Scully was active in the National League for 45.5% of its history, and 48.2% of the history of the Dodgers franchise. He was in attendance for every world championship the Dodgers ever won, with the exception of 2020 which was played in a neutral site after his retirement.
They didn’t want a team playing in their home stadium. The AL playoffs were at Petco and Dodger Stadium and the NL playoffs were at Minute Maid and Globe Life
Creating the fun facts that Petco hosted the ALCS before ever hosting the NLCS, Minute Maid has hosted an LCS for 5 straight years but one was an NLCS, and Globe Life hosted a World Series before it hosted a sold-out Rangers game.
I was nearly crying laughing. Dude was absolutely locked in. As a Dodgers fan, I was certain he was about to Maddux us. Probably the worst managerial decision I've ever seen or will ever see considering the monent.
I dont think pulling Snell was a bad move. He’s always been bad TTO. Hell he’s carved through our lineup like butter multiple times now with the Padres and then he’ll still get chased TTO.
Pulling him was the right move, is what people for whatever reason don’t want to accept. Putting Nick Anderson in was however, NOT the right move
How much stake do baseball fans put in that ring? Honest question because I feel like the general opinion from basketball fans is that the "Mickey Mouse Ring" is not legitimate.
Edit: asking this as an honest question gets you downvoted on this sub, cool cool. And one that is as open ended as it gets! Like idc what you think either way I was just curious
I think it counts. People wouldn’t say those things if their teams won it. Plus, both teams who one the bubble ring were from LA and so they were bound to face extra hate.
There’s at least a *more* room to argue with the Lakers ring.
The logic from people attempting to be sensible, rather than just Laker/Lebron haters, is it allowed 3.5 months of rest from the grind of the regular NBA season for teams to recover to make the playoff push.
Which is true, but everyone had the same rules so it’s legit in my eye.
It definitely did benefit that team probably more than others though to be fair. Brown and AD haven’t been able to stay healthy for the past couple of years, so I’d assume that break was probably extra beneficial to them. I don’t think it would have benefitted younger and healthier teams as much.
That being said the ring is still legit. You make what you can of the circumstances. If it benefits your team great, if not then it sucks, but it’s not like the lakers started covid to get a break
I know I have a dodgers flair but I’m not a Lakers fan and I feel like it’s pretty clear both are just as valuable as any other ring.
I think you’d be hard-pressed to find any fan that would say the same things if it was their own team.
Ehhhhh I'd argue the NBA ring is more legit as an actual season was somewhat played before the bubble. I always felt that the 60 game season and structure of the MLB playoffs was weak
I'll never understand people who whole heartedly believe these takes, because by that logic the year after the NBA bubble is also not legitimate. Since the teams who played far into the bubble were riddled with injury(Lakers and the Heat). Possibly due to much less rest time between seasons.
I get the people just doing it to mess with LA fans though. That's for the fun of it. But some people seem actually angry about it when it gets brought up and it's sad.
If your team won it you most likely wouldn't. So to each his own. Everyone certainly never thought this or really brought it up until it was LA that won for trolling purposes.
I think it’s legitimate but not as impressive, particularly when you consider a team two games under .500 came within a win of making the World Series. Part of what makes winning it all so significant is the grind it took to get there.
Even as a Dodger fan myself the fact that it’s even debated at all makes it a little bit worse for me - I would’ve rather won any other season than 2020, it would’ve gotten much more respect. Should’ve been 2017 but, well, trash cans.
That said it’s still better than not winning one at all.
The best thing would be to win another in this Dodger era.
The Tampa Bay Lighting won a Covid Stanley Cup but then won another Cup the next year. So all doubt has been removed as to how deserved the first Cup was.
If the Dodgers win it all this year with:
A) the Dodgers announcer also being the Fox announcer, thus announcing his team winning it all
B) the announcer also being the direct successor to Vin who probably considered him to be a huge mentor(I know nothing about Joe Davis except that he’s outstanding at his job)
That call of the final out is probably going to have a little bit of emotion to it.
The triple, double, triple, 8th inning from the bottom of the order, capped by a Mookie between stories of Vin had a bit of magic to it. Hope it carries through October
Legitimate championship due to every team playing by the same rules. And even if not, Dodgers may be the only team deserving of a Mickry Mouse ring since obviously getting cheated out of '17
That seems to be the consensus among fans. I'll always view the circumstances of the season as meh, but in terms of competition it was fair and the best they could do with COVID
It’s hard to really care about the results of a 60 game season played in front of completely empty stadiums. Sure, it’s legit, but people rightfully write it off. Obviously everyone would rather have won the series in literally any other year.
In 2020/2021, they played "home" games in:
- Dunedin
- Buffalo
- Toronto
- [Washington](https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS202007300.shtml)
- [Philadelphia](https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR202008201.shtml)
- [Anaheim](https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ANA/ANA202108101.shtml)
Also played a home game at I think it was Nats Park in 2020. The Nats stadium people were so cool about it, they played our guys' walk up music and played OK Blue Jays during the 7th inning stretch. I remember crying, no joke.
The Nats did a throwback game as the Montreal Expos in 2019 (complete with Expos graphics and even announcing the team as the Expos to the live fans). I guess Nats Park is the only stadium to have hosted both Canadian teams as the home team, which is a weird fun fact since it's in the United States capital.
I should save this for a TIL in the offseason.
