The Los Angeles Dodgers gave veteran play-by-play announcer Vin Scully a goodbye gift worthy of him.
Down 3-2 to the Colorado Rockies with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers tied the game on a home run by a player born after Scully became a senior citizen.
“And wouldn’t you know we’d go extra innings,” Scully explained upon Corey Seager going deep. “Of course, you didn’t have anything better to do, anyway.”
In the bottom of the tenth, Charlie Culberson won the game on a walk-off blast. The homer clinched a division title for the Dodgers for the fourth year in a row. “The Dodgers have clinched the division,” Scully informed, “and we’ll celebrate on schedule.”
Scully retired on Sunday after 67 seasons on the air covering the Dodgers. He joined the Brooklyn Dodgers as a 22-year-old radio and television announcer in 1950. The Bronx-born broadcaster relocated with the team when it moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.
“I’ve needed you far more than you’ve needed me,” Scully told fans at Chavez Ravine after the dramatic win. Then he played a version of “Wind Beneath My Wings” with himself on vocals to the Dodger Stadium faithful. It was, like Scully’s career, different.