Finn Scully, voice of the Dodgers for 67 years, dies at 94

He’s been a celebrity outside of baseball too, being named the Grand Marshal of the Rose League in Pasadena, California, on New Year’s Day 2015.

He narrated a series of big events in the history of baseball, and knew when to keep quiet.

Mr. Scully was on the microphone in 1955 when the Brooklyn Dodgers won their only World Championship, and in 1956 when Yankees’ Don Larsen made a perfect match against the Dodgers for the World Championship.

When Sandy Kovacs retired all 27 Chicago Cubs players at Dodger Stadium on September 9, 1965, Mr. Scully put his stamp on this moment:

On the scoreboard in the right field, at 9:46 in City of Angels, Los Angeles, California. A crowd of 29,139 are seated to see the only bowler in baseball history to shoot four games without an injury or a run. He has done so four years in a row and is now Crowning it: In his fourth game, he made it a perfect match. And Sandy Kovacs, whose name will always remind you of hits, did it quickly. He hit the last six hits in a row. So when his name is capitalized in the record books, K stands out more than OUFAX.”

When Hank Aaron of The Braves hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s record, on April 8, 1974, in Atlanta against the Dodgers, Mr. Scully said simply, “Over the fence. He’s gone.”

Then he walked to the back of the broadcasting booth, took off his headphone, sipped a sip of coffee and waited until the roar of the crowd rang out.

Finally, he returned to the microphone: “What a great baseball moment. What a great moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a great moment for the country and the world. A black man gets a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking the record for a baseball idol ever.”