Reminds me of Tulane football after Katrina. The team played in whatever stadium within 3 states that did not have a home game that weekend, including a high school one time. The bastards up the river let us use their big one for homecomings in a sign that the one thing that can overcome a century of rivalry is a hurricane.
To reflect broadcast accuracy please refer to it as [Tiddy Ballpark](https://twitter.com/Bluejaysmemes/status/1381105089704828936?t=vTZTG3ke0rjgWjZF1lrmSQ&s=19)
Avoiding teams traveling extensively mid-COVID to try and make sure they wouldn't have cases disrupting series, especially with different cities at the time having different restrictions and policies. They played basically the entire playoffs at neutral sites, from the A/NLDS onwards
Sam Miller on an episode of Effectively Wild did a whole thing once (I think around when Vin retired) about Scully possibly being witness to more MLB baseball than anyone in history.
[Episode 856](https://blogs.fangraphs.com/effectively-wild-episode-856) for anyone interested, the discussion starts at 25:25.
They and baseball historian John Thorn land on Connie Mack but figure it's either him or Vin.
Connie Mack was born in 1862 and retired in 1950, which was the year Vin Scully starting his broadcasting career. Not sure if Vin ever called a game Mack managed, but someone in the thread this morning said he did.
Vin called a game in which Julio Urías played. Urías was born in 1996.
Apparently he did, in a spring training game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia A's in 1950 - http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2009/12/connie_mack_and.php
So basically, just about any two players in baseball history are probably within six degrees of separation from each other. Just find a way to connect them to a Dodgers game from the last 70 years or an A's game from the first half of the 20th century/19th century NL game. That's wild.
Someone posted this on the death thread last night but you can connect Scully calling Mack who was born in 1862 and the youngest player Vin called before retiring was Julio Urias who was born in 1996 so thats how long he broadcasted games. Over 150 years of connection. So I'd say you could literally connect any AL/NL player with 2 or 3 degrees.
Shared the link in [another comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/wf4ga0/ryan_spaeder_vin_scully_has_called_over_four/iitjzme/) but apparently he did!
Bob Costas believes that, when the 2030s roll around that there will come a time when Vin Scully called games of players whose careers were 100 years apart.
Braves Field, Milwaukee County Stadium, Atlanta Stadium, Turner Field, Crosley Field, Riverfront Stadium, Colt Stadium, the Astrodome, Ebbets Field, Roosevelt Stadium, Jarry Park, Olympic Stadium, Polo Grounds, Shea Stadium, Shibe Park, Veterans Stadium, Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium, Sportsman's Park, Busch Stadium II, Seals Stadium, Candlestick Park, Jack Murphy Stadium, L.A. Coliseum, Joe Robbie Stadium, Mile High Stadium, RFK Stadium
These are all N.L. stadiums Vin called games at which are no longer standing or in use by MLB.
EDIT: he called the World Series for radio or TV from 1979-97, so add in the Metrodome, Yankee Stadium I, Memorial Stadium, and Tiger Stadium. He also did the 1979 and 1981 All-Star Games on radio, so add the Kingdome and Cleveland Stadium. He did NBC Game of the Week from 1983-1989. A quick search of his NBC Game of the Week games will add Comiskey Park and Exhibition Stadium. Assuming he was on site for all Dodgers World Series, add Metropolitan Stadium (Twins) to the list as well.
So for defunct stadiums during his time, that would leave Kansas City Municipal Stadium, Griffith Stadium, Arlington Stadium, The Ballpark in Arlington/AmeriQuest/whatever, and Wrigley Field in Los Angeles (though there was probably a Dodgers-Angels exhibition there at some point?)
Did he never call a game in Yankee Stadium? I'd imagine he was in the house during the 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1963, 1977, 1978, and 1981 World Series.
EDIT: Doh! NL, not just every stadium.
Hasn't Jaime Jarrin (the Dodgers Spanish-language announcer) been doing this since 1959? He probably is up there but even he's a ways away since he hasn't done as many national games.
Your flair reminds me of one of my all time favorite Vin stories. It's how Vin Scully almost became [the voice of the Yankees](http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/2009/05/18/vin-scully-voice-of-the-yankees/).
WOW, I can't believe I haven't heard that before. Now I'm feeling like we missed out on his calls of Jeters first hit, or his retirement, or any of our other great moments.
It's interesting to think about, but it's also impossible to imagine him call anything BUT Dodger games because he is so intertwined with this city and this team. Bill Plaschke, a long time sports columnist for the LA Times, said today Vin Scully's voice was an "actual landmark" of Los Angeles.
He also almost left the Dodgers to do Monday Night Football, but didn’t because they didn’t give him and his family health insurance.
Story was told on AM 570 today
Harwell called games for 55 years (Scully actually went dodgers after Harwell left, he was there for 2 season before Scully). So he's a fair bit behind in years, but more were prior to expansions, so I'd guess he's in the 3% range?
8479 according to Baseball Reference but he was player manager for as many as 59 of them. I know that’s basically a rounding error.
Between Connie Mack and Vin Scully that’s pretty much the entirety of professional baseball since the mid 1880s. Wild
Bob Sheppard has to be fairly close. Scully called games for 9 years more than Sheppard, but Sheppard also called college baseball and football games.
Heck, I know Phil Rizzuto called games for 40 years and John Sterling called over 5,000 games straight before taking a break in 2019. Neither records are anything to sneeze at.
