Chasing Grace

My love of baseball started back in California with the Dodgers. I was a Dodger fan for many years. I can remember watching them win the World Series in 1988. I remember them being the underdog, and everyone thought the mighty Oakland A’s were going to mop the floor with them. But the Dodgers beat them, and we rejoiced in our beloved underdogs who would not quit.

But I’ll blather about that in another post, another day. Watching the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the playoffs, and now taking on the Cardinals in the World Series has made me realize what I miss most of all about Dodger baseball games. I miss Vin Scully.

He was the voice of the Dodgers, on the television and the radio. When my brother and I would go to the games, we’d bring a radio along just so we could listen to Scully announce the game. We weren’t alone. You could hear his voice echoing around the park, from the hundreds of tiny speakers on hundreds of laps and shoulders.

A lot of people in the ballpark now are starting to see the pitches with their hearts.

Here’s a snippet I found online, of Scully announcing Kirk Gibsons’s heroic at-bat during that 1988 World Series:

In one of the most dramatic games in World Series history, the first game of the 1988 Dodger’s World Series, Kirk Gibson came up for his only at bat of the series due to his severe leg injuries. Just prior to his home-run, the only home run in World Series history to turn defeat into history in the bottom of the ninth inning, Gibson fouled a pitch away and Scully described Gibson as ’shaking his left leg, making it quiver, like a horse trying to get rid of a troublesome fly.’ Scully offered an omen of what was to come by announcing,

‘And look who’s coming up?’ (Roar of crowd)
All year long they looked to him to light
the fire and all year long he answered the
demands until he was physically unable to
start tonight with two bad legs.’

‘So the Dodgers, trying to catch lightening
right now. 4-3 A’s. Two outs. Ninth inning.
Not a bad opening act. High fly ball into
Right field. She is gone.’ (Roar of the
crowd.)

Of course, hearing it would be even better. Vin Scully’s melodious tones transporting you into the heart of the game. Making you feel the spirit of the players, the crowd in the stands, the ballpark itself. He was the voice of the Dodgers. Without him, it would not have been the same. Intense as the moment was, Scully made it into the heroic act we all needed so badly in that first game.

Just listen to his broadcast of the ninth inning of Sandy Koufax’s Sept. 9, 1965 perfect game. This is where the title of this post came from.

I remember him bringing intelligence, wit and style to every game he announced. I hope he’s still doing it. I can’t find any info online, so I don’t know. But I really hope when I go back to California for a visit soon, it’ll be in the summer and there’ll be a game on, and I can enjoy the Vin Scully magic again.