Scully set to return for 65th season
LOS ANGELES -- Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully had a great line when asked Friday about his decision to return for the 2014 season.
"People tell me how much they enjoy me doing it, and I'm just full of thanks," he said. "I'm a walking Thanksgiving dinner."
It will be the 65th season at the microphone for the legendary Scully, who will announce all Dodgers home games as well as road games played in California and Arizona. He will call all nine innings of the team's television broadcasts on Time Warner SportsNet LA, beginning in 2014, with the first three innings of each of his games also simulcast on AM 570 Fox Sports LA.
The Dodgers are currently in their 53rd year in Los Angeles, and Scully has been the voice and the face of the organization since it arrived. He joined Red Barber and Connie Desmond on the Brooklyn Dodgers' broadcast team in 1950, one year after graduating from Fordham University. Scully has been working on one-year contracts since 2009.
"From the bottom of my heart, I have always felt that I am the most ordinary of men who was given an extraordinary break of doing what I love to do at an early age," Scully said. "And thanks to God, I've been allowed to do it for all these years. And I pray that I will be allowed to do it for at least one more year. I don't take any of it for granted."
Scully said the success of the Dodgers, the joy he gets in coming to the ballpark, the relationships he has with people at Dodger Stadium and the reactions he gets from fans factored in to his decision to return to the broadcast booth next season.
"The Dodgers are overjoyed to have Vin back with the team in 2014," said Dodgers chairman and owner Mark Walter. "Vin is Dodgers baseball. The Dodgers, the sport of baseball and the city of Los Angeles are extremely fortunate to have him in our midst."
"We're so grateful that Vin wants to continue to call Dodger games," said Dodgers owner Earvin Johnson. "Being able to listen to Vin helps make every Dodger game something special."
"Vin brings a unique perspective to Dodger baseball," said Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten. "Everyone in the Dodger family and within the sound of his voice benefits each and every time we are afforded the opportunity to hear him call a Dodger game. We are thrilled to know that experience will continue through at least the 2014 season."
In 1982, Scully was inducted into the broadcaster's wing of Baseball's Hall of Fame as winner of the Ford C. Frick Award and also had his star placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2001, the Dodger Stadium press box was named in Scully's honor.
Scully has called 25 World Series, three perfect games, 19 no-hitters and 12 All-Star Games. Scully's memorable moments behind the microphone include his call of the Brooklyn Dodgers' only championship in 1955, Don Larsen's perfect game in the '56 World Series, Kirk Gibson's walk-off home run in the '88 World Series, Hank Aaron's record-setting 715th home run, Sandy Koufax's four no-hitters -- including a perfect game -- and the scoreless-innings streaks of Dodgers greats Don Drysdale and Orel Hershiser.
In 2009, Scully was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and was named Top Sportscaster of All-Time by the American Sportscasters Association. In '08, he was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the California Sports Hall of Fame.
Throughout his prestigious broadcasting career, Scully has received numerous awards, including being named the California Sports Broadcaster of the Year 29 times by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association; in 2000, Scully was voted as Sportscaster of the 20th Century by more than 500 national members of the American Sportscasters Association.
According to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Scully's years of service are believed to be the longest tenure of any broadcaster in sports history.
In Los Angeles, Scully has called Dodgers World Series championships in 1959, '63, '65, '81 and '88, and he was elected the top sportscaster of the 20th century by the nonprofit American Sportscasters Association.
In 1976, Scully was voted by Dodgers fans as the most memorable personality in Los Angeles Dodgers history.