Fellow broadcasters on mark Scully has left

The season-long retirement party for Dodgers broadcaster and baseball legend Vin Scully is nearing its close. With each inning and each pitch called in Scully’s unforgettable voice, we realize that the 67-year reign of the king of the profession is that much closer to ending on Oct. 2.

Throughout the year, personalities from on and off the field have visited Scully to pay their respects. The outpouring of affection and gratitude to Scully for a life well-lived and ensconced in love for the game of baseball has been obvious and infectious.

Farewell, Vin Scully Justice: Scully hits all the right notes in farewell Fellow broadcasters on mark Scully has left O’Malley: Vin was Dodgers’ greatest asset in LA Cut4: Can you finish the memorable Vin Scully call? Scully’s 10 greatest calls Scully happy riding off into retirement Scully honored in resolution by U.S. Congress DYK: Scully has seen it all during his tenure Ten best Vin Scully stories Scully pens heartfelt letter to Dodgers fans Best moments from Scully’s pregame ceremony Enjoy Scully’s funniest calls Vin Scully: Broadcasting Royalty Watch: Vin Scully More Vin Scully coverage ¬Dodgers set plan to celebrate ScullyCut4: Everything you wanted to see, hear from Vin’s last home gameStars turn out to honor ScullyRoberts gets turn in Vin’s boothRoberts gets turn in Vin’s boothScully’s humility big part of legacyRespect mutual between Scully, umpiresScully describes Beatles’ escapeScully calls Dodgers-Giants dustupScully calls two games at onceScully shares six fantastic stories

And all the while, the Dodgers have been pulling Scully’s colleagues, peers and friends in the broadcasting business aside to gather their thoughts about Scully’s career, life, talents and grand, generous personality and record them for safekeeping.

The Dodgers spoke to a broad spectrum of the game’s current broadcasting greats, including Scully’s Dodgers coworkers, Rick Monday, Charley Steiner and Jaime Jarrin; Reds radio icon Marty Brennaman; Giants booth men Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow; D-backs color man Bob Brenly; and Padres play-by-play man Dick Enberg.

Also interviewed were Pirates broadcaster Bob Walk, Braves announcer Chip Caray, ESPN’s Dave O’Brien, Rays play-by-play man Dewayne Staats, Orioles play-by-play man Gary Thorne, Brewers broadcaster Jeff Levering, Red Sox radio man Joe Castiglione, Hall of Fame pitcher and FOX baseball analyst John Smoltz, former big league player and broadcaster and current D-backs assistant hitting coach Mark Grace and Matt Vasgersian of MLB Network.

These esteemed men of the microphone waxed poetic and nostalgic on a variety of Vin-centric topics. Here are some of the highlights of their thoughts, memories and observations of a man they revere:

Soundtrack of summer

Monday: I’ve always said that Vin could read the phonebook and he would get children in the sandbox to stop playing with the blocks and look up to the speaker. Every time I would see him coming on and still, to this day, when I would see Vin Scully, I would think of a kid growing up in Southern California, sitting in the passenger seat of my mother’s car and listening to him on the radio.

Steiner: When I was 7 years old, growing up on Long Island, the first time I heard a baseball game was the Brooklyn Dodgers. There was a [small] radio in my mom’s kitchen, and I was mesmerized. And from that moment on, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Walk: My grandfather was a great Dodger fan, so that basically is all we did almost every night when I was at his house. So I think that the voice of Vin Scully … he made my childhood wonderful, is all. He set me on my path that has been my life in baseball. He put me on my path.

Krukow: I was raised here in Southern California, and in 1958, when the Dodgers came here, I was 6 years old and I thought baseball was the greatest thing ever. My whole family played baseball and the love affair with Vin Scully started for all of us, and he taught me the game. And as I became a baseball player, it was my goal that someday Vin Scully was going to say my name and say it on the radio.

The style of a master

O’Brien: It’s really perfection. He reached a level of calling baseball that no other announcer has ever achieved, and I would venture even further than that and say any sport announcer calling any sport, any event, has not been able to obtain the level of mastery and perfection: the combination of the caliber of his voice, the tone of his delivery, the warmth of the inflection, the …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com