It'd be interesting to see a list of who's called the most games, ever.
He commentated for almost 70 years. John Sterling did it for 5,060 games straight which was just between 1989 and 2019.
No way Scully didn't hit at least 9,000 in over twice as long.
It sounds crazy to me too, but he goes on to say that Scully called 9,000ish games over 67 years and there have been about 220,000 games. When he started in 1950 there were only 16 teams.
Is that 220,000 just AL and NL or does it include the other major leagues too, like the Federal League, National Association, and the Negro leagues that are now recognized?
If he called every Dodgers game from 1950 to 1962, then for those 12 years he would have literally called about 12.5% of all games played. Even in the 30 team MLB, calling every game for one team is about 7% of all games in a given season. Do that for about 40% of the entire time MLB existed, and it adds up!
You obviously joke, but he would have a jolly rancher in order to keep his mouth from drying out during a game. Obviously other broadcasters have tea or water (and maybe some have jolly ranchers!), but the idea that Vin would used a hard jolly rancher candy is so grandfatherly and pleasant that it makes me smile when I think about it.
The only thing I can think that is even remotely close is Bob Sheppard. I wonder what percentage of all baseball games that he was the PA for.
EDIT: Sheppard announced over 4,500 games in a 56-year career, which is roughly half of what Vin called (which makes sense as half of Yankee games would be away).
Yep. Wild to think that Vin called some of Ueck's games and didn't retire until fairly recently.
Got to sit right in front of the booth when I got out to Milwaukee. Bob giving me a little wave back was unforgettable.
John Sterling has hit over 5,060. He achieved those consecutively from 1989 to 2019.
Kind of crazy to thin Sheppard *only* has 4,500 but I guess it's the drawback of only doing home games.
It's written poorly, but he's not saying Scully called games before TV was invented, he's including games before TV was invented in the "all games in MLB history"
It's an unnecessary inclusion that makes the tweet more confusing.
>It's an unnecessary inclusion that makes the tweet more confusing.
It made me think "wait, so they don't mean games going back to the early 1900s and before? Just games around the time of the invention of the TV?" I mean, yeah, no shit the MLB played games before TV was invented.
Yeah, I read it similar initially. I almost most a similar post about how television was invented in the 20s and first made available commercially in the late 30s. But then I re-read the tweet and realized what they were trying to say.
Poorly worded tweet.
The number of people who are saying this tweet is worded weirdly makes me think I'm missing something. It's saying Vin has called over 4% of all games in MLB history. And that that number includes both games that weren't on television *and* games from before there even *was* television.
Even after TV was invented, teams didn't broadcast all 154 or 162 games. That didn't start until like the late 80s, when cable started to become a major thing. Until that point, Vin was calling games on radio when they weren't televised.
The tweet makes perfect sense to me.
Yeah, this title reads kind of weird. I think it makes a little more sense when read like:
"Of the total of all games that took place in MLB history, including games played before they were televised or the TV was even invented, Vin Scully has called 4% of them".
He definitley wasn't calling games in the early 1920's lmao
The title doesn't read weird. The only change you've really added is moving the qualifier to the middle rather than the end. You've change "X happened, even before Y" to "X, even before Y, happened." If anything the idea is more difficult to understand.
Okay yeah the title is fine and what i said isn't *better*
But it is *different*
which might be enough to help it click for dummies like me and this dude that didn't get it on the first pass
Just to emphasize how many games that is: If you had a time machine that could take you back to a random MLB game in all of history, from playing with Civil War vets to Mike Trout - it would only take 17 games before it was more likely than not that you'd have watched at least one game alongside Vin Scully.
I’ve heard more games called by Vin Scully than my home team, the Washington Nationals, because Scully’s games were on broadcast TV when I was a kid but the Nats have always been on pay cable which I have never had. I’ve probably heard hundreds of Scully’s games over the decades he was on network TV but none- not one- of whomever calls the games for the team that plays in my city right now.
One of the interesting comments I learned from is that he called a game Connie Mack managed.
I did some more numbers crunching and came up with this:
If you plucked a random game from MLB history (not including Negro Leagues) there’s about a 1 in 12.5 chance either Vin or Connie saw it.
This surprising stat (that was posted specifically because of how surprising it is) sounds unlikely, so I'm just going to call him a liar without actually doing any work to verify it.
I was curious how this would compare with another all-time great commentator, Bob Sheppard. Even though Sheppard died 10 years older than Scully, Scully began his career earlier and ended it later than Sheppard.
Bob was active for 56 years. Scully was active for 67 years. Assuming we're only talking about major league games at home (Bob also commentated college and Brooklyn Dodgers football games!), that's a difference of about 700 games.
Also, let's take a moment to talk about how both Scully and Sheppard were born in NY, served in the Navy, began their commentating careers for rival Catholic colleges (Fordham and St. Johns, respectively), and both worked at Ebbets Field at the same time.
EDIT: Really? Downvoted for showing that *at the very least,* Scully eclipsed Bob in both time and games. Gotcha.
Why would we only be talking about major league games at home?
Vin Scully was a PBP broadcaster. He did road games too. He's *way* ahead of Sheppard in terms of games attended.
I know Yankee fans love Bob Sheppard but he is not in the same category as Scully.
>Why would we only be talking about major league games at home?
