Rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela won his first eight games of the 1981 season, led the Dodgers to their first World Series victory since 1965, and became the first pitcher ever to win the Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young (for best pitcher) Award in the same year. This is the Scully conclusion to the Fernando Valenzuela game of May 8, 1981:
“The large crowd here at Shea Stadium, I think experiencing the feeling that is growing with all of us watching Valenzuela every fifth game, we see it, we understand it, and believe it, but we can’t imagine how he can keep doing it, and particularly tonight because a lot of people are leaving the stadium I am sure still thinking of his troubles in the first three innings, and thinking he didn’t look that good. No. And he wound up pitching a shutout and striking out eleven.”
Somewhat surprisingly Scully does not layer images. He triggers pictures, but he does not build or layer them. He uses a suggestive detail about a hat pulled down over the eyes, chalk dust, a high leg kick. Such small details pepper a broadcast. Scully’s “texture” is not even primarily visual. He undoubtedly gives more information about each player than any other announcer, but the bios are nonetheless brief. Perhaps he is inviting the listener to consider their six degrees of separation. Even if the listener does not know anyone from the same places or schools as the players, one is constantly reminded of our society’s generally shared sense of rootlessness, and how interrelated everyone must be if these players arrived in the big leagues and the United States from so many very different backgrounds. The hidden lesson is one of acceptance and equality.
While much of the meaning of Scully’s work is found in the implicit values of the inter-related contexts that he establishes in his broadcasts, and how this inherently values the global village of which baseball is a microcosm, he also offers explicit content that is at once marked by its honesty, truthfulness, fairness. He offers factual material that informs, inside information about baseball strategy, assesses the level of performance that he observes, and occasionally offers wisdom about the game and life itself.
At the immediate level Scully makes the immediate observations about what he has seen that would be expected of any announcer. It can include the playing conditions, reports relevant to the game, the context of the game. “The game time temperature, 69 degrees.” “The preliminary report on Nomar, sprain.” “If we get an injury report, we’ll pass it along to you.” He conscientiously announces the names of the umpires for each game. He will add specific and general description about the fans. Scully, taking a peek at Dodger pitcher Bill Singer’s wife, Jenny, notes that she, “lowers her head and writes an ‘8’ in her scorecard, Bill Singer doffs his cap.” He observes that the “crowd, still having some fun.”
More commonly he identifies details about the game: “When the Dodgers come up…” (and he will give the batters’ names). He calls the pitches, “there’s the slider.” He describes the defense, “the Dodgers pull up the corners looking bunt.” “Blum directly behind Anderson.” He’ll let the listener know about potential relief pitchers, “down in the bullpen just in case.” He helps the listener anticipate. He observes that on a 3-2 pitch this is the unusual pitcher who will “throw that slider on any count.” “We always try to anticipate your question and it looks like Valenzuela will hit for himself.” About Dodger team save leader Sammy Saito, “remember, he couldn’t make the ball club out of Spring Training.” Such details make listening to the games a richer experience.
There is often a qualitative judgment in his observations. He once said with some amusement about traffic and Dodger Stadium: “It’s interesting. The Dodgers thought, well let’s make it a 7:40 game to accommodate the crowd, but here on a Friday night in Los Angeles, you can make it 9 o’clock to start the game and there’ll still be a lot of folks trying to get here.” The qualitative judgments can also be about the fans or the game. He evidenced how much he enjoys a rivalry in observing: “that’s the San Francisco fans we know, (who had begun chanting) ‘Beat L.A.’” He will also make observations about the human qualities that might be relevant to the particular baseball game. For example the first time Fernando Valenzuela was pitching before his mother and father at Dodger Stadium:
“Thank you Jerry, hi everybody, and a very pleasant good evening to you. Welcome to Dodger Stadium and the prospects of another dramatic evening and perhaps made even more so by the presence of Fernando’s mother and father and sister. In fact this might very well be the most pressure that Fernando has experienced, and that is only a maybe. He does not appear to be, oh, that, that much involved in his wins and the record…But tonight has to be a particularly important night because for the first night in his big league career his mom and dad and sister are sitting in a box just to our right and they’ll be watching his every move. And the first time we saw his mother show any emotion since they’ve been here, when he walked out to the mound, she applauded. And it’ll be pretty hard to do the ball game tonight, watching Fernando, without sneaking a peak down the horseshoe bend of the press box to see how the Valenzuelas are doing up there. The fastball to Lonnie Smith is low and the count ball one, One and 0.”
