Vin Scully, the iconic broadcaster who called Dodgers games for nearly seven decades, has died, the team announced. He was 94.
Scully died at his home in Hidden Hills, California, the team said.
“We have lost an icon,” Los Angeles Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said in a statement. “The Dodgers’ Vin Scully was one of the greatest voices in all of sports. He was a giant of a man, not only as a broadcaster, but as a humanitarian. He loved people. He loved life. He loved baseball and the Dodgers. And he loved his family. His voice will always be heard and etched in all of our minds forever.”
Scully began calling Dodgers games in 1950, when they were still located in Brooklyn, New York, and retired after 67 years behind the microphone, at the age of 88, in 2016. He was the longest-serving broadcaster to remain with a single team in the history of professional sports, according to the Dodgers.
Over the course of his Hall of Fame career, Scully delivered play-by-play and commentary for some of the most memorable moments in Major League Baseball history, including his iconic call of Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th home run in 1974.
“What a marvelous moment for baseball, what a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia, what a marvelous moment for the country and the world,” Scully said, as Aaron rounded the bases to overtake Babe Ruth as the league’s all-time leading home run hitter. “A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly for Henry Aaron.”
Scully was recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 with the Ford C. Frick award, presented annually to a broadcaster for “major contributions to baseball.”
“Why me?” Scully pondered in his acceptance speech. “Why, with the millions and millions of more deserving people, would a red-haired kid with a hole in his pants and his shirttail hanging out, playing stickball in the streets of New York, wind up in Cooperstown? Why me, indeed? I don’t have the answer.”
Scully’s other accolades included the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award in 2014 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. The Dodgers inducted Scully into their Ring of Honor the year after he retired.
“Today we mourn the loss of a legend in our game,” Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr. said in a statement Wednesday. “Vin was an extraordinary man whose gift for broadcasting brought joy to generations of Dodger fans. In addition, his voice played a memorable role in some of the greatest moments in the history of our sport.”
He added, “I am proud that Vin was synonymous with Baseball because he embodied the very best of our National Pastime. As great as he was as a broadcaster, he was equally great as a person.”
Scully is survived by his five children, Kevin, Todd, Erin, Kelly and Catherine, 21 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, the team said.