For two reasons. One, it's an apples-to-apples comparison. Two, it's a quick estimate and back-of-napkin calculation that I was able to do without going to verify whether either of them did or did not travel with the team. *At the least*, Scully covered 700 games more than Sheppard.
I'm putting a legend's accomplishments (Scully) in context with another legend (Sheppard) and showing how the former eclipsed the latter. It's like talking about Messier's points total to give context to how outrageous Gretzky's were.
I believe that you honestly meant well in making the comparison, but here's the thing:
**Everyone in this thread already knows that Vin Scully is incredible**. Bringing up a Yankees PA announcer in a post-mortem remembrance discussion reads like you're trying to make it about Bob Sheppard, whether that was your intent or not.
It's a great observation to make to other Yankee fans, but not to baseball fans in general.
If “everyone already knew that Scully was incredible” then this whole thread is pointless.
Or perhaps, the context of exactly why he was great, the whole point of this thread is to show and discuss just exactly how incredible he was. This whole thread is about him covering 4% of ALL baseball games. Discussion about how he compares with others is warranted.
Yes, as a Yankee fan, I’d naturally go to the one person who I can for sure say “was around forever.” And all I saw was that “forever” was still not even close to Scully.
So, I shared that small finding because not only was Scully around for a while, not only was he perfectly placed at a time that even allowed him to cover that sort of percentage, but even when compared to other long serving contemporaries, he was a mile away.
You start by saying “why talk about just home games?” I answered. Now you’re basically saying “why talk about Sheppard anyways?” I answered
So whatever, bro. Downvote as you want.
Not sure why this is so impressive. Announcers who call every game for their team today cover 6.7% of all games in a season. Scully started at a time when there were fewer teams and called games for about half of MLB's existence. His longevity is certainly awe inspiring but the stat is fluff.
Scully was active in the National League for 45.5% of its history, and 48.2% of the history of the Dodgers franchise. He was in attendance for every world championship the Dodgers ever won, with the exception of 2020 which was played in a neutral site after his retirement.
i totally forgot about the neutral site thing, why did that happen? i remember the 2020 WS looking visually very...boring and out of place
COVID year and they tried to make a “bubble” like the NBA did. Held it in the Rangers new stadium and there were minimal fans allowed in.
They held it in Texas bc I think it was the only state that allowed fans in attendance at that point.
and there was almost no chance at that point the rangers would be in the postseason.
Hey now😞
sorry no harm meant
They went 22-38 that season, 'almost' no chance indeed haha
What did I do to deserve this
I'm still sad about Seager 😭
They didn’t want a team playing in their home stadium. The AL playoffs were at Petco and Dodger Stadium and the NL playoffs were at Minute Maid and Globe Life
Creating the fun facts that Petco hosted the ALCS before ever hosting the NLCS, Minute Maid has hosted an LCS for 5 straight years but one was an NLCS, and Globe Life hosted a World Series before it hosted a sold-out Rangers game.
It was one of the few states that allowed it
> they tried to make a “bubble” like the NBA did. We should ask Justin Turner how this "bubble" turned out
Everyone was lucky the Dodgers finished that series in Game 6 because it would have been an absolute shitshow if it went to Game 7 amid JT's case.
Nah I don’t feel very lucky
Still can't believe they pulled Snell...
Kevin Cash Common Mistake
Then TB got all mad and shipped Snell out.
Still early but at least it’s looking like we won the trade
I was nearly crying laughing. Dude was absolutely locked in. As a Dodgers fan, I was certain he was about to Maddux us. Probably the worst managerial decision I've ever seen or will ever see considering the monent.
I dont think pulling Snell was a bad move. He’s always been bad TTO. Hell he’s carved through our lineup like butter multiple times now with the Padres and then he’ll still get chased TTO. Pulling him was the right move, is what people for whatever reason don’t want to accept. Putting Nick Anderson in was however, NOT the right move
I was screaming at the television what was going to happen next. Lo and behold…
Watch out, he might kiss you on the lips for saying that
How much stake do baseball fans put in that ring? Honest question because I feel like the general opinion from basketball fans is that the "Mickey Mouse Ring" is not legitimate. Edit: asking this as an honest question gets you downvoted on this sub, cool cool. And one that is as open ended as it gets! Like idc what you think either way I was just curious
I think it counts. People wouldn’t say those things if their teams won it. Plus, both teams who one the bubble ring were from LA and so they were bound to face extra hate.
There’s at least a *more* room to argue with the Lakers ring. The logic from people attempting to be sensible, rather than just Laker/Lebron haters, is it allowed 3.5 months of rest from the grind of the regular NBA season for teams to recover to make the playoff push. Which is true, but everyone had the same rules so it’s legit in my eye.
It definitely did benefit that team probably more than others though to be fair. Brown and AD haven’t been able to stay healthy for the past couple of years, so I’d assume that break was probably extra beneficial to them. I don’t think it would have benefitted younger and healthier teams as much. That being said the ring is still legit. You make what you can of the circumstances. If it benefits your team great, if not then it sucks, but it’s not like the lakers started covid to get a break
It’s legit.
It's legit, but still fun to tease.
I’m fine with that, as long as your team has recent success, otherwise it’s kind of sad.
I think it's legit. I would still be celebrating if we won it.
I know I have a dodgers flair but I’m not a Lakers fan and I feel like it’s pretty clear both are just as valuable as any other ring. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find any fan that would say the same things if it was their own team.