As will be observed in Chapter Nine, Scully does not hesitate to bring in such potentially human moments when they are relevant.
He will quickly note a player dealing with strong emotion. In reacting to long time great Vinny Castilla’s last game at his home park, “(It’s) a great moment here in Colorado…saluting Vinny Castilla…fighting the tears.” ”He seems genuinely worried about the prospects of injury to the players, and base coaches: “I guarantee he is hurting.” For years Scully has wanted the base coaches to wear batting helmets to protect themselves.
He makes qualitative observations about the players and their level of skill: The batter is a “pinch hitter deluxe.” This is a “classic case, a very, very good base runner.” The exceptionally fast base runner, “puts a lot of heat on everybody.” He “steals it easily.” He has mentioned that the fans “tend to overlook…the workings of a major league baseball game…(that the players on the field were) so conscious of Lofton (and his foot speed),” that they rushed a play and made an error. He observes, “(that was an) interesting sequence of pitches.” The pitcher worked out of trouble, but Scully found it, “a very unconvincing start by Miguel Batista.” “Nothing fancy” he uses to describe a straight fastball. Scully reminds the audience that the pitcher is facing his former team and that he is, “pitching a gem against his old club.” He observes that Steve Finley is “in as good a shape as any 42 year old walking the planet.” Scully observes about an older veteran, “He can still play, for sure.” When an injured Nomar Garciaparra goes 3 for 4 Scully observes, “a lot of guys would like to hurt like that.” A game’s outcome was determined “all because of that mix-up at second base.” Scully editorialized about a 19-11 slugfest in Colorado: “it’s just not baseball.” Scully’s judgment is that the Wild card is, “a valuable prize.” Such observations are more than just facts, they contain an implicit qualitative judgment.
Such evaluative comments about skill and performance are complemented with much information about inside baseball. About pitching Scully shares, “that was a slurve,” (which he explains is something between a curve ball and a slider). Scully helps the listener anticipate the probable pitch: “don’t expect him to throw a curve ball.” On occasion he will add a bit of detail.
“The Dodger theory many, many years ago, how to throw a change-up and Carl Erskine had a great (one) and Johnny Podres had a great change. They taught their pitchers to throw the change as if you were pulling down a window shade. Your arm would come straight down. With Rudy when he does throw the change occasionally, he calls it a choke change. You squeeze the daylights out of the ball, but you have the same arm speed (as the fastball)…”
Scully also gives information about pitch selection and strategy for pitching to the batter. Scully calls attention to important details. Throwing strikes is important.
“It’s impressive to see those 95s to 97s (miles per hour on the fast ball), but they don’t mean a darn thing except he’s digging a hole” (throwing balls instead of strikes). “It’s a tribute to Valenzuela that Bystrom started him with a change-up…If there’s an expression in baseball that holds true over the years, you never change-up on a pitcher unless he’s a good hitting pitcher.”
Pitch location is also a fundamental consideration.
“Typical Maddox, inside, outside, up and down.” Match-ups of righties and lefties are important. “(It’s) no accident Grady is using a lot of left handed pitchers.” (The Mets have trouble with lefties and that’s who the Dodgers will face in the playoffs.) Eventually, “it always gets down to the pitch count…Maddox has made only 60 pitches (thru six innings)…”
He does the same for hitting. Batters try to anticipate what pitch will be thrown. “Instead of curve ball, he had to be thinking fastball.” There is more than one hitting technique. Scully explains that the batter “hits it inside out” (meaning he kept his hands “in” so that a right handed hitter will more likely hit the ball to right field). Bunts are not necessarily for sacrifices. When Kenny Lofton bunts, Scully explains that he was “not sacrificing, Lofton was bunting for a base hit.” What’s the easiest pitch to bunt? Scully informs the audience that, “hitters will tell you it is easier to bunt a curve.” Hitters as actors? Scully reveals a ruse: “there’s a strike to Kenny, despite the act” (Kenny Lofton pretending a pitch nearly hit him). Usually a batter will take a 3-0 pitch, expecting that the pitcher is likely to walk the batter on one of the next three pitches. However, since there is a tendency for a pitcher to groove the 3-0 pitch, because the batter is expected to take it, on a 3-0 pitch Scully encourages the audience to think along with him saying, “wonder whether (Dodger manager) Grady Little will green light him?” On some occasions it can be most likely the batter will be swinging. Will Dodger James Loney be allowed to swing at a 3-0 pitch? Scully reports, “I’m sure James will be green-lighted with the pitcher up next.” The prospects for scoring seem much better with Loney swinging, than hoping the pitcher will get a hit as the next batter. Encouraging the listener to think along, Scully speculates on another hitter’s probable thoughts, “will he work me away?” which might require the hitter to try to hit to the opposite field. About a bunt with less than two out and runners on first and third, Scully informs the listener about the bunt, “(they were) not trying to squeeze…(they were) trying to stay out of the double play,” which means the manager did not rely on the batter, usually the pitcher, to succeed on the bunt, so he does not ‘send’ the runner from third on the pitch. If the batter does bunt successfully, only the runner from first will move up a base. Thus a “successful” bunt would avoid a double play, and result in runners on second and third, both in scoring position for the next hitter, often a good hitting, leadoff hitter.
