Vin Scully A Voice For All Ages

Uh, oh. That was my first reaction upon hearing that Los Angeles Dodgers’ announcer Vin Scully was going to miss broadcasting the team’s home opener on Tuesday. It was announced he was suffering from a severe cold and that his doctors told him to stay home. Probably when you’re 34 you just stock up on Kleenex and ignore the advice. When you’re 84 you stay home.

This was just the second time in 63 years that Scully was absent from a Dodgers home opener. That’s kind of like Lou Gehrig and Cal Rikpen Jr. combined when it comes to baseball game streaks.

My uh, oh reaction was based on wondering if Scully was sicker than anyone was letting on or if this was age marking the beginning of a trend where he will have to miss more games as the 2012 season rolls on. We all know nothing lasts forever and that Scully is approaching retirement. But no one wants to see it happen.

Dodgers fans have been luckier than most with Scully’s wonderful voice and intelligent descriptions bringing the game home to them for so many decades. Those of us who live elsewhere and have only caught Dodger games on radio periodically, or been fortunate enough to see and listen to him on television on national events across the decades, know what a treat it is to have the man speak at you, or perhaps it is better to say, speak to you. Us out-of-towners caught him on the old Game of the Week, listening to All-Star games and World Series games.

To me, nothing is better than being there when it comes to professional sports. TV helps out tremendously since none of us can be everywhere. Radio is very handy when you are driving somewhere. Baseball is the best radio sport. It has a long history of connecting the game to the people, going back to the 1920s. Also, although it is difficult to remember, for about three decades, radio was bigger than television in delivering the game.

Scully is beloved in Los Angeles and has amazingly touched several generations with his broadcasts. To many in Southern California, Scully is the Dodgers. He has linked lives and has appealed to grandfathers, fathers and sons. The Major League team’s broadcaster in many big-league towns has enjoyed a similar kinship, if not the same longevity as Scully.

I will always tie my youth to listening to Curt Gowdy on Boston Red Sox games and I enjoyed Ned Martin for years as I grew into adulthood.

Yankees fans will lobby for Mel Allen as their old, best friend on the airwaves. Likewise Tiger fans in Detroit surely still miss Ernie Harwell. Bob Prince was a favorite in Pittsburgh. Milo Hamilton is Houston’s man (also 84, he has been in the game since 1953 with interruptions and more teams than Scully). Harry Caray was a legend in two cities, St. Louis and Chicago. The late Ron Santo, headed into the Hall of Fame this summer for his play at third base for the Chicago Cubs, was just as popular for his years in the broadcast booth. Red Barber (speaking of the Dodgers, in Brooklyn) and Jack Buck with the Cardinals are two more unforgettables. So is Bob Uecker, a player, humorist, and an actor on the national scene, who is still Milwaukee’s connection to the Brewers.

There is magic created between broadcaster and fan. Some of them have catch-phrases. Some of them have soothing voices. The broadcaster is the informant who keeps the fan up to the date, takes him inside the team, inside the clubhouse and describes the action when the fan can’t get to the ballpark himself. He is in a position of trust, but must also be entertaining.

Vin Scully has been associated with the Dodgers for longer than the Dodgers have been in Los Angeles. Spending 63 years with one team will definitely make you an institution.

You can follow Call to the Pen on Twitter at @FSCalltothePen or like us here on Facebook.