Recent years have only increased the appreciation for legendary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully, one of the few public figures the rest of the public hasn’t gone out of they way to tear down. He seems to be one of the few untouchables, and it seems like that’s going to last for as long as he continues to call Dodgers games. Even those who acknowledge he’s lost a mile or two on his fastball don’t really care, they just love the man.
So, as I said, that immortal love of the fan has created interest in reading interviews with him whenever journalists can get them. A recent one with SFGate is good, but gives us a shocking, almost soap opera-esque reveal within the context of the historic rivalry between the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants: Vin Scully grew up a Giants fan! This is some “Luke, I am your father” stuff.
He grew up in New York a Giants fan, walking 20 blocks to the Polo Grounds to watch his childhood idol, Mel Ott. He sat in the center-field bleachers dreaming of someday broadcasting games in the press box.
But the greatest sports announcer who ever lived was hired by the rival Dodgers, who played across the East River at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field. It became a perfect marriage that has lasted 65 years, enabling millions to pull up a chair and spend part of their lives with him.
What if the Giants had gotten to Vin Scully first?
I asked him.
“Oh, who knows?” he said.
It’s a great read, and well worth your time, especially to learn such things as Vin’s (New York) Giants fandom origin story:
“I was walking home from grammar school, 9 years old, and there was a Chinese laundry with a big glass window and a long tape with the line score from the game, and the Yankees were killing the Giants,” said Scully, referring to an 18-4 Yankees victory in Game 2. “I just remember, looking at the score. Instead of saying, ‘Wow, that must be a great Yankee team,’ as a little kid, I said, ‘Oh, those poor Giants.’
“That’s how I became a Giants fan, as God is my judge.”
Not only is he the greatest sports announcer of all time, but Vin Scully is my kinda sports fan.
[SFGate]
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