Scully offers important insights into base running. Scully sets the standard for base stealing:
“to a good base stealer I suppose the % should be around 80%.”
He explains about smart base running.
“(That was a) heads up play by Randy Wynn to tag up on the foul ball” (and put the potential go ahead run on second).
Scully describes a “hard but legitimate slide from Russell Martin…clean as a whistle.” With two outs, runners at first and third, and the winning run at third, why would the runner on first risk being thrown out by trying to steal second? Well, if that runner on first thinks second base is being given to him, he might try to steal. Why? With a runner stealing second Scully explains that, “when you take the force play away” at second, the batter just might hit a ground ball to the infield where the only play might have been a force out at second. Modestly Scully admits that “(it) didn’t take much of a rocket scientist to figure out he would run.”
Scully often offers inside information about fielding. How does a catcher try to pick a runner off second base? Scully explains “that was a timed play (“the daylight play”) …(it’s) up to the second baseman to get to the bag” (with the throw from the catcher already on the way). When there is a runner on first who will probably try to steal, does the shortstop or second baseman go to the bag? Scully explains, “Who should cover? (the shortstop) will hold the glove up on who will cover second…(it’s) usually mouth closed or mouth open…that’s as old as the game itself.” On defense Scully informs that “It’s easier to pick off a fast runner…” Even famous historical plays warrant some explanation. Scully had this to say about the Willie Mays catch of the Vic Wertz drive in the first game of the 1954 World Series, described in Chapter One, “most baseball people who were there will tell you that Mays (World Series 1954) got the ball back to the infield so quickly (was the great play)…Bill Veck said (to me) ‘did you see?’”
Scully also gives other inside information about the professional game of baseball. After being surprised by James Loney’s surge of power in an end of the season game in Denver Colorado, a game in which he drove in nine runs, Scully researched, found, and explained that Colorado apparently “ran out of balls from the humidor” and so they had to use “the hard dry baseballs” (that traveled further). In that Colorado game Scully caught the Dodger dugout trying to give Loney “the silent treatment” after one of his home runs, something that has happened over baseball history when players choose humorously to under react to someone else’s personal accomplishment. Scully reports, “when he first came into the dugout he had, I think, one hand shake…then they exploded.”
Scully often says that the best pitch is a first pitch strike, and a fastball is the easiest to throw with control, yet on this occasion the hitter is a “notorious first ball, fast ball hitter.” Such inside information results in the listener paying very close attention to that first pitch. Scully explained about Dodger Jeff Kent’s walks, that they were “unintentional intentionals, where you just don’t give him a strike…I really don’t think they want much of him.” A regular Dodger listener feels much more knowledgeable in knowing a walk does not necessarily mean the pitcher had lost control.
Unlike most all other announcers, Scully does not tell the listener what he would have done in terms of baseball strategy, but he is excellent at explaining the dilemmas. For example, in the National League, where the pitcher still hits for himself, he is usually by far the worst hitter in the line-up. However, even though the eighth batter is presumably a major league hitter, he is usually the next worst hitter. And a team has to accumulate 27 outs to win a game. It’s very important consistently to get the eighth place hitter out. So with a runner in scoring position, and first base open, do you walk the eighth hitter to get to the worse hitter? The answer is complicated by the fact that statistically, if the first batter in an inning gets on base, he is about twice as likely to score, than if the second batter in an inning is the first one to get on base. A great way to keep a run from having any chance to score is to get the pitcher out at the beginning of an inning. So, the horns of the dilemma—you don’t want the eighth batter to single in a run when you could have pitched to the pitcher, but, then, you would really, really like that same pitcher leading off the next inning. As Scully explains, “It is the old story, do you pitch to him (the eighth hitter in the line up) or put him on? Most managers want to get that eighth hitter so they can have the pitcher the next inning leading off.” Such shared insights make for richer, textured, more enjoyable, more meaningful, watching and listening.
