In an era when job security is a luxury out of the reach of most people Vin Scully has been returning to the same job calling games for the Dodgers for the past 64 years and he doesn't plan on calling it quits just yet; the Dodgers announced that Scully will be returning for his 65th season in the booth next year, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Kids who grew up as Dodgers fans in 1950s Brooklyn share one thing in common with the kids in Los Angeles these days, when they pretend to be a major leaguer in their backyard it is the sweet voice of Scully they hear in their head when they hit a game winning homer in the World Series, much like millions of people hear when Kirk Gibson took Dennis Eckersley deep to end Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
At the age of 85 Scully takes things one year at a time. The superb play of the Dodgers in the second half of this season probably had more than a little to do with his decision to return.
"I really still enjoy it immensely," Scully told the Los Angeles Times. "My health is good, thank God. So why not? And my wife said, 'Why not?' as well. Just the thought of walking away from it to retirement - and looking out the window or something?
"It's just too good. As a baseball man, and someone who has always loved the game, the situation and the conditions are perfect," Scully said.
These days Scully only calls home games and road games in California and Arizona. With the Dodgers on such a tear people will no doubt start petitions to get Scully in the booth for at least part of the World Series should his long-term employer's team get there. Scully quickly rejects the idea, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"I would feel that I would be an intruder and I don't ever want to be that," Scully said. "Even if the Dodgers go into the World Series, it's run by networks now - understandably, because they pay the big money. So, no, I wouldn't want to do something just because someone said, 'Oh, let him do an inning.' I wouldn't want any part of that."
To add a little bit of perspective to how long Scully has been calling game for the Dodgers by the time that Don Mattingly, the current Dodgers manager, was born Scully was in the middle of his eleventh season with the team. The majority of broadcasters don't last that many years with one team.