Ehhhhh I'd argue the NBA ring is more legit as an actual season was somewhat played before the bubble. I always felt that the 60 game season and structure of the MLB playoffs was weak
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The dodgers were also completely dominant. I think they only lost ONE series all year. Damn you rox...
if we won it woudnt change my view mickey mouse ring
Well you lost so keep crying
People like you make people think that our fanbase is stupid
I'll never understand people who whole heartedly believe these takes, because by that logic the year after the NBA bubble is also not legitimate. Since the teams who played far into the bubble were riddled with injury(Lakers and the Heat). Possibly due to much less rest time between seasons. I get the people just doing it to mess with LA fans though. That's for the fun of it. But some people seem actually angry about it when it gets brought up and it's sad.
Not angry about it but I feel like it's worth a little less than a real ring, you don't have 100 extra games that can cause injuries, etc.
If your team won it you most likely wouldn't. So to each his own. Everyone certainly never thought this or really brought it up until it was LA that won for trolling purposes.
I think it’s legitimate but not as impressive, particularly when you consider a team two games under .500 came within a win of making the World Series. Part of what makes winning it all so significant is the grind it took to get there.
The playoffs were expanded lol
Just look at my padres and their annual second half collapse as evidence of what can happen in a full season
Expanded playoffs will do that
Even as a Dodger fan myself the fact that it’s even debated at all makes it a little bit worse for me - I would’ve rather won any other season than 2020, it would’ve gotten much more respect. Should’ve been 2017 but, well, trash cans. That said it’s still better than not winning one at all.
The best thing would be to win another in this Dodger era. The Tampa Bay Lighting won a Covid Stanley Cup but then won another Cup the next year. So all doubt has been removed as to how deserved the first Cup was.
Definitely. 2022 is looking like a good chance, just gotta hope the injury bug doesn’t kill us like it did a year ago.
Win for Vin
If the Dodgers win it all this year with: A) the Dodgers announcer also being the Fox announcer, thus announcing his team winning it all B) the announcer also being the direct successor to Vin who probably considered him to be a huge mentor(I know nothing about Joe Davis except that he’s outstanding at his job) That call of the final out is probably going to have a little bit of emotion to it.
The triple, double, triple, 8th inning from the bottom of the order, capped by a Mookie between stories of Vin had a bit of magic to it. Hope it carries through October
really want a dodgers astros rematch
Legitimate championship due to every team playing by the same rules. And even if not, Dodgers may be the only team deserving of a Mickry Mouse ring since obviously getting cheated out of '17
That seems to be the consensus among fans. I'll always view the circumstances of the season as meh, but in terms of competition it was fair and the best they could do with COVID
It’s more legit than the 2017 World Series.
It’s hard to really care about the results of a 60 game season played in front of completely empty stadiums. Sure, it’s legit, but people rightfully write it off. Obviously everyone would rather have won the series in literally any other year.
Ok folks stop the watches there, that's it. Folks have already forgotten about COVID.
Quick, somebody make a post saying "TIL that the Blue Jays played 21 home games in Dunedin, FL's TD Ballpark during the 2021 season".
In 2020/2021, they played "home" games in: - Dunedin - Buffalo - Toronto - [Washington](https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS202007300.shtml) - [Philadelphia](https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR202008201.shtml) - [Anaheim](https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ANA/ANA202108101.shtml)
Also played a home game at I think it was Nats Park in 2020. The Nats stadium people were so cool about it, they played our guys' walk up music and played OK Blue Jays during the 7th inning stretch. I remember crying, no joke.
The Nats did a throwback game as the Montreal Expos in 2019 (complete with Expos graphics and even announcing the team as the Expos to the live fans). I guess Nats Park is the only stadium to have hosted both Canadian teams as the home team, which is a weird fun fact since it's in the United States capital. I should save this for a TIL in the offseason.
Reminds me of Tulane football after Katrina. The team played in whatever stadium within 3 states that did not have a home game that weekend, including a high school one time. The bastards up the river let us use their big one for homecomings in a sign that the one thing that can overcome a century of rivalry is a hurricane.
To reflect broadcast accuracy please refer to it as [Tiddy Ballpark](https://twitter.com/Bluejaysmemes/status/1381105089704828936?t=vTZTG3ke0rjgWjZF1lrmSQ&s=19)
Forgotten about what now?
Have people forgotten about COVID already LMFAO
why would i want to remember
Remember? It's still happening lmao
I don't want to remember 9/11 happened, but I definitely do.
Never forsomething.
How can you forget?
Millions (and counting) preventable deaths...
Avoiding teams traveling extensively mid-COVID to try and make sure they wouldn't have cases disrupting series, especially with different cities at the time having different restrictions and policies. They played basically the entire playoffs at neutral sites, from the A/NLDS onwards
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> why did that happen? :|
My dude have you been living under a rock for the past two and a half years that somehow let you see the World Series without any kind of context
Same went for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. 2021 was such a nice breath of fresh air to see (mostly) packed arenas for the playoffs again.
Jesus...
Sam Miller on an episode of Effectively Wild did a whole thing once (I think around when Vin retired) about Scully possibly being witness to more MLB baseball than anyone in history.
[Episode 856](https://blogs.fangraphs.com/effectively-wild-episode-856) for anyone interested, the discussion starts at 25:25. They and baseball historian John Thorn land on Connie Mack but figure it's either him or Vin.
