Baseball fans received great news when the Los Angeles Dodgers announced on Tuesday that legendary broadcaster Vin Scully will be staying in the broadcast booth for the 2015 season.
The 86-year-old began broadcasting Dodgers games in 1950. He has has worked with the club for a record 66 seasons and has become the longest-tenured broadcaster with one team in sports history.
Throughout his career, Scully has called many of the sport’s biggest moments, including Hank Aaron’s 715th home run that broke Babe Ruth’s record, Kirk Gibson’s pinch hit home run in the 1988 World Series, and Bill Buckner’s gaffe at first base against the New York Mets in 1986.
Here are five things you may not have known about the legendary Dodgers broadcaster:
1) He could’ve been the original play-by-play man for Monday Night Football:
In 1970, ABC Sports executives approached Scully about becoming the first play-by-play broadcaster for Monday Night Football.
Scully was interested in the gig, but eventually declined the position because it would have conflicted with his Dodgers’ schedule. He also wasn’t too eager to work in a three-man booth.
“Because of how football was going to be televised, you’d have one or two analysts now in the booth,” Scully once said. “I had been doing games with Jim Brown on one side and George Allen on the other, and there were times I wasn’t sure, ‘Do I turn to him first for an opinion?’”
Instead, the position went to Keith Jackson, who hosted Monday Night Football for just one season before Frank Gifford replaced him in 1971.
2) Scully called “The Catch”
Just about every sports fan has seen the highlight of Dwight Clark’s famous end zone catch from the 1981 NFC Championship, but many forget it was Scully who called the 49ers-Cowboys game for CBS. His call of Clark catching the pass from Joe Montana has become of the most memorable plays in NFL history.
At that time, Scully was the No. 2 announcer for CBS. The network gave him a trial period to work with No. 1 colour commentator John Madden, but CBS felt the former Raiders coach had better chemistry with Pat Summerall. As a consolation prize, CBS allowed their No. 2 team, which included Scully and former Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram, to call the NFC Championship on national TV.
3) No-hitters seem to find Scully
Scully has been a part of countless baseball moments. He has broadcasted 25 World Series, 12 all-star games but the most surprising stat may be the amount of no-hitters (19) that Scully has called.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, 285 official no-hitters have been recorded in the history of the majors leagues. What’s amazing is that Scully has called close to seven percent (6.66 percent to be exact) of them, including four from Sandy Koufax and the most recent Dodgers no-hitter from left-hander Clayton Kershaw.
As well, the Dodgers broadcaster has called three perfect games.
4) Scully had impressive golf skills
Golf fans may remember Scully calling The Masters for CBS from 1975-82. He later joined NBC , where he called other major tournaments with Lee Trevino.
Scully was always drawn to golf. He became a member of the luxurious Bel-Air Country Club in 1970, where he has reportedly hit three holes in one. Three!
According to Southland Golf, Scully has aced the third, fifth, and 16th holes at Bel-Air, one of which was hit with a 4-iron.
“I always felt I could control that club,” Scully told Southland Golf in 2011. “Today, all of my clubs are my enemies.”
5) Brief run with daytime television
Before he became a prominent sportscaster, Scully was the uncredited narrator for a short-lived sitcom on NBC called The Occasional Wife. The show aired just one year.
From 1969-70 Scully hosted a game show on NBC called It Takes Two and later hosted The Vin Scully Show on CBS in 1973, which was a weekday afternoon talk-variety show where he was able to act, perform stand-up comedy and conduct interviews with celebrities. Sometimes, he even sang.
In 1977, he moved to prime-time when he hosted the CBS show Challenge of the Sexes.
It’s a good thing he stuck with sports.
