Dodgers' Vin Scully announces 2016 return to broadcast booth for probable final season

Los Angeles -- At a Saturday afternoon press conference announcing Vin Scully's future plans, the Hall of Fame broadcaster was gracious, smooth, and well, vintage Scully.

Scully's grace was evident when he apologized to the gathered press corps at Dodgers Stadium for running a couple of minutes late due to "traffic on the 101" freeway.  Of course, nobody was offended, as the journalists were universally grateful to get the chance to continue to cross paths with the legend in the press box for one more season.

That is because Scully, an icon in American sports history, will be returning to the Dodgers broadcast booth for an unprecedented 67th season in 2016.

“I talked it over with my wife, Sandi, and my family and we’ve decided to do it again in 2016,” Scully said in a statement. “There’s no place like home and Dodger Stadium and we look forward to being a part of it with all of our friends.”

In a town spoiled by listening to such other great announcers as Chick Hearn and Bob Miller, Scully is widely regarded as the finest sportscaster of them all.  His 66 years of service mark the longest tenure in his field.

“Vin is a national treasure and the Dodgers couldn’t be happier to have him back at the microphone in 2016,” said Dodgers’ President and CEO Stan Kasten in a statement. “Vin makes every broadcast special and generation after generation of Dodger fans have been blessed to be able to listen to him create his poetic magic since 1950. We look forward to adding many new chapters to that legacy in 2016.”

For the past few years, Scully has taken a one-year-at-a-time approach, announcing late in the season whether he planned to return the following year.  However, this year's announcement differed because Scully strongly opined that next season would probably be his last.

"I would say, realistically -- I don't want any headlines -- but next year would be the last one," Scully said. "How much longer can you go fooling people? Dear God, if you give me next year, I'll hang it up."

Scully then held court as only he can, his unique package of humility, class, and great storytelling drawing in the assembled reporters much like the millions who have listened to his broadcasts over the decades.  He talked about Connie Mack, referring to him by his true name of Cornelius McGillicuddy, and then reminisced about one of his first experiences in the broadcast booth with the legendary announcer  Red Barber.

"I sit next to Red Barber, the game starts, and I remember vividly that the Dodgers pulled off a triple play, and Red Barber called it like that, bing, bang," said Scully.  "And I thought, 'Oh my God, how could you ever be that smooth and that quick?'"

The experience of working with the veteran broadcaster helped shaped Scully's outlook on the job for years.

"So for a year at least, more than that, I was terrified," said Scully.  "I was like a poor rookie who wasn't going up to the plate thinking, 'I'm gonna get a base hit,' he was walking up to the plate thinking, 'I hope I don't strike out.'  Thats really how I broadcast, hoping I wouldn't make some monumental mistake. That was the attitude. I felt just lucky to be there."

With Scully's announcement of a likely retirement next season, there should be more pressure than ever on the team and its media partners to resolve the stalemate that continues to deprive most Southern California households from watching Dodgers games on television.  It would be an absolute shame for Scully's final season to go relatively under-the-radar due to the team's problematic business deal with Time Warner.

Scully began his professional baseball broadcasting career in 1950 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Three years later, at the age of 25, he became the youngest person to ever broadcast a World Series game. In 1955, he had his most memorable moment behind the microphone, as he called the Dodgers' first and only championship in Brooklyn.

During his unmatched career, he has called three perfect games, 25 no-hitters, 25 World Series, and 12 All-Star Games.

Iconic moments called by Scully include Kirk Gibson’s miraculous Game 1 homer in the 1988 World Series, Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series, Hank Aaron’s record-setting 715th home run, Sandy Koufax’s four no-hitters, including a perfect game, and the scoreless-inning streaks of Dodger greats Don Drysdale and Orel Hershiser.

In Los Angeles, Scully has called Dodgers World Championships in 1959, ’63, ’65, ’81, and ’88, and he was elected the top sportscaster of the 20th century by the non-profit American Sportscasters Association. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.

By Mike Elliott
Editor of TheDailySportsHerald.com