Scully places baseball in the context of culture. On June 8, 1968, Don Drysdale was going for the consecutive shut outs innings record at Dodger Stadium. On June 4, 1968, Drysdale had pitched his sixth consecutive shutout game and Robert Kennedy had publicly congratulated him in the speech he gave immediately before his assassination in Los Angeles.
From Vin Scully’s introduction to the Don Drysdale game of June 8, 1968.
“Hi everybody and welcome to Dodger Stadium. They say the eye of the storm is the quiet part and here Dodger Stadium has suddenly become the eye of the storm. A large crowd, approximately 50,000, and winds of all kinds of emotion swirling around the ballpark. Certainly there are still the winds of sorrow. What a dreadful, drab, and heartbreaking day it has been. But as the gray skies now slowly start to disappear tonight, so too the feelings in the ballpark are turning. And, from the, almost the, pits of despair we concentrate on a child’s game, a ball, a bat, and some people hitting it, throwing it, catching it, and particularly Don Drysdale’s big night in baseball.”
Much of Scully’s “message” is suggested by the depth of the context he sets for each and every game he broadcasts. Implicitly by spending so much of his broadcast time on context, he emphasizes how everyone and everything are inter-related in so many ways. Scully affirms and validates the world as a global village.
He starts with his immediate context. Scully often opens his broadcast with “It’s time for Dodger baseball.” He always says, “Hi everybody and a very pleasant (Saturday) evening wherever you may be.” Time and place matter, “we’ll talk to you Tuesday from Colorado.” In a particularly significant moment Scully will cite the time and place: “9:46 in the City of the Angels.”
Scully makes the audience feel like partners in the broadcast. “If you are keeping score…” he says. He updates us, “In case you missed it, the Phillies won.” By calling the games solo, without a partner, he is speaking directly to the listener.
He telescopes in on the park, the day, the weather, the fans in the park, the day’s game, relevant health issues of those in the Dodger community. He often refers to the beauty of the ballpark, “the capacity crowd on a magnificent day.” Scully also sometimes uses the kind of day that it is to emphasize the kind of game it will likely be. In a late season game that was not going to change the outcome of the season, Scully described the day and the game as a “lazy summer afternoon visit.” Under different circumstances, the pressure of an important late season game: “The Fall has arrived with it all the tension and the excitement of a pennant race and a drop in temperature, 66 degrees, here at Dodger Stadium to start the game.”
He will pay particular attention to weather conditions that might affect the game. The “light breeze blowing from right to left” should help the right hand power hitters, and might cut down a long fly ball by a left hand hitter. “A spider’s web of shadows” on a late afternoon will usually make it more difficult for a batter to see the pitched ball. When a player had already hit a single, double, and homerun, Scully mentions, “All he needs in this spacious ball park is to come up with a triple (to have hit for the cycle)…the wind if blowing out to right…mess of shadows…the kind of a day when no lead is safe.” The fact that the wind is blowing out, and that the stadium is spacious, improves the chances of the batter hitting a long triple. The shadows might interfere with his seeing the pitch, however. Indeed, a “day when no lead is safe.” None of these are irrelevant contextual details because they play or may play a factor in the character of that day’s game.
Scully may even explain that the weather conditions are different for the players than the fans. “You come in perspiring” (the players are using heaters in the dug out)…”(while) a big blanket will do if you are sitting in the stands.” The fans at home imagine themselves in the stadium under a warm blanket, but recognize that the cold weather may affect the hitting or fielding of these players who are also trying to stay warm.
Scully consistently evidences awareness and even concern for the fans. “At 8:45 we look out back of left field and we see plenty of automobiles and people coming in to the ball park, and we’d ask you, please, to exercise some patience. Nothing has happened and we have a long way to go.” He shows his evident delight with what he finds in the crowd. When a female fan catches a foul ball, he reacts, “yeah, she’s got the souvenir.” On television broadcast, in extra innings on a cold night he espies a heavily bundled child in the stands and remarks, “he’s probably saying to himself, what am I doing here?” Reacting to a camera shot of a child playing he encourages, “keep that energy going.” He describes a very small child as, “a bonus boy along with sis and mom and dad.” At San Francisco he observes, “Yesterday they had a boat out there (McCovey Cove in San Francisco) with a bride and groom on it, today, a little girls and her dog.” He delights when a family is together at a game.
In being asked about the prospects of potentially having to call the Barry Bonds homerun that would beat Henry Aaron’s record for career homeruns, Scully said that he would not plan such a call, and that he relied on the response of the crowd to influence such a call. He looks for the reaction shot: “the crowd is a little bit down right now,” “much to the delight of the crowd,” “the crowd, very quiet, stunned would be a good word.” In a back and forth game Scully observes, “It has been an emotional roller coaster ride for the big crowd, and it is a huge crowd, one minute down in the dumps, depressed when (Dodger pitcher) Maddox gave up four in the first three innings and then, if you weren’t with us you should have heard this place in the 4th and 5th innings.” The crowd and the crowd response are an important part of the context for the baseball game that Scully calls.
Scully consistently suggests that the participation of the fans can influence the activity on the field, thus teams that can take the crowd out of the game have done something significant:
“The crowd here at Shea Stadium is a little on the quiet side now because they are sweating it out, but boy when the Mets are at bat, it’s as noisy and as alive a crowed is we’ve seen or heard from in years, one ball and one strike, Mota ready, here he comes and its swung on and fouled back, one and two, and now everybody up as they’ve been doing all day when the pitcher gets two strikes on a Dodger hitter it means everybody up, well almost everybody except those in the Dodgers’ box, so Mota takes a little walk on the grass letting Garciapara twist in the wind a little bit now, Guillermo back on top, 33 year old right-hander, and Garciapara waiting one ball and two strikes, Mota’s stretch, here he comes, whacked inside third and down the line, here comes Betamit, here comes Furcal, on a clutch double by Garciapara that silences the crowd and ties up the game, listen to this crowd.” (Quiet)
The family members, health issues of Dodger players and others in the wider Dodger community communicate that the Dodger baseball game is only the center of a much larger story. When there were birth complications for the wife of a Dodger utility infielder, Scully said, “our prayers are with Ramon (Martinez), his wife, and baby.” When Martinez returned to the team Scully congratulated the new Dad on the air and added that it has been “the answer to many, many prayers.” It’s not only the ballplayers and their families who can be so recognized. Scully wished Jack Young well in the hospital. Scully informed his listeners that Young had played a major role in the building of Dodger Stadium.
Scully pays careful attention to players who may hurt themselves, especially on the playing field, “and he’s hurting.” “Cey’s acting like a man hurt.” He admires the player who can play hurt. He is “still playing with a sore quad.” If the player has to leave the game, Scully conscientiously tries to get an update. “We get a report…on Brad…there was something wrong…stiffness in the back.” If the player returns more quickly than expected, “for him to bounce back is remarkable.” And he looks ahead to when an injured player is likely to return. “(It) might not be until August, Lopes can play.” “Pedro’s out until at least June next year.”
Such knowledge of health issues can pay off dramatically by setting a context for a particular play. In 1988 the presumption had been that Kirk Gibson could not possibly play. Scully had assured the audience that was true. Apparently, Kirk Gibson was even listening to Scully, and by his own report was motivated to prove that in this one case Vin was actually wrong about something. Overcoming such adversity comes up at other times in a season. In an important game in 2006 against the Giants with a runner on third base and less than two outs, Scully had told the audience that the batter, Omar Vizquel, rarely strikes out, so it was going to be very difficult to stop the runner on third base from scoring. The audience also knew that Ramon Martinez, the third baseman, had been away at the birth of a child, and because of the child’s health complications had been delayed in returning to the Dodgers. So when Martinez made a great catch of Vizquel’s foul ball, his play had extra special meaning.
Scully consistently sets context for what’s happening on the field including particular aspects of that day’s game including the players and umpires. The game may have special attractions: In a game featuring Dodger pitching sensation, Fernando Valenzuela and future Hall of Fame slugger, Mike Schmidt, Scully observed, “(There are)marvelous confrontations…when you come to a big league game…” Sometimes Scully identifies a different kind of confrontation. In a previous game at Dodger Stadium there had been a flare up between Dodger coach, Mario Duncan, and San Diego Padre pitcher, Jake Peavy. When the Dodgers and Padres met again, Scully recollected, “remember the angry young man here in Los Angeles?”
