Baseball won’t be the same without him.
Before the start of the 2016 MLB season, Dodgers’ play-by-play broadcaster Vin Scully announced his plan to retire at the end of the season and complete his astonishing 67-year career.
Scully is the greatest MLB broadcaster of all time.
As an aspiring broadcaster, Scully is one of my biggest idols. He masterfully mixes calling the game, talking about individual players’ lives and telling stories nobody else knows about.
Scully started calling games for the Dodgers in 1950. To put that into perspective, Scully started broadcasting during Jackie Robinson’s fourth season in the league, while Harry Truman was president of the United States and the average price for a gallon of gas was 18 cents.
The talented play-by-play broadcaster called the 1950 World Series at the young age of 25. He owns the MLB record for youngest broadcaster to call the Fall Classic.
Scully has called tons of major sports highlights. He called Hall-of-Famer Hank Aaron’s then record-breaking 715th home run. He called Dodger’s legend Kirk Gibson’s famous pinch hit walk-off home run in the 1988 World Series. He even called one of the most famous NFL plays of all-time: “The Catch,” by Dwight Clark during the 1982 NFC Championship Game.
When I listen to Scully, unlike any other broadcaster, I leave with goosebumps and more MLB history knowledge than was ever imaginable.
As Scully rides into the sunset following the 2016 season, it’s fair to say there will never be another broadcaster like him.
