In 1950, the Brooklyn Dodgers finished 2 games out of first place in the National League, behind a .400-OBP, 7-WAR season from Jackie Robinson, three players cracking 30 Home Runs (Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, and Duke Snider), and plenty of pitching from workhorses Don Newcombe and Preacher Roe. Looking on from the broadcast booth was a 22-year-old who had been hired by Red Barber to supplement the team's radio and television broadcast team.
Three years later, Vin Scully became the youngest broadcaster to call a World Series game, a record that stands today. Five years after that, Scully followed the team on its cross-country relocation to Los Angeles. And now, in 2016, the greatest broadcaster in sports history is retiring.
Scully has influenced, and even created, generations of baseball fans, calling some of the most iconic moments in baseball history while also having the skill to make a trivial late August game just as entertaining. As someone who roots for an East Coast team, I've spent many nights switching to the Dodgers the moment my team finished playing. As a fan of an NL club, one of the highlights of every season is my team's annual road trip to Dodger Stadium, just for the chance to switch to the Away Feed on MLB.TV.
This Friday, the Los Angeles Dodgers will celebrate Vin Scully Appreciation Day, even though for most LA-based baseball fans, that happens every day. On Sunday, he'll call his final game at Dodger Stadium. And, a week later, he'll call the final game of his career, traveling to San Francisco for one last Giants-Dodgers showdown.
To pay tribute to our favorite announcer, we've dug through the Baseball-Reference database to relive some of the greatest games, seasons, and statistical tidbits from Vin Scully's extraordinary career.
The Six Best Dodger Seasons in the Scully Era:
t5. Zack Greinke, 2015: 9.3 pitcher WAR
Greinke's achievement is a testament to how much the game changed over the course of Scully's career. In 1965, Sandy Koufax went 26-8, with 335 2/3 Innings Pitched, 382 strikeouts, 27 complete games, and a 2.04 Earned Run Average, good for 8.1 Wins Above Replacement. 50 years later, Greinke went 19-3, with 222 2/3 IP, 200 SOs, one CG, and a 1.66 ERA. However, the baseline for starting pitchers changed so much over the last half-century that Greinke's season was worth a full win more than Koufax's.
t5. Duke Snider, 1953: 9.3 position player WAR
Despite that, Snider lost the MVP to his teammate, Roy Campanella, whose 1953 wasn't too shabby in its own right (7.1 WAR, 41 HRs).
4. Adrian Beltre, 2004: 9.5 WAR
3. Jackie Robinson, 1951: 9.7 WAR
1./2. Sandy Koufax, 1963/1966: 10.7/10.3 WAR
While his 1963 was better compared to a replacement player from that year, his 1966 stat line may be more impressive. In 41 starts, Koufax went the distance 27 times, pitched 323 innings, and struck out 317 batters for an ERA of 1.73.
Of course, when you think of Koufax high points, you tend to gravitate more towards 1965, when he had the perfect game you see above, before finishing the year off with one of the all-time great World Series performances.
With the caveat that Play-by-Play data is not 100% complete before 1974, I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the most exciting games that Scully had the chance to call. For the team games and hitters, we'll use Win Probability Added, which shows how the outcomes of individual plays affected a team's probability of winning. For pitchers, we'll use Game Score. One more caveat: with his responsibilities as a national broadcaster, we can't be 100% sure Scully called all these games. However, three of them were on weekdays, so it's highly likely Scully was on the call, and for the fourth, I found video to confirm it was him.
Most Exciting Dodgers Win: May 26, 1988, Dodgers 10, Phillies 8 (1.584 WPA)
The Dodgers had an 81% chance of winning this one going into the bottom of the 7th inning with a 5-3 lead. Then things went haywire. Three singles, a walk, and an error gave the Philadelphia Phillies a 6-5 lead and reduced the Dodgers' win probability to 23%. It would fall to 18% after John Shelby flew out to lead off the eighth. However, the Dodgers rallied, scoring two runs to retake the lead and give the team a 72% chance of getting the win.
