Vin Scully, the iconic announcer who called Dodgers games for nearly seven decades, has died, the team announced. He was 94 years old.
Scully died at her home in Hidden Hills, Calif., the team said.
“We have lost an icon,” Los Angeles Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said in a statement. “Vin Scully of the Dodgers was one of the greatest voices in all of sports. He was a giant of a man, not just as a broadcaster, but as a humanitarian. He loved people. He loved life. He loved baseball and the Dodgers. . And he loved his family. His voice will always be heard and etched in all of our minds forever.”
Scully began calling Dodgers games in 1950, when they were still based in Brooklyn, New York, and retired after 67 years behind the microphone at the age of 88 in 2016. He was the broadcaster with the most time that remained with a single team. in the history of professional sports, according to the Dodgers.
Jason O. Watson/Getty Images
Throughout his Hall of Fame career, Scully provided play-by-play and commentary of some of the most memorable moments in Major League Baseball history, including his iconic call of Hank Aaron’s record 715 in 1974 .
“What a wonderful time for baseball, what a wonderful time for Atlanta and the state of Georgia, what a wonderful time for the country and the world,” Scully said, as Aaron rounded the bases to surpass Babe Ruth as the league’s all the time leader in home runs. “A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking an all-time baseball idol record. And it’s a great moment for all of us, and especially for Henry Aaron.”
Scully was recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 with the Ford C. Frick Awardpresented annually to a broadcaster for “significant contributions to baseball.”
“Why me?” Scully reflected on her acceptance speech. “Why, out of millions and millions of more deserving people, would a red-haired kid with a hole in his pants and his shirt tail hanging out, playing stickball in the streets of New York, end up in Cooperstown? Why would I, from done? I don’t have the answer.”
Scully’s other honors included the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award in 2014 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. The Dodgers inducted Scully into their Ring of Honor the year after his retirement.
“Today we mourn the loss of a legend of our game,” baseball commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. said Wednesday. in a statement. “Vin was an extraordinary man whose gift for broadcasting brought joy to generations of Dodger fans. And his voice played a memorable role in some of the greatest moments in our sport’s history.”
He added, “I’m proud that Vin was synonymous with baseball because he embodied the best of our national pastime. As great as he was as a broadcaster, he was just as great as a person.”
Scully is survived by her five children, Kevin, Todd, Erin, Kelly and Catherine, 21 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, the team said.
