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Buy the Book
A Great American — A So-So Book
Vin Scully is simply the finest announcer in the history of the universe.
(Page 2 of 2)
Unfortunately, Smith gives us a wealth of good information in a pedestrian writing style, clipped and choppy and occasionally incoherent. He sometimes changes subject in the middle of a paragraph. There are quotes where it’s hard to tell who is being quoted. Smith often uses a quirky kind of shorthand, full of words followed by colons, so that the book sometimes has the feel of a Power Point presentation rather than a coherent, flowing narrative. The reader has to work harder than he should have to in order to get the sense of Smith’s presentation. Just the opposite of listening to Scully.
Another weakness of the book is that it doesn’t include much directly from Scully himself. Smith states in his introduction that he talked to Scully for previous books. But there’s little evidence in Chair that Smith spent much or any time with Scully on this project. As a result the book is thin on Scully’s thoughts on or feelings about the history Smith relates.
But the book has its strengths, including quotes from players, sports writers, and other announcers about Scully and his manifold skills and virtues. There are also a few direct transcriptions of Scully’s calls, including two of his best: the final inning of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game at Dodger Stadium in 1965, and Kirk Gibson’s dramatic, pinch-hit, walk-off home run to win the first game of the 1988 World Series.
Here’s what Salon.com’s Gary Kaufman said after reading a transcript of Scully’ call of Koufax’s perfect ninth:
It read like a short story. It had tension, rising and falling drama, great turns of phrase. It was, and still is, the best piece of baseball writing I’ve even seen. And it came off the top of his head, at a moment, when, like the man whose feat he was describing, he knew he had to be at the top of his game. I’ve since heard a tape of that half-inning. There’s not a single misstep.
There have been very few missteps in the almost 60-year career (don’t adjust your computer — that’s correct — almost 60 years) of Vincent Edward Scully. That’s probably why when fans or writers have been polled over the years on who their favorite Dodger is, the answer come up not Koufax, or Snider, or Wills, or Drysdale, or (heaven forefend) Ramirez. The answer almost always is Scully. That’s the kind of bond Scully has created with his millions of listeners over more than half a century. (And the gentlemanly Scully, it’s universally reported, is always polite and accommodating to his many fans who approach him in public for autographs, to be photographed with him, or to just share a moment with him.)
For those not familiar with Scully’s work, who might wonder if anyone could possibly be as good as everyone says Scully is, I invite you to visit You Tube and listen to the Red Head in action. Googling Vin Scully turns up other audio, including the call of Koufax’s perfect ninth. You listen. You decide.
Keep on talking, Red Head. It will be a long time before we’re ready to quit listening.
About the Author
Larry Thornberry is a writer in Tampa.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (41) | Leave a comment
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Bill Lannon| 6.29.09 @ 8:26AM
Sorry, Mr. Thornberry, I just can't agree. I was a Dodger fan when Scully broke in with Red Barber, didn't care for him then, and do less now. I have always found his tone condescending. He sounds as if he is oh-so-patiently elucidating the obvious to the unwashed and unlettered.
I certainly respect his experience and his longevity, but not his work. And I fear the oft-praised and incredibly overrated Joe Buck is attempting to emulate him.
JJ| 6.29.09 @ 9:14AM
So Larry, write it!
Frank Marschino| 6.29.09 @ 9:33AM
Vin Scully can't hold a candle to the greatest play by play sportscaster of all, Ernie Harwell.
J. Davis| 6.29.09 @ 10:00AM
Scully is the best. Worth getting the MLB package just to get Dodger games.
Eric Paddon| 6.29.09 @ 10:09AM
I respect and admire Scully's network work with NBC, CBS over the years but truthfully I am not a fan of his stubbornly rigid solo announcer style that he still insists on doing to this day. That kind of style IMO became obsolete in the 1960s when the importance of having two people in the booth who could add the element of conversation and discussion became important to a baseball broadcast. Scully was great on NBC because it was a joy to hear him paired with Joe Garagiola, working together.
I'm not surprised Curt Smith has written another lousy book about baseball broadcasting. His books are always guaranteed to (1) repeat the same chapter headings from book to book (2) repeat verbatim the things he first did in his only halfway decent book "Voices Of The Game" with no sign of having updated his 20 year old notes and (3) irritatingly intrude his subjective view of who was and who wasn't a good broadcaster. I to this day will never forgive him for the cheap diss he gave of the New York Yankees broadcast team I grew up with in the 70s just because they weren't Mel Allen.
Joe| 6.29.09 @ 10:12AM
Larry was right. I listen to him and many others during my life time. He is great. Mel Allen and Chuck Thompson were others who were good. I know there were many others I am forgeting right now.
Thanks
Mike| 6.29.09 @ 11:47AM
In the 60's I was going to college at night till 9 and working by day in construction. I fell asleep every night in the summer listening to Mr. Scully.
Still remember it.
Bugg| 6.29.09 @ 1:56PM
Agree with Mr. Lannon. Scully was an overbearing windbag. And "was" because the powers that be yanked his act off national telecasts, meaning I no longer have to endure Scully. And he had the habit of giving out nicknames that became irritating. If only I neverhad heard him call Bill Buckner "Billy Bucks" as he did over, and over and over. Like Chris Berman on steroids.
Further, Scully is an Irish guy from the Bronx calling baseball games. Treating it with the seriousness of High Mass is silly. But no one is allowed to say it. Wouldn't kill him to have a 2nd person to bounce off of and tell some stories.
As to Joe Buck-is that his real voice, or just his big fake announcer voice? At a total loss what Fox sees in him other than his last name.
