In what will certainly be a surreal moment, the Los Angeles Dodgers are a mere days away from beginning their first season without Vin Scully since 1950. Scully’s historic career came to a fitting end last season when he called the final game of his career against the San Francisco Giants.
A Bronx, N.Y. native, Scully grew up a self-professed “rabid Giants fan.” Scully made the decision to travel with the Dodgers to AT&T Park at the end of last season so that his final game in the broadcast booth would come on the 80-year anniversary of first becoming a baseball and New York Giants fan.
The Hall-of-Fame broadcaster has maintained a low profile since sailing off in the sunset. Scully expects that to be the case come Opening Day of the 2017 season, as he not only will not be in attendance, but will probably miss most of the game, per Ben Nuckols of the Associated Press:
“It’s a day game. I’ll probably have things to do,” the famed 89-year-old announcer told The Associated Press from his home in Hidden Hills, California. “I might catch a piece of it.”
Scully explained some of the reasoning behind his decision has to do with a previous experience of attending a game as a fan:
“During the World Series back around ’77 or ’78, there was a game at Dodger Stadium with the Yankees, and I went to the game as a spectator. Now, I hadn’t been as a spectator in a long, long time, and I felt somewhat restless that I wasn’t broadcasting,” Scully recalled Tuesday.
Since retiring, Scully has only visited Dodger Stadium twice — at least to public knowledge. He opened Game 5 of the 2016 National League Championship Series with the signature “It’s time for Dodger baseball,” and was recently photographed in his former booth.
Photos of microphone and other 2017 giveaways
The Dodgers will honor Scully on Wednesday, May 3, when he’s inducted into the Ring of Honor at Dodger Stadium. Also that evening, the first 40,000 fans in attendance will receive a Vin Scully replica microphone.
