Scully’s smooth sendoff

October is a time for celebration. A world champion is crowned, postseason heroes emerge and communities rally in support of their teams. But for many baseball fans, especially those in Los Angeles, the autumn of 2016 brings a tinge of sadness regardless of the outcome on the field. That’s because, barring a guest appearance, October marks the last time they will ever hear Vin Scully’s voice in the booth.

After a record 67 years behind the mic, the game’s most legendary broadcaster has chosen to retire, and an entire era will retire with him. Never again will a game be broadcast by a man who can tell you firsthand what it was like to see Babe Ruth play.

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“There will never be anyone like him again,” said Jon Weisman, the Dodgers’ director of digital and print content, who grew up in Los Angeles listening to Scully. “I can’t remember Dodgers broadcasts without him; he just was born … as part of the Dodgers.”

Scully’s 67 seasons with the Dodgers rank by far as the longest any broadcaster has ever worked for one team. To put things in perspective, when Scully started out, the record was Bob Elson’s 18 years with the White Sox. His career spans from the days of Connie Mack, who retired in Vin’s debut season of 1950, to Corey Seager, who might still be playing in 2035. In fact, Scully has almost certainly attended more Major League Baseball games than any person who ever lived, Mack included. Doing some quick math, the figure is probably just shy of 10,000 games, and that’s before counting Scully’s frequent childhood visits to the Polo Grounds.

“I would get out of school at 2:30, walk a mile, get in free and watch the Giants play,” he told USA Today. “My idol was Mel Ott.”

Although he’s a matinee idol of his own right throughout baseball, Scully’s star burns brightest in the City of Angels, where he is the city’s most beloved institution. “He’s an unparalleled unifying force in Los Angeles,” Weisman said. “He’s a force that transcends demographics, generations, geography. It’s something that unites 99.9 percent of this area. The entire population has lived their lives through Vin Scully, and relished it. Even people who aren’t baseball fans value him.”

And virtually everyone agrees that he’s the best at his craft. Some announcers are technical perfectionists, carefully choosing every word and honing their inflection. Others broadcast more from the gut, communicating with emotion rather than precision of language. A Scully broadcast, though, is a miraculous hybrid of the two styles, possessing deep emotional resonance while also displaying the technical perfectionism he learned from his mentor, legendary Brooklyn announcer Red Barber.

Scully’s style is uniquely his own. Although he’s worked with partners such as Joe Garagiola on national TV, Scully has always insisted on doing Dodgers broadcasts solo. In today’s two- and three-person booths, broadcasters try to develop a rapport with each other. Scully, on the other hand, seeks to develop a rapport with his audience. He has often said that he approaches the broadcast “like I’m talking to a friend.”

And don’t forget the Jolly Rancher hard candies. He keeps a stash of them in the booth during each broadcast to make sure his voice is ready for each and every call.

Vincent Edward Scully grew up during the Great Depression in Washington Heights, an …

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