Scully notes that “of World Series winners only seven in history had losing records in September.” He uses such statistics, but alerts the listener to be somewhat wary of them. “How a team plays end of season and how you can translate that into playoff games?…the Chicago White Sox lost 10 of 14 at end of season and won the World Series…” Scully’s awareness of the fairly recent emphasis on total pitch counts for each pitcher, and a five man, instead of four man, pitching rotation has a significant influence on a pitcher’s opportunity to win 20 games. “No 20 game winner for the first time in an uninterrupted season.” With the importance of pitch counts, Scully wryly wonders about the 2006 San Francisco Giants, “You ask yourself will Felipe ask his hitters to take some pitches (to get Dodger pitcher, Greg Maddox’ pitch count and tire him out)? Probably not.”
Scully is a champion of the well-played, earnestly contested match; but he is not naïve; and he remains truthful in his commentary. He does not give much credit to a sudden offensive outpouring, that is only the result of a game being one sided, with the other team putting in their second string. He tells his listener, “You get the idea.” And when Dodger manager, Grady Little, had a faint hope of still being the sole champion of the National League West in 2006, but already had guaranteed a playoff spot regardless, Little decided to rest his regulars. Scully wondered of his listeners, “If you were Grady Little, what would you do?”
Over a season Scully gives a clinic in inside baseball. Scully shares so much “insider” baseball, probably most who are regular listeners share the illusion that they could probably manage a baseball team.
The nursery rhyme reads: “For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.” It is often recollected as, “For want of a nail the kingdom was lost.” Scully dotes on such turning points, often wondering aloud what might have been?
“Except for the balk call, there’d be no score.” “That (error) set up the only Arizona run.” “The lack of the bunt is a huge play.” Lugo “just able to avoid the double play, turns out huge.” “The key play so far…” (a liner at Dodger pitcher, Greg Maddox, that the gold glove pitcher snared). “That stolen base was pivotal.” “To the wall, leaps in the air, and makes the catch…if Maddox’ glove isn’t there to catch it, it’s gone.” “A couple of flares that have to be maddening to the Giants and their faithful…it never says you have to hit the ball hard.” “The only run was a charmed run…” (Dodger Ken Landreaux had been picked off first base, but a balk was called.) Every game seems to turn on a missed sign, a mental error, a sloppy play, a missed cut off, a bad hop, an excuse me hit, a play maybe missed by inches. (I have always suspected that the only times Scully lets slip that he really bleeds Dodger blue, is when he keeps going back to the “bad break” that went against the Dodgers, that will apparently cost them a game.) He persistently will reprise the “home run” that had been caught from over the fence by the other team’s outfielder. It “would have been a home run.”
Scully seems that he would prefer justice. When he can defend an umpire’s call, he will, and he seems to be the one sports announcer who realizes that camera angles can be misleading. Scully remarks, “They are trying to show it was foul on television, (but umpire Riley was the) one guy in perfect position.” But Scully also quickly notes the ironies and vicissitudes of life. Scully was clearly grateful that the first hit of a 2006 game in the 7th inning against Greg Maddox was a “clean” hit. The “best part about it (losing the no hitter) was that it was clean as a whistle, a line drive single to right.” Scully clearly did not want a fluke hit to end the Maddox masterpiece. He will ask, “How often does that happen?” (that a last minute substitute has a single and double in the game).
Scully certainly expects the ironies. In a 2006 Playoff game against the New York Mets, he summarized the flow of the game:
“Hi once again everybody welcome back to Dodger Stadium. In a ball game that is frustrating, maddening, euphoric, you put the label on it, the Dodgers down 4 to nothing, rallied back amidst hysteria here at Dodger Stadium to take 5-4 lead and then no where in the rule book does it say that you have to hit the ball hard and we never saw that more illustrated than the bloop singled by Reyes, LoDuca and Beltran, and then just to rub salt in the wounds, the Dodgers were penalized because they hit the ball too hard, Jeff Kent’s line drive double, really blistered, jumped into the box seats in the left field corner for a ground rule double and that prevented Lofton from scoring a run.”
