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The Dodgers announced this afternoon that Vin Scully will not announce during the post-season that begins Friday night at the stadium. Scully, who is 87, missed the season's final weekend series. The Dodgers said at the time he had a cold.
From the team:
Vin Scully underwent a recommended medical procedure this morning and is resting comfortably.
On the advice of his doctors, Scully will miss the Dodgers’ postseason games to rest up but is looking forward to returning in 2016.Everyone in the Dodgers organization wishes Vin the speediest of recoveries.
The Dodgers released no details or other information. "Uncomfortably vague," is how LA Times sports writer Steve Dilbeck put it online.
Scully previously said that next season would probably be his final one in the broadcast booth. Scully of course came with the Dodgers from Brooklyn. There has never been a Los Angeles Dodger season without Vin Scully announcing.
*Update: By coincidence, this weekend's New York Times Magazine will have a personal appreciation of Scully by Dodgers fan Jacob Silverman, the author of ‘‘Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection." Excerpt:
It may seem odd to feel such devotion to an octogenarian baseball announcer, but Scully is a singular figure. He stands apart from today’s broadcasters, who, with a few notable exceptions, are awful….
He loves the Dodgers, but his appreciation of baseball is aesthetic, so he celebrates excellence in the Dodgers ace Zack Greinke as readily as he does in, say, Gerardo Parra, a journeyman outfielder whose strong defensive play when he was on the Arizona Diamondbacks made him a Scully favorite.Scully’s connection to the sport is also emotional, and despite his humble demeanor, you can see the specter of mortality creeping into his narrative. He appears deeply content whenever he is at the park, but as with any great nostalgist, a note of sadness runs through his work. It’s a sentiment reflected in a line Scully uttered on a broadcast two years ago, one that was cited by Molly Knight in her recent book, ‘‘The Best Team Money Can Buy.’’ Talking about Yasiel Puig, the Dodgers’ young, charismatic right fielder, Scully took a savoring breath and said, ‘‘Oh, to be 22 and a Dodger.’’
Also, Dodgers publications executive Jon Weisman today posted a 1965 guest column that Scully wrote for the LA Times, during a late-season road trip to Pittsburgh. Sample:
It came up rain, a gray somber rain that put a frown on the careworn face of Pittsburgh. My window was streaked with erratic wet lines that made me think of a small child crying. Rain meant disappointment to thousands of fans — and a doubleheader to broadcast — and it meant that on that wet afternoon, I was face to face with the biggest enemy on the road … TIME …
The radio hummed softly in the background and I began to pick out a few lyrics … “Lost out here in the stars … little stars … big stars …” I began to hold memories up to the light like color slides: New York — I could smell the cigaret smoke in the old Polo Grounds. I was 10 and in the bleachers and I first realized that I could see the bat hit the ball before I could hear it.There were gamblers in the bleachers and they always sat near the sign that prohibited gambling and they would bet long range with the people in the upper deck. They had a tennis ball with a hole in it and they would holler a bet, stuff money into the ball and toss it back and forth. I remember thinking how terribly exciting it all was and once a gambler overshot his mark and I made a good catch and returned the ball and they thanked me and told me what a fine catch it was and I was very proud.
