Dodgers: Vin Scully saddened by pandemic, baseball a ‘national thermometer’

Legendary Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully hopes baseball returns soon as a sign of progress for the country.

Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Vin Scully has seen plenty of history over his illustrious life. The former Los Angeles Dodgers commentator was first calling games during the Korean War. In talking about the current challenge facing the country, Scully told Sports Illustrated that he has been feeling sad, but hopes baseball offers a sign of hope.

“I just feel very sad,” Scully told Sports Illustrated. “I’m not angry. I know people are trying to solve this issue.”

Scully recently made headlines when he took a fall in his California home. After a short stint in the hospital, he was released and is recovering well. In his patented humor, he joked that would be the last time he slid “head-first.”

The 92-year-old commentator, who recently spoke to Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated from his Southern California home, is hoping baseball returns soon, as it would represent a first positive sign to people that the country is on its way back from the doldrums of fighting the novel coronavirus.

“I think of baseball right now as a national thermometer,” Scully said. “People are hoping for baseball because if baseball comes back it’s the first true sign that we are on the comeback trail. It’s our national thermometer.”

While coronavirus cases have steadied in much of the country, including Los Angeles, Major League Baseball is working with the player’s union to negotiate an agreement for how a 2020 season could look in the face of the pandemic. Besides detailed health protocols, the owners and players must agree on a new financial framework to account for adjusted revenue projections based on lost games and missing fans.

Scully started his broadcast career with the Dodgers in 1950, when the team was still in Brooklyn. He spent 67 seasons behind the mic before retiring in 2016. As fans have been quarantined at home without live sports, many classic games have kept people company on television. It’s amazing how often you put on a baseball game from 1965, or 1986, or more recently, and that familiar voice of Vin is playing in the backdrop.

As we wait for baseball to return, Dodger Stadium will become the largest testing site in Los Angeles, beginning Tuesday. Players are slowly starting to resume activities at the stadium, but they are awaiting final word on when to report back to Spring camps, or perhaps return to home markets in full preparation of a 2020 season.