[EveningStar]

SoCal

[Longhair_and_Leather]

"He's the last of a breed in another sense, too, continuing to work solo. To those who have grown up accustomed to multiple voices in the booth and might consider this an anachronism, I respond: Why would you rather have two guys gabbing with each other instead of one talking directly to you, the listener?

This guy never heard Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn!

Harry Kalas, Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Vin Scully. All of them were great, and at a time baseball was great--before the 1994 strike.

[newfreep]

Scully gives you bumps, too?

[ZGuy]

Sorry. Vin Scully is a terrible announcer, at least if you want to know what is going on at the ballgame. I don't know how many times I've been sitting at a game and watched a foul ball go WAY back into the seats behind the third base dugout only to hear Vin on the radio say something like, "Oh My! He hit that one! Oh! It's going . . . foul."

Here's another Vin classic: Man on second, one out, Vin announces the next hit, "It's up the middle, and he will have to stop af first. [long pause] And here's the next batter..." Hey Vin, maybe some of us would like to know if the man on second scored or if he stopped at third. Unfortunately we won't know that until the end of the inning when the score is giving and we can figure it out ourselves.

But on top of these are Vin's admission that he intentionally does not tell the radio audience what he sees. He was interviewed by Lon Simmons once during a pregame show and Lon asked him how he would announce a situation in which a runner was called out at second, but it was clear that the second baseman dropped the ball and that the umpire missed it. Vin said that he would only tell the audience that the runner was called out and that he would never mewntion the dropped ball.

Sorry, Vin may have a folksy and memorable delivery, but when it comes to imparting the information the audience wants to hear, accurately, he's the worst.

[B-Chan]

And how will the Farmer John sausage folks survive when he’s gone?

[Mr. Mojo]

Vin is rated #1 in ASA's Top 50 Sportscasters of All Time , and for good reason.

(I'd have put Chick Hearn 2nd).

[Palladin]

He’s still alive?

[calex59]

Well, what a disappointment,I thought this was a thread about Jillian Anderson!

[Rocky]

I wish I had a recording, or even a transcript, of Scully’s introduction to the first nighttime playoff game at Wrigley field. As the camera from the blimp zoomed in on the ballpark with the lights on, Scully narrated an opening to the broadcast which was pure poetry.

He is truly an artist.

[SevenofNine]

OMG yeah he up there in age did he sign two year contract with Dodgers again ES

I THINK SO yeah it come to the day there no more Vin Scully we are so spoiled here in SO CAL

[Artemis Webb]

Vin Scully is a study in smooth and effortless announcing. There are very few that good.

BASEBALL PING LIST

If you would like to be on the ping list let me know.

This will be a medium volume ping list during the baseball season and a low volume ping list when all life stops in late October.

[Prodigal Son]

I grew up with Pete, Ernie and Skip announcing the Braves games. To me they did a wonderful job and I really enjoyed listening to the Braves on the radio. And back then it was better to listen on the radio because if you watched on the television it was just a bunch of empty seats at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. Better to listen on the radio and imagine a stadium full of fans.

[Kickass Conservative]

What makes Scully so amazing is that between games he landed an Airbus in the Hudson River.

[Lucky2]

Actually the best is the NY Yankee’s Michael Kay and anyone with him. He’s especially good when Paul O’Neil is in the booth. It’s almost better to listen than watch.

[Clemenza]

I never have been a fan of Tim McCarver, and Joe Buck belongs back on 42nd Street hustling creepy old men.