There Will Never Be Another Vin

It just doesn't seem possible to have a day in our lifetime without Vin Scully being around, even though he retired after the 2016 season. His passing was a huge loss for sports fans even beyond baseball. The tributes coming in from fellow broadcasters, including those at the national level, is incredible, while also being extremely believable. 

I will always remember the distinct combination of his sense of humor and his passion for baseball, even in his later years. Perhaps the most incredible thing about his 67 years of calling Dodger baseball was how "with it" he was during his last few seasons, continuing the same high level of excellence he brought all those seasons before. All of the great calls, and an amazing history of getting to call so many of the most significant plays and event in sports. The Larsen World Series perfect game, the Koufax no-hitters, the Aaron 715th homer, Dwight Clark making "the catch" vs. Dallas in the '82 NFL playoffs, the Buckner play (or lack thereof) ending the '86 World Series, the Gibson homer in '88, and so many more all had the Scully touch to add to their greatness.

Another of my major "only Vin Scully could do this" moments came during the late 80's. I don't recall the season or the date, but the Dodgers had a Saturday night game in Houston which went something like 20 or 21 innings. Vin called all but one inning of that game, with all but his three innings on radio being on TV. The only inning he "missed" was spent recording promos for the next telecasts because the game was running so late. 

 

As can happen in the great game of baseball, the next afternoon, the Dodgers had a one-run lead going in to the bottom of the 9th. Someone for Houston (might have been Craig Biggio, but not sure) hit a game tying homer. Vin's call was, "Deep to left field! DON'T TELL ME!! Tie game!!". That was so special. He had the sense of humor to know how funny it was that the game was likely headed back to extra innings with two exhausted bullpens in action. But he also knew that Dodgers fans watching would know exactly what he was talking about. (The good news for Scully is that this game ended in 10 innings.)

 

It was my pleasure to meet him once or twice in person in the late 70's while I was covering games. Just the chance to exchange a greeting was fine, as even then he had more than 25 seasons in the booth. More importantly, it was mine, and all of our pleasure to be able to listen to him all those years.

 

Meanwhile, even though the All-Star Game did not do well in the ratings, regular season ratings have shown improvement for many of the local and regional team telecasts. Texas Rangers telecasts lead the way with an impressive 42% increase (based on viewership statistics prior to the All-Star break), with the Angels and Seattle Mariners telecasts rounding out the top three. Although the Yankees have the most viewers of any individual team, their increase was 13% from 2021. On the national level, the Yankees vs. Mets national telecast on ESPN last week (7/27) was ESPN's highest rated weeknight regular season telecast in 15 years.

The Marquee Network, owned by the Chicago Cubs which shows every Cubs game it can, has come under fire this year over pulling segments which are critical of the team. However, their game coverage has been solid, and credit is deserved for their programming decision on Tuesday (8/2). The MLB trade deadline had passed at 5 PM Chicago time, with many fans surprised that the team did not trade away a couple of its star players. Team President Jed Hoyer scheduled a media conference for 6:30, even though the Cubs were playing the Cardinals in St. Louis starting at 6:45.

What Marquee did was to go to the media conference live as it began. It was still in progress when the Cubs vs. Cardinals game started at 6:45. To its credit, Marquee went to a split screen, showing both the game action and the media conference live. This included not cutting away for commercials after the top of the first inning was over. When the media conference finished, Marquee went to full screen of the game and announcers Jon Sciambi and Jim DeShaies came on and recapped the earlier action.

NFL fans welcome the action back on Thursday (8/4) as the Hall of Fame game between Jacksonville and Las Vegas is shown nationally on NBC. A full slate of NFL exhibition games takes place next week.