Iconic broadcaster Vin Scully, who played for the Dodgers for nearly seven years, has passed away, the team announced. He is 94 years old.
Sculley died at his home in Hidden Hills, California, the team said.
“We’ve lost an icon,” Los Angeles Dodgers president and CEO Stan Carsten said in a statement. “Dodgers’ Vin Sculley is one of the greatest voices in all of sports. He’s a giant, not just as a broadcaster, but as a humanitarian. He loves people. He loves life. He loves baseball and the Dodgers Team. He loves his family. His voice will always be heard and forever etched in the minds of all of us.”
Scully began playing for the Dodgers in 1950, when they were still based in Brooklyn, New York, and retired for 67 years at the age of 88 in 2016. He is the longest-serving broadcaster on a single team in professional sports history, according to the Dodgers.
During his Hall of Fame career, Sculley provided game-by-game and commentary on some of the most memorable moments in Major League Baseball history, including his take on Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th Team in 1974. The signature call for a home run.
“What a great moment for baseball, what a great moment for Atlanta and Georgia, what a great moment for this country and the world,” Sculley said as Aaron rounded the bases to overtake Bayer Beerus became the league’s all-time leading home run hitter. “A black man gets a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking the record for an all-time baseball icon. This is a great moment for all of us, but especially for Henry Aaron.”
Scully was recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 Ford C. Frick Awardawarded annually to broadcasters for “significant contributions to baseball.”
“Why me?” Sculley mused in his acceptance speech. “Why, with millions more deserving people, a red-haired kid with a hole in his pants and a shirt tail hanging outside, would end up in Cooperstown with a baseball game on the streets of New York? Why me, really? I don’t have an answer.”
Other Scully honors include the 2014 Commissioner’s Historical Achievement Award and the 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Dodgers introduced Scully to their ring of honor the year after he retired.
The team said Sculley’s five children, Kevin, Todd, Erin, Kelly and Katherine, were spared, along with 21 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
