisco’s Dwight Clark hauling in Joe Montana’s pass to beat Dallas in the 1981 NFC Championship. He punctuated it by saying , “Dwight Clark is 6’4″. He stands about 10 feet tall in this crowd’s estimation.”
That was part of the magic of Vin Scully. The moments themselves are memorable. It’s what he did and said after the moment that set him apart. First…he went against a broadcaster’s natural tendency to talk…and kept quiet. He treated sports’ historic moments like a fine wine breathing after its cork had just been popped. Then came the pour of that wine when he spoke the perfect words to punctuate it.
Scully was behind the mic in 1974 when Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run in Atlanta. Here is how he called it. Note the silence…and the power of what he says after it.
The next one you’ve undoubtedly seen in the days following Scully’s passing. The call of Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit homer in game one of the ’88 World Series showed how just a few words can be as dramatic as the crack of a home run swing.
I could continue with many other moments: Bill Buckner’s error in the ’86 Series, Sandy Koufax’s perfect game 1965. Scully was even in the booth for the first ever night game at Chicago’s Wrigley Field in 1988 giving an account of how then team owner Philip Wrigley had the steel for lights at the ballpark ready to go up in 1941 but decided to donate that steel to the American effort in World War II…putting the first Chicago Cubs’ home night game off another 47 years.
Technology has revolutionized broadcasting: how we see it, how we hear it and the media by which we consume it. When it comes down to it, broadcasting is very simple. Other than a traveling signal, all you need is an observant pair of eyes, a few descriptive words and a moment to chronicle. Vin Scully did it better than anyone.
How good was he? When a baseball player was hurt and couldn’t play, Scully once said — per the team — that player was listed as “day to day”. After a moment Scully quipped, “Aren’t we all?”
‘Nuff said.
WELCOME TO MY WORLD!! 