Ironies inevitably work out in someone’s behalf. He finds, “so many great stories” in baseball, and explains that the Pittsburgh Pirates spent a lot of money for infielder Joe Randa; he got hurt; and then his replacement, Freddy Sanchez, then won the batting championship.
Much of the “content” of the Scully broadcasts is almost shockingly frank. I doubt that a broadcaster of less stature than Scully could be as candid in his analysis of the players and games that he has observed. He does not sugar coat his assessments. He is fair, but speaks the truth. He was talking about a player’s disappointing year, “not that there’s anything wrong with the year he has had,” but it was less of a year than his previous work, and much less than expected. Consider the following examples of candor as well:
Rafael Furcal may be one of the Dodgers’ stars, but it was, “a rare clutch error” by Furcal.” Scully observes about a professional hitter, who took a very hittable pitch, “I think, reading body language occasionally, I think Toby feels like he let one get away.” When a better defensive play might have been made, “(it is a) double play ball most of the time, but not tonight.” How much is the pitcher struggling? It was the “first time he’s gotten the lead off man.” Scully has limited patience for hitters who are not smart enough to “work the count,” to wait for a better pitch, and to try and tire the pitcher out earlier in the game. “They are playing right into Batista’s hands right now. Five outs on seven pitches.” When a pitcher makes a positive adjustment, earlier results are, nonetheless, recalled. “What a contrast tonight…in the pitch count, remarkable.” All of the team’s starting pitchers are implicitly faulted when he observes, “again, remember the Dodger bullpen has to be worn out.” Scully doesn’t miss the many a slip between the cup and the lip, “that hesitation cost him at third.” Even if the player is headed to the Hall of Fame, “they are all over Greg Maddox.” Failure has no place to hide from Scully. The pitcher, Valverde, is “not pitching well…(an) ERA of about 6 and a half.” Even the best have off days, and Scully notes about one of his own clear favorites, “so Fernando (Valenzuela) is not that sharp.” “So there’s a young pitcher having a big time tonight, but it is not Valenzuela.” “Most of his pitches have been high…well I’ve had a lot of older pitchers tell us that you learn much more when you are struggling than you do when everything is going your way, and for Valenzuela, he could be learning quite a bit tonight.”
Two errors do not right a wrong.
“(A) bad throw and badly played.”
Such mistakes may be forgive, but are not forgotten, especially since consequences of those mistakes are often incurred.
“(He) also committed an error that let a run come over.” “So the balk means a run.”
If it had only been different, “what really put him in the hole right now was the two out walk that was cashed in.”
Sometimes it starts small. “Penny, overthrowing on that pitch.” But, such mistakes build up. “Not exactly the relief (manager) Clint Hurdle was expecting” (when all of his relief pitchers were bombed). “Clint Hurdle hasn’t gotten any relief at all today.”
Poor play can be embarrassing. The Giants “would like to save face” and win a game.” “Embarrassed” the Rockies by winning 14 out of 18 during the season.” The team had given up a large lead even “before the chairs were warm.” Failure can become a pattern, “and each time he has failed to deliver,” “what a bitter series for JD Drew,” “Floyd might argue, but he’s history,” “The Dodgers have been thoroughly throttled.”
Scully shows no “mercy” even for crowd favorites. About former Dodger catcher Mike Piazza, “he continues to be an escape hatch for Dodger pitchers” (as he hits into another double play). Scully is relentless in his honesty. “That’s certainly not going to get it done tonight” as two more runs score. “Dodger pitchers are putting overwhelming strain on the Dodger bullpen.” “Starting pitching has really hurt the Dodgers” Scully might acknowledge contributing circumstances, “unaccustomed to his role as a reliever, and it shows.” But it always comes back to actual results. “Five innings (by the starters) isn’t close to getting the job done.” The fates may be cruel. “And the crowd groans as Giles singles…and the crowd standing now, giving Maddox an ovation, he’s never pitched a no hitter, and he’s not going to do it tonight.” The years may wear on. About former Dodger catcher, Mike Piazza, Scully observes, “well the years pile up, the game gets tougher to play.”
