Vin Scully takes the stage at the 1:00 mark.
Oh man, this might be more than my poor, battered heart can take.
In a ceremony Tuesday afternoon, President Barack Obama awarded 20 boring nobodies (Frank Gehry, Tom Hanks, the Gateses, Bruce Springsteen, et al) and one true American hero (VIN SCULLY!!) with his final Presidential Medals of Freedom. The Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest award given by the White House to any civilian, honors individuals "who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."
Scully, who retired last month after 67 years as the aural embodiment of the Dodgers, clearly meets all those criteria... and so much more. Obama even joked that he'd considered asking Scully to announce all the citations, but ultimately thought "we shouldn’t make him sing for his supper like that." We understand the reasoning, though still wish we could have heard Scully call this last "game."
You can read the president's introduction for Scully (via NBC Sports) below:
The game of baseball has a handful of signature sounds. You hear the crack of the bat, you got the crowd singing in the seventh-inning stretch, and you’ve got the voice of Vin Scully. Most fans listen to a game’s broadcast when they can’t be at the ballpark. Generations of Dodgers fans brought their radios into the stands because you didn’t want to miss one of Vin’s stories. Most play-by-play announcers partner with an analyst in the booth to chat about the action. Vin worked alone and talked just with us. Since Jackie Robinson started at second base, Vin taught us the game and introduced us to its players. He narrated the improbable years, the impossible heroics, turned contests into conversations. When he heard about this honor, Vin asked with characteristic humility, ‘Are you sure? I’m just an old baseball announcer.’ And we had to inform him that, to Americans of all ages, you are an old friend. In fact, I thought about him doing all these citations which would have been very cool, but I thought we shouldn’t make him sing for his supper like that.
And—if you tear ducts can handle it—we highly recommend you revisit this video from last week, which shows Vin Scully getting a surprise phone call from White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest about a certain unexpected honor:
