Opinion: Vin Scully leaves lasting impression on baseball

By: Kyle Tooley ~Sports Editor~

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Photo courtesy of sportingnews.com | Vin Scully has spent 67 seasons with the Dodgers, by far the most of any broadcaster with one team.

Vin Scully has served as the home radio broadcaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers since 1950 and is calling it a career at the conclusion of this regular season. He’s called three perfect games, 18 no-hitters and 28 World Series (six with the Dodgers) across an unprecedented 67 seasons with the club. The language he uses to describe something as simple as a baseball game can take exactly that, a game, and transform it into the art form fans have come to love.

The 88-year-old started with the team in Brooklyn and made the move to Los Angeles in 1958, eight years after jumping onto the scene as a 21-year-old rookie broadcaster. Scully made an impact on the game from the very beginning, revolutionizing the way baseball was broadcasted.

Here’s the thing about Vin Scully: the raw emotion that he has for this sport is evident in every phrase he utters. Fans like myself who find the true romanticism of baseball appreciate the pure beauty of what he does. He allows big moments to happen while providing his take on the events that are playing out in front of him. Fans sometimes take issue with the ways in which broadcasters call games but not with Vin. We just listen in amazement.

Where Scully truly changed the game was his incorporation of stories into the broadcast. Rather than relaying to fans what the umpire is calling or what the score is, he all but brings you into the booth, sharing personal details about the atmosphere, the players and even himself.

Scully has had such an unprecedented career that he even called a number of World Series that the Dodgers weren’t a part of, making it possible for fans to hear his voice during some of the greatest moments in the history of baseball. From Hank Aaron’s 715th home run to Joe Carter’s walk off in Toronto, Scully has left an indelible mark on this game.

There will never be another broadcaster like Vin Scully, that much is known. We can only hope that young broadcasters far and wide will take notes from the legend.