In the absence of a notable conflict or confrontation, Scully might settle for a player’s personal highlight. In a losing game he finds the positive note: the “brief highlight for the Dodgers was Mark Hendrickson’s 4 innings, 8 strike outs, 1 hit (performance).” An otherwise meaningless at-bat can be an important one in context: “It’s a pretty important moment for Delwyn Young” (his first at bat at Dodger Stadium in a very one-sided game). Relatives playing against each other makes a game more meaningful. When the Dodgers played the Arizona Diamond Backs in 2006, it pitted outfielder J.D. Drew of the Dodgers against his younger brother, Stephen, a shortstop. Scully referred to Stephen as “the kid brother.” When J.D. Drew first reached second the base as a runner, and was standing in the vicinity of the shortstop brother, Scully humorously observed that, “his brother Stephen stays away from him.” Scully was even more delighted when Stephen hit a long single to right field but was thrown out at second on a great throw by his brother, J.D.
And sometimes the context is about a choice one of the participants has made that significantly influences the game to be watched. At the last game of the 2006 season the Dodgers had a faint hope of finishing ahead of the San Diego Padres, instead of tied, with a victory of their own, and if the Padres lost their game. Dodger manager, Grady Little, decided not to go with his better pitcher on short rest. Scully observed, “apparently (Grady Little will) be content to go for the wild card.” That decision, made prior to the start of the game, was the most significant contextual feature of that game.
For Scully what happens to a given player is always in the context of relationships on and off the immediate playing field. Perhaps it is with regard to a player who has just been taken out of the game. He mentions about a pitcher who was taken out of the game while behind in the score, that he is, “sipping water hoping his teammates bail him out.” Another dugout relationship might be between the coach or manager and a player. A player who was finally succeeding was only able to do so because of the Manager: “Grady (Little) believed…stuck with him.”
Sometimes the relevant relationships are as close as the stands. At a Dodger game in 1981 in Fernando Valenzuela’s rookie season, Scully observes that, “leading the applause…Mrs. Valenzuela, Fernando’s mom.” While the Koufax perfect game was primarily about Koufax, Scully called attention to Dodger catcher Jeff Torborg and mentioned that, “his two kids are here watching it.” During Bill Singer’s no hitter Scully noted that his wife in the stands and “(she’s) not drying her nails,” (which was presumably more appropriately said in 1970). Even though he had missed the entire season because of injury, Scully was impressed by: “you know who’s here taking in the ball game? Eric Gagne. Uhhuh.”
Scully does not limit recognition of family relationships only to the Dodgers. In a 1981 game to be pitched by Fernando Valenzuela Scully observed, “One of the more interesting aspects of the game, he’ll be pitching against a fellow who batted in the Mexican league against him when he was pitching in Navajo, was Fernando, Alex Trevino was playing at Hermosillo, so they’ll be going head to head and that should add a little extra Mexican touch, Mexican flavor, to the game tonight.” In an even much more unlikely co-incidence Scully reported that two Taiwanese high school teammates (Wang and Kuo) were both starting playoff games in New York. “What a one in a billion shot it is indeed!” About an opposing player who had become a very successful hitter from both sides of the plate Scully informed the listener that, “(His) Dad forced him to become a switch hitter, and boy has it paid off.”
Scully especially seems to enjoy suggesting the relativity of time. In contrasting a veteran player to the 20 year-old Fernando Valenzuela, “he’s been playing in the big leagues almost as long as Fernando has been alive.” In a similar vein: when David Wells and Greg Maddox started pitching professionally, “(Russell) Martin was three years old.” On the upper end of the age perspective Scully realized, “they had a birthday lunch today in New York for Willie Mays, boy, under the headings of tempus fugit, it was Willie Mays’ 50th birthday, and the whole world got a lot older.”
Often Scully uses a multiple context of previous games and existing relationships. In this example “and just as he did in his last game, Fernando finds himself behind” after a Mike Schmidt homerun, but this is the first time his mother had seen him play Major League baseball and, ”Fernando’s mother rubbed her hair and lowered her head for a moment.”
Scully also telescopes out from the game to other relevant games that day; the season and pennant race; Dodger history; Baseball history; the larger culture; the past; Life. Scully scrupulously keeps his listeners up to date on the progress of other games that have a bearing on the Dodgers pennant hopes. In continuing to report scores of both the Phillies and Padres in a tight pennant race, Scully self consciously realizes that he is trying to keep “three balls in the air here tonight.” And when the Dodgers surge out to an early lead he says, “so the Dodgers, sending a message to San Diego…” When San Diego goes ahead 2-1 in their own game, Scully says, that it, “puts a chill in the ballpark.”
Scully has great recall of earlier incidents that a regular listener would also likely wonder about. In an earlier game Dodger pitcher Brad Penny had to be removed from a game because of what turned out to be a forbidden second trip to the pitcher’s mound by the manager. The first had been over a controversy, but the manager’s trip had been ruled a visit. In somewhat similar circumstances a few days later Scully recalls, “that was not technically a visit to the mound…you may remember the trouble we got into with that…”
Scully is especially good at a game with some sort of finality, quickly getting at the relationship of the game and the future. In the upbeat mood of clinching the 2006 co-Championship of the National League West, Scully reported, “one out away from clinching the wild card…there will be a celebration of sorts I’m sure…swung on and missed…Sammy’s what they call him…Saito is mobbed on the mound…the Dodgers…another appointment with post season play…a downcast Philadelphia club…rubbed the Giants noses in it a bit…the pain (of the Giants) watching the Dodgers celebrate…the biggest difference so far…(Giants vs. Dodgers 6-12, Giants vs. Padres 12-7)…slowly now leaving the field…the bubbly will be uncapped, the bubbly will be poured…heart break or euphoria—for the Dodgers, euphoria…this time it is the Dodgers who celebrate in Giant land…Maddox another remarkable chapter in his history…this is Vin Scully…”
In 2006 the Dodgers went to the playoffs only to lose in three straight. Scully candidly reported, “Let’s face it, there’s a give up attitude here in the ball park, Saito set at the belt, ready now and deals and Wright takes ball one…lots of folks starting to head home. You don’t have to listen for the fat man or the fat woman rehearsing the scales (a reworking of “it’s not over till the fat lady sings,” which probably stems from a common observance about opera and the likelihood of an ending aria by a physically large soprano). The feeling here is the game is over. Well we’ll see. We’re in the 8th , 9-5 Mets. The Dodgers have six precious outs left.” The give up attitude prevailed and the Dodgers season ended.
1959 is reputedly the only time than Vin Scully used the third person plural with regard to his relationship with the Dodgers. With the Dodgers’ final victory, Vin announced, “We go to Chicago.” That the Dodgers had finished in seventh place in 1958, their first year in Los Angeles, that they were the first team to go from as low as seventh place to the pennant in a subsequent year, and that Scully would have been traveling with the Dodger team, “forgivably” places even that announcement in a larger context and perspective.
Scully frequently contextualizes an individual game with regard to Dodger History. Commenting on the Roy Campanella award given to Dodger shortstop Rafael Furcal Scully respectfully adds, “having known Roy for many years (this is) a tremendous honor.” He enthusiastically tells his audience that, “Sandy is here.” For a Dodger audience he need not add “Koufax.” Scully mentions that, Dodger pitcher “Claude Osteen (was) last to beat a team six times.”
He revels in the Dodger-Giants longtime rivalry. “It’s a rivalry that started 3000 miles away (when they were respectively in Brooklyn and New York),” thus in yet another important game that has gone down to the wire, Scully sees it as, “the way it should be…it’s come down to this,” and that, indeed, “one team (is) always spoiling the other’s efforts.” He will recall the Dodgers losing the playoffs to the Giants, “1951 of course that was the year of the Bobby Thomson home run…(Dodgers) had a 13 game lead in August and let it get away…”“Taking a little walk through history…1982 Candlestick Park, Braves had lost, Terry Forester, Joe Morgan hitting a three run home run, broke all the hearts in Los Angeles…1991 tied Atlanta…same old stuff…Jack Clark beat the Dodgers with a home run…1993 Dodgers just destroyed the Giants…sweet moment of revenge.” “Yes, it’s baseball, Dodgers and Giants!” Yet despite this, Scully notes, “(There are) six former Giants on the Dodgers.”
Scully remembers the championship years. “Just a couple of minutes ago we turned back the clock to 1981, saluting the 25th anniversary of the 1981 world championship team.” “(The) Dodgers looking forward to their 24th post season appearance.” “Gonzo signed in ’88, that storied year for the Dodgers.” He often makes reference to the Dodgers’ first World Championship team in 1955.