Because the game Scully considers the greatest ever devised is so difficult, “Ethier has been struggling, they all do.” “And Brad just wasn’t up to it,” (a failed outing as starting pitcher). “It’s as if the bus pulled in and they left town,” (about the Dodgers’ poor play). Scully knows that the players know what they are up against. “Not a sound from the Dodgers” (offensively). About the Dodgers “they are hurting right now.” Failure can become inevitable. About a routinely played, one-sided game, “it is a formality now.” About a Dodger opponent, “they were the better team and they beat the Dodgers going away.” “The Dodgers are going gently into that good night.”
The superstars are equally vulnerable to failure and to Scully’s candor. About Luis Gonzales, “as tough a night as we’ve seen him have in a long time…0 for 6 without a ball out of the infield or advancing a runner.” Because all are prone to human error, the infielder, “double clutched and threw too late.” Such human error is compounded by the fates. “A little fly ball.” (it drops for a hit) “That’s the curse of Coors Field.” (that the outfielders play deep so the pop flies drop in) “Outfielders have to play further out.”
Scully wants the listeners to trust him, thus he shares his honest assessments of all aspects of the game. In evaluating two players competing for the same position: “Ionetto looks like a far better hitter than Closser.” He dissects what has happened with a player. “He is just now reaching the rubber in the bull pen…”what has hurt Fernando in the 4th inning, the thing that has been a mainstay for him throughout the year—his control, tonight it’s lack of control.” “Bill Russell has been unable to get going…of course he’s had his share of problems…the stress fracture…” “But Spier kicked the ball that would have been the last out.” “Gonzo who is a long way from the Gonzo we remember.”
Scully tells the whole ugly truth. He has “never been very impressive pitching against the Dodgers…really he hasn’t been very impressive pitching against anybody.” Such is simply the ways things are. “However Holbrook called him out and that’s the way it’s going to be.” Individual mistakes can become contagious and affect an entire team. “The Phillies were shaky, very shaky.” About the Colorado Rockies: “it still looks like they’ve gone backwards.” About the Dodgers: “its such a streaky team.” Certain decisions are management decisions with more than one person presumably at fault. About Colorado’s Todd Helton: “infection he had in his stomach…Rockies admit they brought him back too soon.”
Scully does not just call the plays, he keeps going back to his judgment about teams to share with the listener. “Meanwhile we have a ball game or whatever this is.” “The kids have been hurting (Colorado manager) Hurdle and they are putting him in a bad spot now.” “Dodgers really mess that one up.” “I’m watching a game like this today…and you have this feeling for years…you wonder how they (Colorado) can ever win…the really good free agents don’t want to pitch here.” Colorado pitchers, “may get their hearts broken pitching in this ball park.” And back to his judgment about individual players. Scully often observes that a player, “has been somewhat of a disappointment.” He will make unflattering comparisons to emphasize a point. When James Loney had tied the Dodger record for RBIs in a game, but it was in Colorado, which is known as a home run park, and in a game where the baseballs had not been properly kept in a humidor, making them easier to hit long distances, Scully was somewhat apologetic about the feat. “I have a confession…”(he says nice things about the person, James Loney), “but to equate (Loney’s) 9 r.b.i.’s with the great Gil Hodges, please, please.”
He is like a doctor in his diagnoses. “They forgot Kenny Lofton was not about to take anything for granted…two veterans out there who could have thought better…the infield fly was called, but (it) ends up a sacrifice fly…the Dodgers pick Durham’s pocket.” “Should Bonds have caught the ball? No, not Bonds, but most any other major league ball player playing left field.” Feliz “had had a very poor series, and that’s being conservative.” And since he is speaking to the listener, not the patient/player, he does not have to have the doctor’s good bedside manner. He describes the disease, “he has had a tough series…to come up three times as a pinch hitter and strike out all three times,” and its impact, “it’s been “a long day for young Mr. Kemp.”
It is not only the players who make mental errors. In criticizing the Dodger coaching staff Scully admonishes, “’Cause, I’ll tell you what, if you were the pitching coach, you would have gone out there after that pitch Kuo made before the double by LoDuca.” Scully was obviously critical of Dodger manager, Grady Little, who kept playing rookie Russell Martin in the arduous catching position, inning after inning: “in a runaway game Russell Martin catches every inning.”
