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Yeah, Scully famously worked alone. That’s another thing we won’t ever be hearing again.
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Scully also had an encyclopedic knowledge of the game. Baseball is famous for having rare are bizarre things happen during play. Scully would tell us when and where it happened before, without reference to any notes or assistance. And, unlike several other broadcasters, his knowledge was always current… he wasn’t reciting from a memorized list either. The only broadcaster who came close to Scully was Dave Campbell. He often acknowledged Scully as the GOAT.
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This was always a way to tell how deep someone was into baseball. If their team was playing the Dodgers, and Scully was calling the game… who were they listening to? Kinda like asking them if they read The Sporting News back in the day.
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Back in the day, so many people had Scully on the transistor at Dodger Stadium that there was no need to bring your own, and there was literally no way not to listen to Scully’s call.
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My favorite most amazing thing Scully could do was this: back in the day, when the Dodgers were in a pennant race, and the team they were battling for first was playing somebody else while he was calling the Dodgers… he would call up the broadcasters of the other game, and have them leave the line connected so he could listen to that other game. Then he’d do pitch-by pitch of the Dodgers game, while simultaneously doing play-by-play of the game he was listening to over the phone line.
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And, as has been mentioned, he’d be the GOAT sports broadcaster if he never called a game of baseball.
And the way he interspersed calling the game into the story seamlessly was perfect. The transitions between the story and pbp were so smooth.
Seattle giving Castillo some run support with 6 in the top of the first.
Joking, but not really
IMO that is the most underrated baseball movies and Vin Scully’s announcing is a big reason why. Not quite Bull Durham, but not that far below. Just need to dump the romcom stuff and it would be a great movie.
ETA: Facebook video sucks, see… Redirecting...
Can’t forget about the Farmer John commercials either. Or the 76 commercials too.
I tried looking for the older versions, where Vin touted Farmer John as “The Easternmost in Quality, the Westernmost in Flavor”. Farmer John dropped that slogan after they quit using the last livestock train service in the US, which had imported those eastern pigs. Now, the company which owns the Farmer John brand doesn’t have the contract to make Dodgers Dogs anymore, the Farmer John factory with the creepy murals is gone, and now so is Scully.
And… Vin could read a mean shopping list too…
I’m off in a bit to see the J.Bell and J.Soto Padres debuts. I got Western Metal seats, a new view for me. Alas, Sabo the dog doesn’t get-go to this game.
Meeting my dad, brother, and nephew in Arizona for a Diamondbacks / Cardinals game. Haven’t seen theme since pre-pandemic. Yup, antivaxxer dad guilted me into it.
Anyone have experience with the park on best seats? Or food nearby?
Moved to LV in 1991, and the “home town” sports teams were the Lakers, Dodgers and Kings. 2 of which I historically hated (Dodgers/Lakers). The other was a non-entity.
But I watched them constantly. Their announcers? Vin Scully, Chick Hearn, and Bob Miller. Just a murderers row of HOF announcing. I didn’t watch half the games, I just listened while playing poker.
Drury hit a grand slam for the Padres in the first inning, in case anyone is wondering how this is going so far.
New-look Padres
Home plate ump is a clown. 1st two pitches to Soto were both strikes per K-zone, and called balls
1st pitch to Cronenworth caught all sorts of the plate inside, and is called a strike. Jake says something to the ump…
Love the game, but meh
Im ok if they miss a strike on an adjacent pitch or miss a ball that’s right on the edge. Its the balls that are two inches outside or strikes on the white that get my knickers in a bunch.
I think tv analysis goes too far bitching about marginal calls.
The announcers didn’t mention it, to their credit
It is what it is
The Dodgers have always been the super favorite of folks in Las Vegas. For a long time KDWN had the Dodger games. That station was so strong that it was the go-to for Vin from San Diego, instead of the much closer LA flagship. For sports betting, back in the day, you could get prop bets on Dodger games only. Notably the SSS at the Castaways. They were on local TV too.
And B.Drury’s Padres debut too, which was kinda by surprise. He hit a Grand Slam on his first pitch.
Besides on the field, these trades have had a amazing response. As background… San Diego is the only major city without a major championship. That’s primarily because of having the worst owners, AINEC. Nothing like what just happened, nothing even close to it, has ever happened here… ever, not once.
This difference has “jumped containment” and has gotten the attention of the general population. The game last night was a sellout, which was mostly “walk up” like sales. It had twice the attendance of Monday’s game. Drunks in the bars, or folks in the stores, are talking about it. This hadn’t happened here at all since the local NFL team went out of existence, and not with Sabo’s Padres since T.Gwynn Sr was on the team.
Not counting Buffalo (among others) as a “major city” I see.
US cities by population…
#8 San Diego
#79 Buffalo
Or Charlotte.
By that metric you’d have to say that Austin, Jacksonville, Columbus, Charlotte, OKC are all major cites without championships.