66 Years Ago Today The Dodgers Hired Vin Scully

66 years ago today Dodgers’ legend Vin Scully was hired as a broadcaster.

"It’s time for Dodger baseball! Hi, everybody, and a very pleasant good (day/evening) to you, wherever you may be."

If you are like me, the voice of Vin Scully broadcasting during the game sounds like home. His ability to seamlessly call a game and add in personal stories about each player is unmatched. One of the best parts is hearing him recall stories like going ice skating with Jackie Robinson or the forthcoming extinction of red heads when Justin Turner came to bat. Either way with Scully it is more than calling a game, it’s a history lesson.

Scully is more than a Hall of Fame broadcaster, he is a historian, patriot, story-teller and a legend in the Dodgers organization. When most people think of the Dodgers they hear his voice, and rightfully so. At just 23 years of age Scully was hired to join the broadcasting team for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Ebbets Field would become his home-away-from-home and Red Barber and Connie Desmond, his new teammates in the broadcasting booth.

In 1953 Red Barber got in a dispute with the World Series sponsor Gillette. This argument opened the door for Scully to do something that had never been done before. At just the age of 25, he became the youngest man to broadcast a World Series game. Barber left the Brooklyn Dodgers the same year. Then four years later when the Dodgers were making their move out west, Scully became their full-time broadcaster.

Scully since then has called no-hitters, perfect games, World Series game seven’s and so many in between. There is no one like him. On game days you can find him singing “Singing in the Rain” through the halls and studying up on the player’s stats as well as any interesting personal stories he can dig up.

For the past 66 seasons Vin Scully has been apart of Dodger baseball. He announced in August that he would again be returning for another season. At 67 seasons, Scully set a Guinness World Record for the longest broadcasting career with a single team.

Throughout the game of baseball, Scully is greatly loved and admired. Before every home game at Dodger Stadium, the umps for that day gather around home plate, turn their backs to the field and remove their caps as they smile and wave towards the broadcasting booth. All in order to honor Scully before baseball even begins. On April 4, 2014 Scully was given the honor of throwing out the days first pitch. Who else would have been qualified enough to catch that pitch other than Sandy Koufax himself.

Vin Scully has been apart of the Dodgers organization for 66 years. Not only has he done an incredible job calling games and telling history stories poetically in-between innings and pitches, he has become a huge part of the Dodgers history. Dodger baseball would not be what is it today, if it were not for Vin Scully’s voice broadcasting through the radio and television for decades.