Scully has much in common with Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson advocates speaking “the rude truth.” Scully must be one of the most polite people on the earth, and he also speaks the direct and candid truth.
Scully is equally willing to recognize a noteworthy play or successful performance. He observes that Rafael Furcal has been, “leading the Dodgers, as he has all year long.” He says of Russell Martin’s play that, “It was a “courageous” block of home plate.” He observes about a Dodger victory that, “It was a family effort.” About a hitter, “He’s been the big stick today.” Scully often reminisces about how during the pre-game warm-ups the players used to practice their throws to the bases, and how much he enjoyed watching that. So he especially appreciates seeing such strong throws during a game. “The thing that really opened my eyes was the throw that Carlos Beltran made.”
He raved about a play by Golden Glove shortstop, Omar Vizquel. “One of the great plays we’ve seen all year” (Vizquel throwing behind J.D. Drew to the pitcher to get Drew rounding first base)…that was some play!”
Scully was quick to relay a clarification about a costly passed ball by rookie catcher, Russell Martin from the previous game. He was obviously pleased that veteran pitcher, Brad Penny, who had made that pitch, wanted to clear the record. “Penny was quick to defend his young catcher…(Martin) was looking for a four seam fast ball and Penny threw a two seam fastball…crossed him up.” Scully clearly appreciated the opportunity to make that report.
Scully consistently affirms a solid performance. It was “(a) magnificent performance from Greg Maddox.” He remarked about Fernando Valenzuela, “before a capacity crowd, he has done it again.” He noted, “James Loney…tied the great Gil Hodges, what a way to start his career.” “(That) points out how well Greg Maddox pitched last night.” He will affirm players in other ways as well. “How good a pitcher is he (Wells)? The Blue Jays traded Roger Clemens to the Yankees for him.” About pitcher Miguel Batista, “he’s a poet and a novelist…(publishing his novel) Through the Eyes of the Law.” “The greatest moment in the game…was when Vinny Castilla (his last game at his home park in Colorado) came in as a pinch hitter…the place went bananas…”
All of this attention to detail and strategy has the net effect of communicating rich knowledge of baseball to the listener.
The rare times Scully is likely to interject his own opinion is often about whether a hard hit ball had been a hit or an error. “No error, it was one of those do or die plays.” The official score keeper, “should charge him an error.” “That’ll be a tough error if that’s the call.”
Sometimes Scully offers generalizations about his observations having watched baseball for so many years. His “findings” include:
“Usually it seems to be tough to come up with runs.” (in a tight pennant race)
“If you give a big league team a break…” (they will take advantage of it)
“Statistics?” with statistics you should be able to “split a three game series.”
“(The) wild card has really been a factor the past few years.”
“I’ve always had a theory (about umps no longer making pronounced calls about balls and strikes, out or safe)…in the 50s…(with the advent of) television…accusation (about umpires) that they were ‘doing it for tv.’”
He still finds it hard to imagine that ball players are now “making the huge fortunes in the world of baseball.”
About new catcher’s masks: the “new fangled thing, doesn’t do the job.” (Scully responding to reports that two catchers were out indefinitely because of head injuries from foul balls.)
Scully also makes interesting observations about the Dodgers and Baseball. He said about the 2006 Dodgers, “this Dodger team was…unpredictable…fit right in, in Dodger history…in all honesty.” As the Dodgers went on the road for the end of their season one knew “they could win them all or lose them all…when they had to win, they’ve won six straight.”
In the L.A. Times he remarked, “Baseball…it’s all there in front of you. It’s theatre really. The star is the spotlight on the mound, the supporting cast fanned out around him, the mathematical precision of the game moving with the kind of inevitability of Greek tragedy. With the Greek chorus in the bleachers.” (LA Times, 6/20/76)
Scully has remarked about certain Dodger game losses, “They (losses) are somewhat easier to accept when you are pounded.” As of the end of the 2007 season the Dodgers had won a total of one playoff game since the World Series Championship of 1988. Scully opined, “Let’s be honest, they’ve spent too much time talking about 1988, it’s disappearing in the mists of time.” At the end of the 2006 season, which had had such an exciting September, only to result in a three game sweep by the Mets in the NLCS, “So that’ll do it. I mean all of a sudden the year is finished, done, kaput, a memory.”
