Broadcasting

Chronology of Vin Scully on what would have been his 95th birthday, after his death last August

No better way to remember baseball’s best voice ever, Vin Scully, than identifying his accomplishments and days important to him personally and professionally. When I sent this to Vin as an unofficial and unsolicited gift, he was as grateful as can be.

What a man!

1/10/1982    Dwight Clark’s memorable catch, Niners beat Dallas, advances to S/Bowl

2/17/1908    Red Barber born, Vin’s mentor;   Red, hired Vin in Brooklyn and earlier for CBS

3/21/1964    John Wooden – first nt’l title; UCLA beats Duke 93-83, Vin’s wins 10 titles

4/10/1936    John Madden birthdate, Vin worked a few NFL games with him later on CBS

1/10/1982     Dwight Clark’s memorable catch, advances Niners to S/Bowl -Vin on TV call

2/17/1908     Red Barber born, Vin’s mentor; Red hired him at CBS and later in Brooklyn

3/21/1964     John Wooden – UCLA’s first nt’l title; UCLA, Vin’s friend Wooden wins 10 titles

4/8/1974       Vin marvels over Hank Aaron’s 715th homer. “Southerners cheering a Black man!”

4/10/1936      John Madden birthdate, Vin worked a few NFL games with him on CBS

4/10/1962      Dodger Stadium opens, at $23 million cost, By comparison Sci-Fi Stadium $5-6 Billion    

4/10/1975      Scully does first Masters – On CBS, Does a masterful job depicting Augusta

4/25/1976      OF Rick Monday heroically rips flag from dad/son duo setting it ablaze

5/7/1959        Roy Campanella   93,000 at Coliseum -Scully’s description on radio was hypnotic

5/30/1962      Dodgers return to NY for first time, a Memorial Day DH against newly enshrined Mets

6/5/1968        Dodgers hosted Pirates same night Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated in LA

6/12/1924      George H. W. Bush’s birthdate, Vin played against him, Fordham-Yale, in baseball

6/29/1990       Fernando Valenzuela hurls a no hitter; Vin: “If you have a Sombrero toss it to the sky”

7/3/1993         TV partner Don Drysdale dies at 56 in Montreal room of a heart attack before game

8/1/1982         Awarded with Ford Frick Award with at Baseball Hall of Fame

9/9/1965         Koufax throws perfect game while the LA riots’ that summer still smolder

9/14/1916        Jerry Doggett is born. Never a crossword between the two in a 32 year relationship

9/21/1975        First day of 1975 NFL season.  Scully does his first of seven NFL seasons

9/30/1953        Scully does his first World Series. Yanks win Game #1, 9-5, in the Bronx

10/2/1936        Embraces Giants, struck by sign, Club being rocked in game #2 of the W/S.

10/3/1951        Booby Thomson home run. Scully’s friendship with Branca lasted eons 

10/4/1955        Game #7 World Series, “The Brooklyn Dodgers are the champions of the world.”

10/8/1956        Don Larsen’s perfect game, It’s now his 3d World Series with Mel Allen  

10/9/1903        Walter O’Malley birthdate. Owner and great supporter of who labeled him avuncular

10/14/1910       John Wooden’s birthdate; The two met in same LA apartment complex       

10/14/1965       #7 of W/S vs Twins. Alston decides on Koufax. Drysdale can get rocked early  

10/15/1988       Kirk Gibson’s homer on NBC. Vin: “The Dodgers trying to catch lightning right now.”  

10/23/1993      Toronto’s Joe Carter homers in 9th, ending Series in six over Phils, Vin on nt’l radio

10/25/1986       Bill Buckner- Boston – “It gets past Buckner, and the Mets are going to win it!”

11/12/1949       Maryland beats BU, 14-13, in football. Scully’s first broadcast impressed Barber               

12/1/1911         Walter Alston born, Dodgers manager, 1954-76. Thirteen seasons together      

12/8/1941         Start of WWII, a bulletin interrupted radio football with news of Pearl Harbor

Tough to pass the 32 years they spent together

                                                

 

                                                                                                                                                                                

 

                             

                

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David J. Halberstam

David is a 40-year + industry veteran who served as play-by-play announcer for St. John's University basketball in New York and as radio play-by-play voice of the Miami Heat in South Florida. He is the author of Sports on New York Radio: A Play-by-Play History and The Fundamentals of Sports Media and Sponsorship Sales: Developing New Accounts.

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Michael Green
5 months ago

Thank you for this.