I know your first name is really Vincent, and most often you go by just Vin. But I hope it\u2019s OK for me to call you Vinny because I\u2019ve known you since I was a little boy. \u201cVinny\u201d just seems right for those boyhood memories. And what memories they are. It was you who introduced me to Sandy, Don, Ron, Junior, Johnny, Wally, Maury, and the rest of those 25 boys of summer that became my lifelong heroes.<\/p>\n
You provided me with my boyhood dreams. I need to tell you\u2026 because of you, the game became a passion for me way back when. I guess it is still a passion. Every summer in those boyhood days, I lived for baseball. I played in the sandlots near home and into formalized Little League. Like a lot of boys, I dreamed of someday making the Dodgers and having you call out my name. I was pretty good, but not that good. Just the same, many of the fondest memories of my youth are of those days playing ball. Thank you for giving me that.<\/p>\n
Any time I could, I would listen to your broadcasts. I\u2019ll never forget you describing Sandy\u2019s devastating curve ball\u2026 or his fastball on the \u201clower outside corner\u201d. Even though I couldn\u2019t be at the game and little was televised, I could still see Sandy\u2019s pitch in my \u201cmind\u2019s eye\u201d. And for Dodger home runs, I can still hear your voice saying, \u201cIt\u2019s a long hit ball\u2026 it\u2019s way out there\u2026 it\u2019s gone\u201d. Of course, I only remember those calls for Dodger home runs, because I\u2019m still sure the other guys never hit a single home run while you were announcing. And of course no Dodger fan can ever forget when you called the greatest \u201cwalk off home run\u201d ever in 1988… when the impossible happened\u2026 \u201cGibby\u201d (Kirk Gibson) hit it over the fence. As the ball cleared the fence you called, \u201cShe \u2013 is\u2026 gone\u201d. Thank you for bringing that to life for me.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been around the world, lived in many different places but in all of these years since my boyhood I have remained a Dodger fan. No matter what city I lived in, I could never join with the local fans in rooting for anyone else.\u00a0In more recent years Cable TV, internet radio and the like has enabled me to keep up with \u201cDem Bums\u201d. (Though I never knew them as the Brooklyn Dodgers, I think I\u2019m still allowed to use that term.) So it is with both sadness and joy for me that you have ended your career as the Dodgers announcer.<\/p>\n
I say sadness for obvious reasons\u2026 you have been the voice of Dodger Baseball for my entire lifetime. Without your voice it won\u2019t be quite the same.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m also happy to have had you in my ear for all the years\u2026 more than anyone could have ever expected. What a career it was\u2026 67 years with the Dodgers. You\u2019ve had so many accolades that all I can add is WOW. I\u2019m happy that you can now enjoy time doing whatever you wish. But mostly I\u2019m happy for you having made Dodger Baseball my pastime. Without you it would have never been the same\u2026 I might have even become a Yankee fan. Well\u2026 maybe not those Damned Yankees.<\/p>\n
Like every Dodger fan out there, I hope you do come back and visit us once in a while\u2026 maybe for the first game of the season at \u201cChavez Ravine\u201d between the Dodgers and those dastardly Giants. Or maybe just for the first game of the season we can just hear you say, \u201cIt\u2019s time for Dodger Baseball\u201d.<\/p>\n
I wish you all the best and like every Dodger fan\u2026 I\u2019m happy to have \u201cknown\u201d you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I know your first name is really Vincent, and most often you go by just Vin. But I hope it\u2019s OK for me to call you Vinny because I\u2019ve known you since I was a little boy. \u201cVinny\u201d just seems … Continue reading