Dodgers announcer Scully remains a treasure

Neil Best

May 4, 2008

It seems beside the point to quote Vin Scully in a newspaper article.

The words are eloquent, sure, but they are stripped of their artistic context, like describing in cold type the beauty of a painting or song.

So you'll have to take my word for it, assuming you don't watch or listen to Dodgers games via an out-of-market subscription:

Scully still sounds great. (Looks great, too.)

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At 80, he is the best living American sports announcer, and might be better than any who previously lived.

Thus it was jarring to hear him suggest rather bluntly Tuesday that his 59th consecutive season calling Dodgers games might be his last.

"I'm not sure," he said at Sotheby's in Manhattan before being honored with a lifetime achievement award from Fordham's WFUV, his college radio alma mater.

"I don't have a number in mind. I'm not saying I want to go 60 like Babe Ruth's home runs. I think when the season is over I'll talk to my wife [Sandy] and see how we feel. It's always been me, me, me, or 'I have to do this.'

"Then we'll talk to the [Dodgers] and see if we can't work something out. Maybe we will, maybe we can't. I really don't know."

Shortly after saying that to me, he expressed similar sentiments to The New York Times, which published them, causing tremors in Southern California.

Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times put in a panicked phone call to Scully, whom he described as "the most trusted voice in the history of our city."

"It came out a little heavy-handed, and it really wasn't like that," Scully told him, reassuring fans.

But Scully didn't sound sure about anything Tuesday. His contract is up after this year, a deal that spares him road trips east of Denver.

The road lost its appeal years ago. Here is Scully, a grandfather of 18, on life in hotels:

"There comes a time when you're in the room and you can suddenly hear that meter: 'Tick, tick, tick.' And you say to yourself, 'What am I doing here in Philadelphia? What am I doing here in Pittsburgh?' That's when it starts eating at you."

The Dodgers presumably would cut him back only to home games if he wished, but that will be sorted out after the season.

For now there are games to do, including a visit from the National League team from his hometown starting Monday.

Does it seem like a half-century since the Dodgers left, later to be replaced by the Metropolitans?

"No, no," he said. "When they told us at a very tender age, tempest fugit, time flies, you'd say, 'Oh, sure,' and then you'd think the summer would never get here.

"But now, oh, yes, oh, yes, and it seems to fly faster every year."