Vin Scully, R.I.P.

Vin Scully, who was the voice of both the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1950 to 2016, passed away on Tuesday. No cause of death has been released though his passing comes only a year after he lost his wife Sandra to ALS. He was 94.

This news takes the wind out of my sails. While I've never rooted for the Los Angeles Dodgers, I have always been a fan of Vin Scully and his style of broadcasting. Scully would invite to pull up a chair and listen to the game. He could tell a story and yet never lose focus on what was happening on the baseball diamond. Alas this has become a lost art. 

I first became familiar with Scully in the early 1980's when he joined NBC and partnered with Joe Garagiola on NBC's Game of the Week. While with NBC, Scully famously called Bill Buckner's error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets. Two years later, he was behind the mike when he called Kirk Gibson's walk-off HR off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the World Series between the Dodgers and the Oakland A's.

When I lived in Ottawa, I got access to KTLA regularly watched Dodgers games solely for the pleasure of listening to his voice. I remember the game when Chan Ho Park gave up two grand slam HRs to Fernando Tatis, Sr. in the same inning. 

Scully was behind the mike when Jackie Robinson stole home during the 1955 World Series (the only Fall Classic ever won in Brooklyn), Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, all of Sandy Koufax's five no-hitters as well as the one Clayton Kershaw threw, Hank Aaron's 715th home run and when Rick Monday saved the American flag from being burned at Dodger Stadium and I am only scratching the surface. 

It's no secret that my love of baseball has diminished over time and the passing of Vin Scully will not help matters. I shall now have to be content to keep his voice in my memory. Well, I suppose this is why we have YouTube which is as much for listening as it is for viewing. 

Case in point was when he threw out the first pitch prior to Game 2 of the 2017 World Series between the Dodgers and Houston Astros. Honestly, that crowd would not have minded if he had thrown a complete game. R.I.P.