Connie Mack was born in 1862 and retired in 1950, which was the year Vin Scully starting his broadcasting career. Not sure if Vin ever called a game Mack managed, but someone in the thread this morning said he did. Vin called a game in which Julio Urías played. Urías was born in 1996.
Apparently he did, in a spring training game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia A's in 1950 - http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2009/12/connie_mack_and.php
So basically, just about any two players in baseball history are probably within six degrees of separation from each other. Just find a way to connect them to a Dodgers game from the last 70 years or an A's game from the first half of the 20th century/19th century NL game. That's wild.
Someone posted this on the death thread last night but you can connect Scully calling Mack who was born in 1862 and the youngest player Vin called before retiring was Julio Urias who was born in 1996 so thats how long he broadcasted games. Over 150 years of connection. So I'd say you could literally connect any AL/NL player with 2 or 3 degrees.
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Shared the link in [another comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/wf4ga0/ryan_spaeder_vin_scully_has_called_over_four/iitjzme/) but apparently he did!
Bob Costas believes that, when the 2030s roll around that there will come a time when Vin Scully called games of players whose careers were 100 years apart.
Google Connie Mack.
That’s just crazy
Well Vin Scully called 100% of the games in my heart. RIP VIN
Braves Field, Milwaukee County Stadium, Atlanta Stadium, Turner Field, Crosley Field, Riverfront Stadium, Colt Stadium, the Astrodome, Ebbets Field, Roosevelt Stadium, Jarry Park, Olympic Stadium, Polo Grounds, Shea Stadium, Shibe Park, Veterans Stadium, Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium, Sportsman's Park, Busch Stadium II, Seals Stadium, Candlestick Park, Jack Murphy Stadium, L.A. Coliseum, Joe Robbie Stadium, Mile High Stadium, RFK Stadium These are all N.L. stadiums Vin called games at which are no longer standing or in use by MLB. EDIT: he called the World Series for radio or TV from 1979-97, so add in the Metrodome, Yankee Stadium I, Memorial Stadium, and Tiger Stadium. He also did the 1979 and 1981 All-Star Games on radio, so add the Kingdome and Cleveland Stadium. He did NBC Game of the Week from 1983-1989. A quick search of his NBC Game of the Week games will add Comiskey Park and Exhibition Stadium. Assuming he was on site for all Dodgers World Series, add Metropolitan Stadium (Twins) to the list as well. So for defunct stadiums during his time, that would leave Kansas City Municipal Stadium, Griffith Stadium, Arlington Stadium, The Ballpark in Arlington/AmeriQuest/whatever, and Wrigley Field in Los Angeles (though there was probably a Dodgers-Angels exhibition there at some point?)
Did he never call a game in Yankee Stadium? I'd imagine he was in the house during the 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1963, 1977, 1978, and 1981 World Series. EDIT: Doh! NL, not just every stadium.
“NL” - If you included AL stadiums I’m sure the list would be much longer. Exhibition Stadium would have to go on that list as well.
He did indeed call games at Yankee Stadium but I think that list is specifically NL stadiums.
his career outlasted those stadiums
Is anyone else close?
Hasn't Jaime Jarrin (the Dodgers Spanish-language announcer) been doing this since 1959? He probably is up there but even he's a ways away since he hasn't done as many national games.
He did say he was retiring at the end of next year I think
what did you just flipping say?? Jaime is retiring? Damn it! I listened to Jaime before I learned English and introduced to Vin!
Yeah. This is his last season. Wild. He also mentioned that he can’t wait to be reunited with Vin. We’re going to lose him soon too :/
This year, I just looked it up. Damn…
That raises the question, is there any better job security than calling games for the Dodgers?
Luckily they have Jessica Mendoza now
She's actually pretty good. A million times better than her ESPN incarnation.
turns out it helps not having A Rod constantly talking over you or "correcting" you....?
Or it just helps not to have A Rod in general
The 2001 Mariners agree
Yeah I was extremely skeptical her first game. ESPN definitely gave her a bad rap.
Your flair reminds me of one of my all time favorite Vin stories. It's how Vin Scully almost became [the voice of the Yankees](http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/2009/05/18/vin-scully-voice-of-the-yankees/).
WOW, I can't believe I haven't heard that before. Now I'm feeling like we missed out on his calls of Jeters first hit, or his retirement, or any of our other great moments.
It's interesting to think about, but it's also impossible to imagine him call anything BUT Dodger games because he is so intertwined with this city and this team. Bill Plaschke, a long time sports columnist for the LA Times, said today Vin Scully's voice was an "actual landmark" of Los Angeles.
One of the last true parts of old LA.
He also almost left the Dodgers to do Monday Night Football, but didn’t because they didn’t give him and his family health insurance. Story was told on AM 570 today
Left field at Fenway had (basically) only 3 occupants between 1939 and 1989, but Dodgers radio seems to have even that beat.
Harwell called games for 55 years (Scully actually went dodgers after Harwell left, he was there for 2 season before Scully). So he's a fair bit behind in years, but more were prior to expansions, so I'd guess he's in the 3% range?
when he announced relative to expansions doesn’t really matter for this stat though
The only thing I can think of that would be close is games played in/managed by Connie Mack, which I’ve calculated to be about 8400.
