Scully on ‘art of silence’, broadcasting future
Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully joined the show to talk about his career, the team and how long he plans to call games. Here are some of his takes:
— On comparing Clayton Kershaw to Sandy Koufax: “People ask me about comparing or linking them together. To me, there’s one huge difference. In Sandy’s day, he pitches every four days. With Kershaw, he pitches every fifth game. What Sandy did in his time, is go complete legit cash games. Sandy one year he won 27 games, he completed 27 games. Clayton will never do that.”
— Dan asked if Vin’s role had changed over the years: “No, not at all. My job, basically is to call the play as accurately and swiftly as possible. Get out of the way for the crows. And perhaps somewhere along the way inform a little bit, entertain even a little bit. The entire job is based on accuracy so the viewer trusts you. Trust goes right there with accuracy.”
— Scully on the art of silence: “I love it. It’s probably selfish on my part. When I was about 8 years old, the reason I went in this direction … we have a big old four legged radio. I would get a pillow and a glass of milk and some saltine crackers and I would crawl under the radio to listen to a football game. I knew nothing about [the teams]. But the roar of the crowd absolutely intoxicated me. That’s what drew me to get into sports. Now I try to shut up so I can enjoy the roar of the crowd.”
— On how long he’ll call games: “I’m not quite sure to be honest. The thought of stopping and not doing anything is pretty frightening after you doing it so long. It really does become a part of your nature. Each year I truly do evaluate where I am as far as health. Our wife and I talk about our association. And then I carefully try to be my own critic. Am I still doing a good enough job to have the privilege of doing the Dodgers game. I’ll probably come to a conclusion some time in August. We’ll see how it plays out. Whatever the decision, I am going to be uneasy one way or the other.”