But the Phillies weren't done. In the bottom of the eighth, they scored two runs to retake the lead. The Dodgers's win probability fell as low as 7% before settling in at 15% going into the ninth inning. That wouldn't be a problem for the Dodgers, who promptly hit two doubles and single to retake the lead. They'd notch another run before getting out of the ninth, then hang on for a dramatic victory that ended up presaging a wild season.
Most Crushing Dodgers Loss: June 3, 1989, Astros 5, Dodgers 4 (-1.653 WPA)
Finally, in the 21st inning, the Dodgers seemed to have their moment. A walk and single put Mike Scioscia and Willie Randolph on, while a passed ball moved them to second and third with nobody out. The Dodgers proceeded to strikeout, ground into a fielder's choice at 3rd, and lineout, ending the rally without a run. One inning later, the Astros finished it off with a Rafael Ramirez walk-off single off the glove of Fernando Valenzuela, who entered the game in the 21st inning, not to pitch, but to play first base.
Also, shoutout to this Expos game, two months later, where the Dodgers actually had a worse WPA, but escaped with the win in another 22-inning affair.
Best Batting Performance: Hank Aaron, August 18, 1959 (1.112 WPA)
(I wasn't able to find a recording of Scully's call of this game, so enjoy another Scully/Aaron moment)
However, Aaron would save his best play for extras. After a Gil Hodges sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers a 6-5 lead, Aaron hit a one-out HR in the bottom of the 11th to extend the game, swinging the Braves' win probability from a mere 10% to 57%.
The Dodgers learned their lesson, and, with another chance to win in the bottom of the 13th inning, they'd intentionally walk Aaron with two outs and a runner on second. Wes Covington would groundout to first, ending the game.
As for Dodgers' players, the best WPA in a game in the Scully Era goes to Raul Mondesi, who went 4-6 in a dramatic comeback win against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Best Pitching Performance: Tom Seaver, May 1, 1974 (Game Score: 106)
In the second biggest upset of this column, Sandy Koufax's perfect game did not receive the highest game score in a Scully Era Dodgers game. Instead, that honor goes to this 1974 start by Tom Seaver. Seaver allowed three hits and a run, but he also pitched 12 innings and struck out 16 batters, a feat not likely to be duplicated any time soon.
The biggest upset? Koufax's start didn't even receive the best game score by a Dodger! Instead, that goes to Clayton Kershaw's no-hitter.
Perhaps nothing defined Vin Scully's career quite like the Giants-Dodgers rivalry. Scully grew up a Giants fan before being employed by the Dodgers. In just the second year of his career, he worked on the losing side of the Shot Heard Round the World. And, of course, his final game will be a Giants-Dodgers game in San Francisco.
In Scully's career (with the caveat that B-R doesn't actually track announcing crews, so Scully likely missed at least some of these games due to his national broadcasting work), the Dodgers faced the New York/San Francisco Giants 1,213 times, the most of any opponent in that span. In that time, the Dodgers won 625 times and lost 588, meaning they'll end the Scully Era with a winning record against their fiercest rivals.
In total, the Dodgers played 10,634 games since Scully joined the broadcast team in 1950. Their best record against an NL opponent in that span is their 271-194 mark against the Expos/Nationals; their worst is actually their winning percentage against the Giants, meaning they have a winning record against every NL team (including the league-changing Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros) in the Scully Era.
One of the few teams they do have a losing record against in that span: their neighbors in Anaheim. The Los Angeles Angels are 61-49 against the Dodgers.
While play-by-play data isn't complete before 1974, Scully has been there for at least 559 walk-off Dodger wins, including 3 walk-off hits by a pitcher. In total, 975 players entered a game for the Dodgers since 1950. And for each one of them, Vin Scully was there with a quirky anecdote, a statistical factoid, or maybe an explanation of the fear surrounding the number thirteen:
There are stories of radio and TV sound engineers having to move microphones around Dodger Stadium because so many fans brought transistor radios to listen to Scully that the broadcast could pick up the echoes of it. Over 50 years later, fans may bring smart phones and earbuds, but Vin Scully's voice will still echo through the park.
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