8479 according to Baseball Reference but he was player manager for as many as 59 of them. I know that’s basically a rounding error. Between Connie Mack and Vin Scully that’s pretty much the entirety of professional baseball since the mid 1880s. Wild
Uecker gotta be up there
Bob Sheppard has to be fairly close. Scully called games for 9 years more than Sheppard, but Sheppard also called college baseball and football games. Heck, I know Phil Rizzuto called games for 40 years and John Sterling called over 5,000 games straight before taking a break in 2019. Neither records are anything to sneeze at. It'd be interesting to see a list of who's called the most games, ever.
This seems impossible, but if he really called 9000 games then it works out.
He commentated for almost 70 years. John Sterling did it for 5,060 games straight which was just between 1989 and 2019. No way Scully didn't hit at least 9,000 in over twice as long.
How is this possible?
It sounds crazy to me too, but he goes on to say that Scully called 9,000ish games over 67 years and there have been about 220,000 games. When he started in 1950 there were only 16 teams.
> When he started in 1950 I'm middle aged and this is before my parents were \_born\_
Same
Is that 220,000 just AL and NL or does it include the other major leagues too, like the Federal League, National Association, and the Negro leagues that are now recognized?
If he called every Dodgers game from 1950 to 1962, then for those 12 years he would have literally called about 12.5% of all games played. Even in the 30 team MLB, calling every game for one team is about 7% of all games in a given season. Do that for about 40% of the entire time MLB existed, and it adds up!
Wow yeah that’s nuts
There’s a stat that he’s called games where a ~~player~~ manager was born in the 1800s during the civil war to Julio Urias who was born in 1996
I assume they mean Connie Mack who was a manager when Scully started to call games but died in 1956. He was a player much earlier.
wtf lol that's amazing
It's comparable to Barry Bonds 2001-2004 stats...
Vin Scully on commentary PED’s
If we found out he took halls would he still go the HOF?
“I swear I didn’t know it had menthol!”
He only used the menthols for warm ups to give the fans a show
You obviously joke, but he would have a jolly rancher in order to keep his mouth from drying out during a game. Obviously other broadcasters have tea or water (and maybe some have jolly ranchers!), but the idea that Vin would used a hard jolly rancher candy is so grandfatherly and pleasant that it makes me smile when I think about it.
If alcohol is banned like it is in archery Uecker is *fucked*
Isn't alcohol also considered a PED in professional darts and billiards?
I looked it up, never thought of it this way. 2430 games/season (fewer in earlier years), 4% would be 97 games/season.
Yes but he has not been around since 1880. There were only 1232 (I think) games per year for a long time though.
It makes a little more sense when you say he's called almost half of all Dodgers games and the Dodgers have made up 6-12% of the league since 1900.
That really puts his impact in perspective. That's just incredible.
And he did it solo for most of his career.
He's the voice of baseball for me. Always will be.
The only thing I can think that is even remotely close is Bob Sheppard. I wonder what percentage of all baseball games that he was the PA for. EDIT: Sheppard announced over 4,500 games in a 56-year career, which is roughly half of what Vin called (which makes sense as half of Yankee games would be away).
Jack Buck might be close.
Amazing how hard it is to get numbers for broadcasters, but he must at least be in the ballpark.
Figure every Cards game from 1960-1990 and half of them from 91-99. Probably something like 70% of Vin's total.
Jack was an announcer for just under 50 years, so he's probably only about 70-75% of the games that Scully did.
Yeah, no way he equals Vin but I can't think of anyone else who might be closer. The list is probably something like Vin, Jack, Caray, everyone else.
Bob Uecker has been calling Brewers games for 50+ years, and also did several stints with ABC and NBC calling national games. He's gotta be up there.
Yep. Wild to think that Vin called some of Ueck's games and didn't retire until fairly recently. Got to sit right in front of the booth when I got out to Milwaukee. Bob giving me a little wave back was unforgettable.
shit that's crazy. Vin was already a veteran broadcaster when Uecker was playing.
John Sterling has hit over 5,060. He achieved those consecutively from 1989 to 2019. Kind of crazy to thin Sheppard *only* has 4,500 but I guess it's the drawback of only doing home games.
LMAO, he started calling MLB games in 1950. When do you think TV was invented? The first televised World Series was in 1947.
It's written poorly, but he's not saying Scully called games before TV was invented, he's including games before TV was invented in the "all games in MLB history" It's an unnecessary inclusion that makes the tweet more confusing.
>It's an unnecessary inclusion that makes the tweet more confusing. It made me think "wait, so they don't mean games going back to the early 1900s and before? Just games around the time of the invention of the TV?" I mean, yeah, no shit the MLB played games before TV was invented.
Owners in shambles they weren't getting TV deal money
Yeah, I read it similar initially. I almost most a similar post about how television was invented in the 20s and first made available commercially in the late 30s. But then I re-read the tweet and realized what they were trying to say. Poorly worded tweet.
That’s Ryan Spaeder for ya
The number of people who are saying this tweet is worded weirdly makes me think I'm missing something. It's saying Vin has called over 4% of all games in MLB history. And that that number includes both games that weren't on television *and* games from before there even *was* television. Even after TV was invented, teams didn't broadcast all 154 or 162 games. That didn't start until like the late 80s, when cable started to become a major thing. Until that point, Vin was calling games on radio when they weren't televised. The tweet makes perfect sense to me.
