Sunday night marked the last game in the broadcast booth for the voice of the Dodgers, and to many, the voice of baseball.

Vin Scully concluded his 67th and final year behind the mic as the play-by-play broadcaster for the Dodgers on Sunday night in San Francisco. Sadly, the Dodgers couldn’t pull out a win for Vin in his final game, losing to the Giants 7-1, but he got quite the send-off for his final game at Dodger Stadium.  In addition to the team thanking and remembering him before the game, the Dodgers won on a walk-off home run that clinched them the National League West Division Title.

For many in Southern California and around the country, Vin Scully was the soundtrack of summer. His smooth delivery, velvety voice, and incomparable storytelling ability captivated audiences of all ages, year after year. People would stop what they were doing just to listen to Vin call a game. Kids everywhere fell asleep listening to Vin call the final innings of a Dodger game continuing late into the night, maybe on the east coast. His memorable calls span generations of Dodgers’ from Sandy Koufax’s perfect game in 1965 to Kirk Gibson’s iconic World Series home run in 1988 to Charlie Culberson’s walk-off homer just a few days ago in Vin’s final game at Dodger stadium, for many it’s his knack for spinning a yarn so fascinating that you’d stop everything to listen that kept them coming back. Vin could even make something as boring as dirt seem interesting. But for so many Southern Californians, Vin was also part of the family. Listening to him call a baseball game seemed like it was just Vin and the listener, one-on-one. 

Today on AirTalk, Larry is joined by KPCC’s host of All Things Considered (and human baseball encyclopedia) Nick Roman to look back on Scully’s legendary career and his legacy as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, broadcaster of all time.

Guest:

Nick Roman, host of KPCC’s All Things Considered; he tweets