EXTRA INNINGS A Life Lesson from Vin Scully

“It’s time for Dodger baseball! Hi everybody and a very pleasant good evening to you wherever you may be.” With those words the soothing radio or television voice of the , Vin Scully, invited you to “pull up a chair” and listen to the game. This four-time National Sportscaster of the Year, Sportscaster of the Century recipient, and Medal of Freedom winner has been called the best there ever was. Scully began his career under the tutelage of in 1950 when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, and broadcast for the Dodger organization until his retirement in 2016. In those 67 years he called twelve All-Star games and twenty-five . He broadcast eighteen no-hit games, (including perfect games by Don Larsen and ), called ’s home run that broke Babe Ruth’s record and broadcast football, golf and tennis in the off-season. Scully was a philosopher and master story-teller who painted a picture with his words. It is said that Vin Scully could even read a grocery list and make it sound interesting. Besides his gifted use of the English language, his rhythm, and his melodic, made- for-baseball voice, one thing that stood out was that he knew when he shouldn’t be talking. He said, “The best thing I do? I shut up”. As an example, listen to one of his more famous calls, and note that after the home run, there is over a minute with no talking, which tells the story better than any verbal description: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4nwMDZYXTI Scully is famous for his entertaining quotes, such as “It was so hot today the moon got sunburned.” Or when describing Bob Gibson’s quick pitching style, “Gibson pitches like he is double-parked”. Or this poignant reminder, “It’s a mere moment in a man’s life between the All-Star Game and the Old Timer’s game”. But perhaps his most thought-provoking quote was this one from 1991: “Andre Dawson has a bruised knee and is listed as day-to-day”, and after a pause, “Aren’t we all?”. Day-to-day… aren’t we all? We regularly get reminders of the brevity of life—a child or young person suddenly taken from us, or a healthy adult felled by a heart attack or cancer or coronavirus—it doesn’t matter who we are, our age, or station in life. The Bible reinforces that we are day-to-day like this: “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while and then it’s gone”. You were right, Vin Scully, we are all day-to-day.

Pete Aman 1/27/20