He will certainly call attention to player’s records. San Diego relief pitcher, Trevor Hoffman, has “more saves than anyone in the history of the game.” When Dodger rookie first baseman, James Loney, tied Brooklyn Dodger Gil Hodges’ record for nine RBIs in a single game, records and history came together. First, regarding Loney’s performance in Colorado: “One first baseman tying a Brooklyn first baseman, a most memorable day, breaking Ron Cey’s mark (L.A.)…and ties Gil Hodges record of 9…four hits, nine RBIs, unbelievable…amazing, he came into the game with one home run…two today.” And in recalling the great Gil Hodges, Scully adds, “When Gil Hodges had nine RBIs in Brooklyn he hit four home runs to get his 9 rbis…at the end of each home run, he’d stop just before he reached the plate and blow his wife Joan a kiss…
Scully revels in the player names from baseball history. He consistently references past players and events. He observes that, “(Pete Rose) needs 29 hits to catch Stan Musial.” “Joe Morgan would beat his rib cage” with his arm.” “In the Washington game Frank Robinson…” “Trevor Hoffman ties Lee Smith for the most saves ever.” Bonds breaks Aaron’s NL home run record “and in Milwaukee” “The big topic up here is what’s going to happen to Bobby Bonds?”
The “anniversary of Don Larson’s perfect game…56 years ago today.” “I swear I did not realize today is the anniversary of Mays’ catch.” (when talking about him when Jose Vizcaino lost his hat making a play). On Vinny Castilla Day in Denver Scully noted that it was, “his last bat in Colorado,” and that it was “a joy to watch.” He remembers that in an earlier year, “The Mets crowd in unison once yelled, ‘throw the ball’ at Steve Trachsel, (a New York Met pitcher). who was so notoriously slow in the amount of time he took between pitches. For a baseball fan the mere mention of such names and feats trigger strong memories.
Scully also remembers that the players used to leave their gloves on the field between innings, that the Pittsburgh Pirates were the first to wear batting helmets, that they used to call the tapped ball, “a swinging bunt.” He remembers hearing the bugle call, “Charge” for the first time in the L.A. Coliseum, having noted in his late 1950s broadcasts that it was a favorite of the USC Trojans. The key to his use of all this history is that he does not force it on his calls of the game. He has what rhetoricians refer to as “Memory,” an uncanny ability to recall the event that is germane to the moment and use it. Scully does not make frequent reference to the larger culture, but that belies its significance to his work. Humorously he recognizes that baseball isn’t even the only game in town. On a day when the Dodgers, UCLA football, USC football, and Hockey all had home games in Los Angeles, he described L.A. as a Sports town, and that the resulting traffic had become “the perfect storm.”
He readily identifies how much he sees baseball in the widest possible setting in his words at the end of Henry Aaron’s 715th homerun that beat Babe Ruth’s career record. Scully said, "What a marvelous moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world.” At opportune times Scully reveals his awareness of the larger culture in his baseball references.
In keeping track of three games being played at the same time he says, ““it feels like it’s election night and reports are coming in from everywhere.” About the Philadelphia/Washington game, “we’ll let you know what else is going on in the Nation’s Capitol.” About Fernando Valenzuela starting his rookie year with an 8-0 record, “The world knows that.” Thus he mentions that, “this game is being televised to Mexico City…tremendous interest in the 20 year old” (Fernando Valenzuela). He mentions that there are five Sports Medicine doctors from China at Dodger Stadium, guests of Dodger doctor, Frank Jobe. He refers to the past and that with regard to where pitcher Livan Hernandez is from in Cuba, “You might remember (the) Isle of Pines, it was where Fidel Castro was imprisoned after his first attempt to take over his country.”
Within the tapestry of these rich and varied contexts Scully occasionally, and poignantly will find relevance to “Life” itself. He especially shares the stories of those having overcome great adversity. He finds “inspiration” in player Scott Cassidy’s overcoming juvenile diabetes, Billy Wagner a difficult family background, Rafael Furcal economic poverty, Jackie Robinson racism, Roy Campanella paralysis, Tommy John winning more games after the arm surgery named after him than before the surgery. Perhaps the stories seem didactic, but Scully simply relates them, and his tone seems only appreciative and respectful.
Setting such a rich context for his baseball broadcasts implicitly affirms the importance of the whole. The fans everywhere, the park, the day, the weather, what is happening in the stands as well as on the playing field, the inter-related details of the action on the field, the concern for the ill and injured, the sense of the importance of a pennant race, and how that pennant race fits into Dodger and Baseball history, and the occasional references to the larger culture, the past, to Life, affirms the interdependence of the world, where competition should lead to superior results among the competitors, and that such rivalries should be cherished as part of the that full fabric that represents a civil society.