He passes on a sense of history. He reflects that, “(56 years ago a broadcaster) could not under penalty of death mention a no hitter…heck today I’d say call your friends.” In discussing Dodger pitcher Orel Hershiser’s pursuit of Don Drysdales’ record of consecutive shut-out innings, “And that’s what we’re looking at, the past, 20 years ago, we’re looking at it again, remarkable.” He will occasionally stop and marvel about the transiency of time. He thinks, “which brings up a point…(and he names a long list of players who have departed during the very same season)…not a one of them wearing a Dodger uniform today.” With the Dodger season complete, but awaiting the outcome of the Padre game to know where the Dodgers would go for the first round of the playoffs, Scully, called the last out and called attention to the uncertainty that still remained, “Ramon, the ex-Giant, he’s got it…and that’s it…boy do they do a number on the Giants…they put a ribbon on the year…Felipe Alou saying goodbye to the players…(the Dodgers) know they have a lot of work left to do…typical of the Dodgers, leave you a little up in the air (going to LA or NY?)…get out of town…God bless, talk to you soon. Good afternoon everybody.”
At rare times that Scully allows himself to simply accept, appreciate, and marvel at what he has seen: “So many wonders in this great game.” “What a way to start!” “What a game, whew!” “Ho hum, just another Dodger ballgame.” “Can you believe it? Can you possibly believe it?” Sometimes in a bit greater detail:
“The large crowd here at Shea Stadium, I think experiencing the feeling that is growing with all of us watching Valenzuela every fifth game, we see it, we understand it, and believe it, but we can’t imagine how he can keep doing it, and particularly tonight because a lot of people are leaving the stadium I am sure still thinking of his troubles in the first three innings, and thinking he didn’t look that good. No. And he wound up pitching a shutout and striking out eleven…unbelievable even for the Dodgers…Somehow this was the best Fernando game, it was the finest.”
His observations about life sometimes have the quality of epigrams, and again reminiscent of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Scully avers, “you might study history to learn about the present and future.” He admonishes, “As long as you live, keep smiling because it brightens everybody’s day.” He says about an excellent ballplayer who had but a good year, “Good is not good when better is expected.” About future Hall of Fame pitcher, Greg Maddox, who has never thrown a no-hitter and not giving up a hit until the seventh inning in a 2006 game) “Of course at 40 I’m sure he’s learned to get over any disappointment.” He glimpses time in observing, “Andre Dawson has a bruised knee and is listed day to day (pause) aren’t we all?” He notes about time, “It’s a mere moment…”
His observations about people could be subjects for Norman Rockwell’s paintings. He observed about Colorado manager, Clint Hurdle, that “when things get tough he (Hurdle) usually bounces a ball…he shelved the ball…probably thinking of shelving some of his pitchers.” In considering the reaction of the San Francisco Giant fans to a former star Giant, and National League Most Valuable Player, who had gone over to play for the Dodgers, “The boos in the background, actually an accolade for Jeff Kent.” (That is, he would not have been booed unless he was good and missed.) Watching Dodger manager Grady Little handle conflict, “Nothing is going to faze Grady.” Scully finds, Grady Little “the man who never loses his composure,” and remarks, humorously, that ”Grady goes out (to the pitcher’s mound) just to change the atmosphere.”
Scully observes about Dodger rookie, Matt Kemp, who has just struck out, “Sadder but a bit wiser, goes back to the dugout,” and he notes that veteran pitcher, “Greg Maddox is not fooling around.” In San Francisco, and certainly Scully would know Dodger Tommy Lasorda well enough to know this to be true, Scully observes about the chorus of boos from the hostel crowd,”…Lasorda comes after the start of the game so he can give the fans a shot at him.” Scully loves the good natured rivalry and Lasorda flair.
On rare occasions Scully will make something of a humorous, self-conscious remark. In a Dodger slugfest in Colorado that the Dodgers won 19-11, Scully chuckled, “hardest thing in the world is to keep score of this thing,” and later remarked about the huge scores that, “this is really a bizarre game…” Eventually, the game, and perhaps life, give reason to be “angry at the fates,” but regardless, “so it has come down to this.”
Scully has shared his connoisseurship of the game of baseball with passion, with insight, with humor, with knowledge and wisdom. Implicitly, this deep appreciation for a child’s game, challenges one to be simply more attentive, more intelligent, better prepared, more accepting of the fates, more tolerant, more civil. The content is primarily baseball, but the implications are clearly about life.