Kell| 6.29.09 @ 4:39PM
I suffered thru 18 years of listening to Scully announcing for the Dodgers when we lived out there. He's a windbag, a homer and a whiner. The Dodgers have a bad call made against them, you're going to hear Scully complain about it for the following three innings...at least. If he were announcing in Cincinnatti no one would ever have heard of him.
James A. Glasscock | 6.29.09 @ 4:44PM
I remember baseball broadcasts in the 1940s and 1950s. The Mutual Broadcasting System's game of the day, and then Gordon McClendon's Liberty Network featuring recreated games. I listened to Cardinal games on KMOX, St. Louis, and enjoyed them.
Every announcer and color man has a style. Why compare them? Enjoy the game and relax, folks. This is not life or death. Just a game and out to be fun when you listen.
Longdrycreek Ranch
Texas Panhandle
Over 74 years of enjoying baseball and football and games in general!
somnolence| 6.29.09 @ 5:00PM
Harry Caray was the most entertaining play-by-play man ever; Tony Kubek the most knowledgeable.
Brian B| 6.29.09 @ 5:55PM
Scully is good but has always seemed a little inaccessible to me.
I grew up on the late, great Bill King doing A's, Warrior's and Raider's games.
He could establish that next- door-neighbor rapport Scully has always seemed to lack. Holy Toledo!
Now if want to talk aggravating, how about Tim McCarver? Has any man made as long and lucrative a career out of stating and restating, ad nauseum, the bleeding obvious?
Conrad Spiracy| 6.29.09 @ 6:00PM
AMEN FRANK MARSCHINO!!!!!
Vin Scully is good, but not anywhere near the greatest.
I was one of those stereotypical kids in the 1960s taking my 9 transistor radio to bed with me and listening (under my pillow) Ernie Harwell broadcast Tigers games on hot summer nights. Ernie had the magic to make ME believe that I could become a professional player. (Alas, I gave up the game after Colt League - just below Babe Ruth League - at the age of 17.) Everyone got a kick out of listening to Ernie say, "It's a looonng fly ball. It's going..... going..... that ball is looooooonnnng gone!"
Ernie is a walking talking Baseball Encyclopedia, and I think you'd probably be able to get Vin Scully to admit it - many other "noted" broadcasters have already done so.
Another enchanting characteristic of Ernie's is his unabashed love for his wife of nearly 70 years, "Miss Lulu". Fans got to know and love her through Ernie's broadcasts.
How much do I love Ernie? As a 40+ year Michigan football fan, I was at an age of awareness when Bo Schembechler took over the reins of the program. Bo became a hero to me. His work ethic, his behavior ethic (no NCAA violations EVER), his optimism (the locker room sign that says "Those Who Remain Will Be Champions") - everything Bo did oozed hard work, good behavior and excellence in results. After Bo became the president of the Tigers unceremoniously fired Ernie, Bo forever went on my s--t list.
How important was Ernie? How about this:
"In 1948, Harwell became the only announcer in baseball history to be traded for a player when the Brooklyn Dodgers' general manager, Branch Rickey, traded catcher Cliff Dapper to the Crackers in exchange for breaking Harwell's broadcasting contract. (Harwell was brought to Brooklyn to substitute for regular Dodger announcer Red Barber, who was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer.)"
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Harwell
How beloved was Ernie by everyone? I was in fourth grade when the Tigers faced the Cardinals in the 1968 World Series. During the 2nd inning of game 7, our school principal, Franklin Hermann, as stern an administrator as there ever was, (Princeton Elementary in St. Clair Shores, Michigan) got on the school's intercom to announce the score. He then proceeded to ask the teachers' patience while he did something special. He then turned on his radio and Ernie's voice was instantly heard throughout the school - much to the appreciation, great shouting and applause of all of us kids. Mr. Hermann played the next 2 innings over the intercom, and we were dismissed at the normal time to go home and listen to or watch the rest of game. In typical Ernie fashion, we could visualize the game through his eyes and the words he used to transmit the game.
Lastly, and most importantly, Ernie remains a very devout Christian. For many years on Opening Day, Ernie would recite from Song of Solomon, 2:11-12:
For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
How humble is Ernie? A quote from his induction into Cooperstown:
"Baseball is a tongue-tied kid from Georgia growing up to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him the way to Cooperstown." - Ernie Harwell at his National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (August 2, 1981)
Source: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/ernie_harwell_quotes.shtml
How respected was Ernie? Let's check in with Mr. Scully, during the last season Ernie broadcast for the Tigers:
One night in mid-July, Ernie Harwell watched on the Comerica Park video board as Vin Scully gave that night's farewell video tribute to him, "Dear Ernie: Fifty-three years ago, I followed you into Brooklyn. Twenty years ago, I followed you into the Hall of Fame, and our relationship has only been perfect. Baseball is so much richer for having you all these years and poorer for losing you. Sincerely yours, with love and affection, Vin Scully."
Source: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/ernie_harwell_quotes.shtml
Baseball will suffer a great loss when Ernie goes on to his final, but much deserved, reward.
Ernie and Lulu - if perchance you come across this commentary, we will always love you, and remember you both to our own dying days.
Peace.
Keith Kennedy| 6.30.09 @ 5:18AM
Thanks so much for the memory. I was a teen Dodger fan in Indiana in 1965 and stayed up past midnight to listen to the games. You made my day with leaving that suggestion to "listen for myself" on the 9th inning play-by-play. Awesome!
Pingback| 7.28.09 @ 5:45PM
* Review: Pull Up a Chair « Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf links to this page. Here’s an excerpt: