A Legendary Career That Speaks for Itself

In 1955, five years after being hired by the legendary Red Barber to be the number three man on Barber's Dodgers broadcast team, Scully was at the mic on television when Brooklyn won its only World Series title.

"As the fates would have it, I was the one who got to say, 'The Brooklyn Dodgers are the champions of the world,' " Scully says. The silence that followed that call, as he allowed the crowd noise to tell the story, would become a Scully trademark. "People would say all winter, 'How could you be so calm?' But it wasn't that I was so calm. It was that I couldn't say another word without breaking down and crying."

Scene in Its Entirety

Scully has witnessed and called many of baseball's greatest moments, from Don Larsen's World Series perfect game to Hank Aaron's 715th homer, but his calls are typically not the most famous ones. On Aaron's historic homer, for instance, that is Milo Hamilton's familiar call on all the old clips, saying, "There's a new home run champion of all time, and it's Henry Aaron!"

Similarly, when Dodgers pinch hitter Kirk Gibson famously limped to the plate and hit the game-winning homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Jack Buck's radio call was the one immortalized: "I don't believe what I just saw." (On television, Scully said simply, "She is gooonne!!" then remained silent until Gibson had crossed the plate, and said, "In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened.")

"Vin had a very good call," NBC broadcaster Bob Costas says. "But if you just compare calls, Jack's might have been the better of the two. It might have raised more goose bumps. But Vin's entire call -- Gibson limping out of the dugout, the crowd's reaction, the drama of the situation, the mounting tension -- that's where Vin excels. And he has a way of summing things up afterwards that is just beautiful."

To wit, here is what Scully said after the final out of Fernando Valenzuela's 1990 no-hitter: "Fernando Valenzuela has pitched a no-hitter! If you have a sombrero, throw it to the sky!"

"And then," Costas says, "don't forget Koufax's perfect game."

Ah, yes.

To hear Scully call the ninth inning of Sandy Koufax's Sept. 9, 1965, perfect game ( http://www.doubledogmusic.com/baseball/Scully_Koufax_Perfect.mp3 ) -- or to read a transcript of it ( http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/vin_scully_quotes.shtml ) -- is to make a baseball writer contemplate a career as a roofer.

Off the top of his head, without the benefit of a delete button or an editor, Scully composed one of the most gorgeous pieces of baseball literature you will ever encounter, expertly capturing the drama and tension without overcooking it.

Scully's call begins thusly: "Three times in his sensational career has Sandy Koufax walked out to the mound to pitch a fateful ninth where he turned in a no-hitter. But tonight, September the ninth, nineteen hundred and sixty-five, he made the toughest walk of his career, I'm sure, because through eight innings he has pitched a perfect game."

"I've heard other announcers with great, great calls of home runs, great calls of exciting plays," Costas says, "but what Vin is really great at is all the moments of anticipation leading up to the big moment. It isn't just the last pitch of the Koufax game. It's that whole inning, and how he perfectly captures the scene and the passion."

Ten years ago, Costas was introduced to the late musician Ray Charles, and the two struck up a conversation about baseball.

"And Ray says, 'You know who I'd really like to meet?' " Costas says. "I said, 'Who?' And he said, 'Vin Scully.' I was a little surprised, and Ray said, 'Because to me, the picture doesn't mean anything. It's all about the sound. And his broadcast is almost musical. Would you introduce me to Vin?'

"So I took him to Dodger Stadium. Vin was gracious and clearly appreciated who Ray Charles was. But Ray was so excited to meet Vin Scully. You could tell it was the highlight of his year. He was just beaming."

Somewhere in heaven, then, Charles is nestled in the easy chair, and the home team is winning again, on its way to another 162-0 season.

Down here, meantime, we boot up the computer, or tune the radio dial, searching, until we find it, and we feel better: the Voice of Heaven on earth.