The Boys (and Girls) Of Summer

The Boys (and Girls) Of Summer
or: Vin’s Velvet Voice

A bittersweet day for baseball; the legendary Vin Scully has retired after 67 years as the voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. :(

My first impression of Doger Stadium was, with the game right in front of them, everyone in the stands was glued to the radio. I soon found out why. The players provided skill, power, grace; Vin made it poetry.

Vin was the only time I ever turned the radio on just to hear someone talk. Vin talkin’ the Dodgers was even better. Someone once got him to read their grocery list. It was inspirational. I was not only ready to shop, I was gonna get that pound of coffee and I can’t stand the stuff.

One play in particular comes to mind. We’re watching on TV but, listening to Vin on the radio. There was a hard come-backer to the pitcher. We all thought the pitcher had it... no it’s past him... the shortsto... no it’s passed him,too... the 2nd baseman scoo... no, it’s out into center field... Now remember, this ball’s doin’ 100 mph or more so things are happenin’ fast. Vin stumbles through the cascade of rapid fire events and then tries to apologize for the call. All I can think is that his description made a heck of a lot more sense than what I saw with my eyes. What the heck WAS that?

Baseball, summer and Vin Scully’s voice have all been one-and-the-same the last 45 years (for me) I won’t say that, without Vinnie, it will never be summer again but, they’ll to need to come up with a new definition.

Happy Trails, Vin!
Smitty