More than a memory

I was born in Hollywood, California at Queen of Angles hospital in 1946.  First year of baby boomers. My love for baseball didn't really exist for the first 8 years of my life.

 It started in 1955 ( I was 9) when Sister Mary Margaret ( They were all Sister Mary Margaret) at St. Ferdinand's grammar school brought a small black and white TV into the classroom and announced...."Today we are going to watch the 7th game of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Yankees beat the Dodgers every time they play and I am a Yankee fan."

I immediately became a Dodger fan and I had no idea what a Dodger was.   By the end of the game SMM was bummed out and I was thrilled.

Three years later in 1958 I played my first and only little league season and the Dodgers played their first season in Los Angeles. Every evening I would be in the back yard with my portable radio listening to a guy named Vin and his partner Jerry. I would hold a bat and whichever side the batter hit from I would practice swinging.

In 1958 the Dodgers finished 7th in the division and I probably hit 100 doubles and 30 triples in my back yard as a fast skinny 12 year old who couldn't hit a curve ball in real life. The year he retired in 2016 I stood in my living room with my bat and hit 50 home runs because I learned to wait on the curve ball.

THAT IS 58 YEARS OF SOMETHING I LOVED THAT DIDN'T CHANGE.

The thing about Vinny was once the pitcher had the ball in his hand the description would begin.

"Drysdale looks in and gets the sign, gets set and the 2-2 pitch, swung on and missed....STRIKE THREE.!"

He painted the picture in detail EVERY AT BAT.  And that was his baseball announcing.

I still believe he was the best golf announcer I ever heard.  When someone in the Masters would putt Vinny would whisper like he was standing on the green.

He also announced some great football games.  The Catch by Dwight Clark has the Vin mark.

Today on the radio they played a Vin story that he told about when he was 14 years old.  It was 1941 and he was underneath his big radio in the living room listening to a New York Giant football game.  They suddenly announced that JAPAN had just bombed Pearl Harbor.  He walked into the kitchen and asked his father where Pearl Harbor was.  His Dad said it was in the Pacific and why was Vin asking.  Vin looked at his dad and said "Japan just bombed it."  It was the only time he ever heard his father swear in his life.  He said the swear word and then said....."That means we are at War." That truly explains a lot of what Vincent Edward Scully was about.

This lost of Vin Scully isn't like the lost of Kobe.

He was 94 and completed a lifetime of perfection.

A life lived well is a life well lived....and he is the greatest Dodger EVER.

And it's not even a close vote.

I'm so glad I recorded numerous games over the years.  They are on cassette tapes....and I have a cassette player in my car.  I think it's time for a drive......... 

.......and

TIME FOR DODGER BASEBALL and a bit of Vinny.