Vin Scully - Modern Day Wordsmith and Magician

    Another great one has died in the last days. A great basketball player, Bill Russell, age 88. A great T.V. actress, Nichelle Nichols, age 89. A great terrorist, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, age 71. 

    And now Vince, age 94.

    Mr. Scully was the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, I guess for 67 years. Or at least that is how long he worked as a radio and T.V. color man. Color man. I think that is what they call it. He was masterful, made the game more than it was. 

    For some, baseball is too slow.  For the rest of us, it is tantalizingly perfect, like chess, or a classic novel, or...  an opera, (for opera lovers) that plays on and on.

    The individual acts of baseball, like pitches and defensive plays, and of course hits, have their poetry and charm. But the team game, and the players, strategies, numbers, and historical statistics add up to a universe of romance and artistry.

    Magic. Wizardry.

    Vince Scully knew this, and plied this art, and romanced this long thread of slow moving history across our country and wove it more firmly in our hearts.

    I could go on with more effusive praise, but suffice it to say that Vince loved the game, he made it more lovely, and we loved him.

    Thank you, sir, for being a part of the wonder of a game played on a diamond in parks between the fences. There is no one else like you. And there should not be.

    One of a kind, a perfect master of the craft and sport. Even though I did not always root for his team, the Dodgers in blue, I could not not root for him. 

    See you on the other side, Mr. Scully, as the innings of this long, beautiful, ball game have come to a close.

    Spring training turns to the Opening Day, the months churn on, the dog days of summer slog through with sweat and grit, and the crisp classic of the fall awaits. Another year in a chain and succession as so many do, the regular cycle. 

    The game is life; we have those like you to help us understand and appreciate it better. Tremendous life lived, enhancing ours.

    Fare thee well, master of words and feeling, of sport and fair play. 

    For now.