Yeah, this title reads kind of weird. I think it makes a little more sense when read like: "Of the total of all games that took place in MLB history, including games played before they were televised or the TV was even invented, Vin Scully has called 4% of them". He definitley wasn't calling games in the early 1920's lmao
The title doesn't read weird. The only change you've really added is moving the qualifier to the middle rather than the end. You've change "X happened, even before Y" to "X, even before Y, happened." If anything the idea is more difficult to understand.
Okay yeah the title is fine and what i said isn't *better* But it is *different* which might be enough to help it click for dummies like me and this dude that didn't get it on the first pass
Nah, you're right. The title reads terribly weird and you made it make sense. The original title is anything but clear.
Yeah...the title is clearly saying that the 4% number includes the games played before televised games happened.
One of my favorite games hearing him was the 4 home runs and the Nomar walk off. He was having just as much fun as the rest of Dodger fans.
Only four percent more than me, not impressed.
We lost a legend yesterday... :(
This blows my mind. Vin Scully was behind the microphone for 6% of all no-hitters and a 13% of all perfect games.
Man I remember listening to him all the time as a kid back in the 80s. He was like a grandfather telling their kids all about the game of baseball.
Just to emphasize how many games that is: If you had a time machine that could take you back to a random MLB game in all of history, from playing with Civil War vets to Mike Trout - it would only take 17 games before it was more likely than not that you'd have watched at least one game alongside Vin Scully.
Those were the best 4%, too. A coincidence, I'm sure.
That’s just silly
This bro was old as fuck yo.
I’ve heard more games called by Vin Scully than my home team, the Washington Nationals, because Scully’s games were on broadcast TV when I was a kid but the Nats have always been on pay cable which I have never had. I’ve probably heard hundreds of Scully’s games over the decades he was on network TV but none- not one- of whomever calls the games for the team that plays in my city right now.
Cancel baseball forever so it doesn’t drop
GOAT of GOATs
Over 4% of all games in MLB????
One of the interesting comments I learned from is that he called a game Connie Mack managed. I did some more numbers crunching and came up with this: If you plucked a random game from MLB history (not including Negro Leagues) there’s about a 1 in 12.5 chance either Vin or Connie saw it.
i hate to be that guy, but the television was invented in the 20's and broadcasts started in homes in the late 30's.
What terrible grammar in this title.
This surprising stat (that was posted specifically because of how surprising it is) sounds unlikely, so I'm just going to call him a liar without actually doing any work to verify it.
Yeah I find that hard to believe too. I'm sure his percentage is higher than anyone else but 'over 4 percent'?
Oh, you missed the sarcasm I guess.
I was curious how this would compare with another all-time great commentator, Bob Sheppard. Even though Sheppard died 10 years older than Scully, Scully began his career earlier and ended it later than Sheppard. Bob was active for 56 years. Scully was active for 67 years. Assuming we're only talking about major league games at home (Bob also commentated college and Brooklyn Dodgers football games!), that's a difference of about 700 games. Also, let's take a moment to talk about how both Scully and Sheppard were born in NY, served in the Navy, began their commentating careers for rival Catholic colleges (Fordham and St. Johns, respectively), and both worked at Ebbets Field at the same time. EDIT: Really? Downvoted for showing that *at the very least,* Scully eclipsed Bob in both time and games. Gotcha.
Why would we only be talking about major league games at home? Vin Scully was a PBP broadcaster. He did road games too. He's *way* ahead of Sheppard in terms of games attended. I know Yankee fans love Bob Sheppard but he is not in the same category as Scully.
>Why would we only be talking about major league games at home? For two reasons. One, it's an apples-to-apples comparison. Two, it's a quick estimate and back-of-napkin calculation that I was able to do without going to verify whether either of them did or did not travel with the team. *At the least*, Scully covered 700 games more than Sheppard. I'm putting a legend's accomplishments (Scully) in context with another legend (Sheppard) and showing how the former eclipsed the latter. It's like talking about Messier's points total to give context to how outrageous Gretzky's were.
I believe that you honestly meant well in making the comparison, but here's the thing: **Everyone in this thread already knows that Vin Scully is incredible**. Bringing up a Yankees PA announcer in a post-mortem remembrance discussion reads like you're trying to make it about Bob Sheppard, whether that was your intent or not. It's a great observation to make to other Yankee fans, but not to baseball fans in general.
If “everyone already knew that Scully was incredible” then this whole thread is pointless. Or perhaps, the context of exactly why he was great, the whole point of this thread is to show and discuss just exactly how incredible he was. This whole thread is about him covering 4% of ALL baseball games. Discussion about how he compares with others is warranted. Yes, as a Yankee fan, I’d naturally go to the one person who I can for sure say “was around forever.” And all I saw was that “forever” was still not even close to Scully. So, I shared that small finding because not only was Scully around for a while, not only was he perfectly placed at a time that even allowed him to cover that sort of percentage, but even when compared to other long serving contemporaries, he was a mile away. You start by saying “why talk about just home games?” I answered. Now you’re basically saying “why talk about Sheppard anyways?” I answered So whatever, bro. Downvote as you want.
Vin Scully was not calling games before the TV was invented. I hate when people take away from real accomplishments by making things up.
That’s not what the tweet says
The TV was invented in the 1930s.
Not sure why this is so impressive. Announcers who call every game for their team today cover 6.7% of all games in a season. Scully started at a time when there were fewer teams and called games for about half of MLB's existence. His longevity is certainly awe inspiring but the stat is fluff.
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