On his 88th birthday, a reminder that Vin Scully has called nearly all of baseball for 67 years

As teams prepare for the 2016 season, there is one constant that can be counted on: Vin Scully will call Dodgers games. In the booth since 1950, Scully has been with the Dodgers for more than 10,000 games, 13 World Series (including all six Dodgers titles), 12 Cy Young Awards, 14 Rookies of the Year and nine MVPs. And we're not even counting all the years that he was the national broadcaster, covering the postseason for NBC and CBS. 

Unfortunately, 2016 is the last year that we'll be able to count on Scully's voice booming from the Dodger Stadium press box. After years of midseason renewals, leading to frenzied celebrations from the Dodgers fans in attendance, 2016 will likely be his last year. As he told the LA Times: 

On Sunday, as Scully turns 88, it's time we look back at baseball and just realize just how the voice of the Dodgers has shaped our viewing of the sport. How much darker would the world be without  "It's time for Dodgers baseball" greeting fans every time they turned on the game hundreds of times a year; and how sad we would all be without Scully to remind us of facts like Uggla means owl in Swedish nobility? It's like "It's a Wonderful Life" played out across hundreds of millions of baseballs fans. 

It's strange to look back at the early days of Scully's life, finding articles about his play at Fordham University in the pages of The New York Times, like when he went 0-for-3 in a loss against Yale, with no comment about the legend that he would one day become. He even squared off against future president George Bush, the game story seemingly lost in time. 

Even his career began without much fanfare. Scully made his debut calling a college football game at Fenway Park -- doing it from the roof without a hat or gloves in the November cold, no less. And when he made his debut with the Dodgers, it wasn't "Vin Scully, future star of the broadcasting field," but rather he was known for being "even more tawny-haired than Red Barber himself." 

Happy 88th birthday VIn Scully. Here's his first mention in Sporting News (1/11/50). pic.twitter.com/MWujsKZclW

- Justin McGuire (@JMcGuireSN) November 29, 2015

And now it's impossible to imagine the game without him. Scully has been a Dodgers employee for 10,484 games. To put that in perspective, that's about five times more than Zack Wheat, who has the record for games played with the Dodgers at 2,321 from 1909-26.

When Scully started, there were cameramen who would focus on the wrong outfielder on fly balls and today we have Statcast. 

Scully has gone from having his stats passed to him on slips of paper by Allen Roth, the Dodgers' statistical guru, to a veritable endless supply of advanced statistics available just a click away. 

He's called games on radio feeds that have been lost to time, and now when every game is available to be streamed and archived in glorious HD. We can only imagine the kinds of genius moments,like when Scully spots a particularly adorable baby or Jonny Gomes and his wolves, that have only been heard once and are now lost in the ether. 

He's presided over Fernandomania and celebrated Yasiel Puig and his glorious bat flips. 

He's been there for some of the greatest pitching performances in history: Sandy Koufax's perfect game and Don Larsen's World Series perfecto: 

And was on hand to call Kershaw's no-hitter. 

He's ice skated with Jackie Robinson, given educational lessons on the American Flag and World War II, and has even dropped some Dylan Thomas poetry. Watching a game called by Scully is an experience unlike anything else and is arguably his greatest asset. It's not just baseball when Scully is there, but baseball as the backdrop to the whole world. 

Many claim that baseball is their tie to family, that it's a tradition and love passed down between generations. Calling games for a Guinness-record 67 years, Scully is that connection, the one voice booming down across the ages.  

So happy birthday, Vin. To millions of baseball fans around the world, you are baseball.