I recall from an article that Scully was highly critical of Russ Hodges’ call of the Bobby Thompson home run because it drew attention to the announcer and conveyed no information apart from the result on the game. That had an impact on me
Vin Scully was the best. Period.
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On a tour of Dodger Stadium about ten years ago I stood in the concourse looking into Scully’s broadcast booth. It had his name on the door. It made the whole tour worthwhile.
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One year when my friend Dan and I went to ST in Florida, our seats at the Kissimmee ballpark were on the back row under the Dodgers’ broadcast booth. We always got there early, and I thought I might have a chance to introduce myself to Vin Scully before they got busy.
Alas, Rick Monday was doing the game, and Scully was not there. Undeterred, I introduced myself to Monday and told him a quick story about watching him play for ASU at Omaha while I was on the Texas team. Monday gave me a BFD look and went on with what he was doing without acknowledging my presence standing right in front of him. Perhaps I was invisible.
Alrighty, then. I am a fan of Vin Scully but not of Rick Monday.
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I’ve always thought it interesting that it’s Milo’s call, not Scully’s, of Hank Aaron’s 715th that gets all the play. I get why – but it’s interesting to hear the difference:
Milo:
Scully:
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Those two calls very well encapsulate those two announcers.
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It’s an amazingly stark contrast.
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Exactly. But I don’t object to Milo’s call. It’s in character for him. Do we know if both calls were on radio or tv? There was a great difference in the way Gene Elston called a game on tv vs. his radio pbp.
I agree.
I think Milo’s call was good and I’d never heard Scully’s call until a few years ago. Of course it was good too.
I realized driving in today that my mother must’ve listened to Scully as a kid. For some reason they could get (Brooklyn) Dodgers games on the radio in southeast Mississippi.
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A back story on Milo’s call: it was not spontaneous, and he had rehearsed it for days. The call in that inning was not even supposed to be his, but he refused to relinquish the microphone to his partner because Aaron was coming up.
A caveat: that story was told to me a broadcaster friend (not Capps) who was not an admirer of Milo. I have no independent knowledge about the facts.
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I’ve never given Rick Monday a second thought, but now I don’t like him, wherever he is.
You tell good stories.
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Some of Monday’s TV commercials in SoCal I’d see every so often when I lived there smacked of his being a next level douche.
He did attend tempe normal school after all…
He also saved the flag from being burned on the field.
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I thought Monday was a USC guy during the Dedeaux days. I’m probably mixed up.
Yes, you are. He, Sal Bando, and Reggie Jackson were all on the same ASU team. Jackson was a freshman and not eligible for the varsity in those days.
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No, he like other tempe normal school alumni, while purportedly being “college graduates,” in reality have the unique fortune of possessing 2 high school diplomas in life.
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I’ve always thought the “freshmen don’t play” rule was just a tad ridiculous. It was before my time, what was the rationale behind it?
They need time to adapt to college life.
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I don’t like Mondays.
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