Vin Scully passed away last August at the age of 94, after a baseball broadcasting career with the Dodgers that lasted from 1950-2016. He was a man who was probably the best at his profession of anyone who ever lived. But, what’s this about his Mets legacy? It’s true that Scully never was a play-by-play man for the Mets, but he did have a legacy with the team, in at least two aspects.
Aside from his Dodger duties, Scully also worked as a broadcaster for NBC in the 80s, handling the “Game of the Week” and the postseason, including the World Series. Scully was behind the microphone On October 25, 1986, game 6 of the World Series as the heavily favored Mets trailed Boston three games to two. The game see-sawed into extra innings, and the Mets found themselves down to their final strike down 5-3 in the bottom of the 10th. They rallied with three straight hits to tie the game, then Mookie Wilson came to the plate, and we all know what happened.
Wilson slapped a routine grounder to first that somehow trickled past first baseman Bill Buckner, and scored Ray Knight with the winning run. It sent the Mets on to game seven, which they won. Scully’s call of the Wilson at bat is considered among his best calls. “Here comes Knight, and the Mets win it” followed by a perfectly timed long pause while the Shea Stadium crowd went crazy. It of course can be found on YouTube to give the full experience of the momentous call.
Far more recently, Scully did one final big service to the game he loved so much. In the latter part of 2021, the Golden Days Committee prepared to meet to vote on candidates for the Baseball Hall of Fame who made their primary mark between 1950 and 1969. Gil Hodges, beloved Brooklyn Dodger slugger and manager of the 1969 Miracle Mets, and nine others were on the ballot.
I remember just before the vote was announced I did not feel very confident. Hodges had fallen just short several times before, and fewer and fewer people who had seen him play or manage were on the voting committee. Plus it was a very strong group of candidates, including such worthy figures as Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Jim Kaat, Roger Maris, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Billy Pierce, Maury Wills and Danny Murtaugh. Only those players, if any, who drew 75% of the vote would make it in this time.
In addition there was no real advocate on the committee for Hodges. Rod Carew was on the committee, and two of his Minnesota teammates, Olivia and Kaat, were voted in. However, as it turned out, Hodges did have a very impressive advocate, although he was not on the committee. That was Scully, who lobbied hard for the induction of Hodges. He worked the phones, and he wrote a very moving essay for the MLB website, which follows.
“I am often asked who the best ballplayer was that I watched during my broadcasting career. In looking back over my 67 years behind the microphone, I was truly blessed to watch firsthand so many of the all-time greats performing at their very best on the biggest stages in the game’s history. It is truly impossible for me to single out just one player. However, in terms of players I watched who performed at a high level on the playing field, but at an even higher level off the field in how they lived and carried out their lives, my response is an easy one– Gil Hodges.”
Hodges was voted in with exactly 75% of the votes. He may be wearing a Brooklyn cap on his plaque in Cooperstown, but he belongs just as much to Mets fans. The players on that 1969 Mets team have said almost to a man that there would have been no championship that year if not for the leadership of Hodges.
Scully did so much for baseball, and we can thank him posthumously for his efforts in making the enshrinment of Hodges possible.
It’s part of my nature, I suppose, to mistrust anyone or anything that’s put on a pedestal and presented as beyond reproach.
I never got the hero worship for Scully. While he was a fine broadcaster, if given a choice, I’d much rather listen to a game broadcast by Curt Gowdy or Harry Caray. And as a Mets fan, I’d choose a chance to listen to Nelson-Kiner-Murphy do a random game from when they were a trio than listen to Scully do a random Dodgers game from the same time period.
Oof!
Rooting interests aside— and I admit there is some charm in that— if you just want to “see” a game with your ears, nobody is better than Scully.
I heard lots of Harry Caray broadcasts in the 70s and 80s, and his act wore out pretty quickly. A notorious homer for the Cubs, plenty of slurring of words, and lots of miscalls of plays as well.
John,
Very enjoyable write-up, thank you. I am not a big HOF guy and there is certainly cronyism involved. Hodges is certainly borderline and debatable, he was before my time, but it does seem just that he got in.