Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully is in his 67th and final season in the booth. As part of their efforts to honor him, the Dodgers have multiple dates involving Scully-related items and/or themes on their 2016 promotional calendar.
Most recently, the club added Vin Scully Appreciation Night to the schedule, set for Sept. 23 — the final Friday home game of 2016. In addition, Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a motion to rename Elysian Park Avenue to Vin Scully Avenue. A formal dedication ceremony was held the day before the Dodgers played this season’s first regular-season game at Dodger Stadium.
Then on Opening Day, the Dodgers hosted an on-field ceremony that featured Dodgers greats Al Downing, Sandy Koufax, Maury Wills, Don Newcombe, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser, among several others.
The Dodgers organization are not alone in paying tribute to Scully, as ESPN also did so during their Sunday night telecast of the Dodgers game against the San Francisco Giants.
ESPN analyst Dan Schulman said they were sent audio of Scully from roughly 40 years ago, and in the audio Scully is reading a grocery list. In it were anyone other than Scully it would not be that compelling, but any opportunity to hear Scully’s soothing voice should be taken:
In his final season, the 88 year old is calling the usual home slate, plus a few key road games; Scully called Opening Day of the 2016 season in San Diego.
Time Warner Cable recently used the Hall-of-Fame broadcaster in negotiations as reason to get SportsNet LA distribution agreements in place. Scully admitted to being embarrassed by the strategy, but said he would gladly overlook it if it brought an end to the impasse.
