Vin Scully to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom!

The legendary Vin Scully will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest civilian honor in the United States) in a ceremony next week. Yay!

The other honorees include former NBA stars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan.

Update (11/22/16): The ceremony was today. (There were also other notables who received the award, including Tom Hanks, Grace Hopper (posthumously), Bruce Springsteen, Margaret Hamilton, and others.)

Vin Scully Will Broadcast Dodger Games in 2016!

Oh, Hell yes! Vin Scully will continue broadcasting Dodger games in 2016. Scully has been year-to-year on his broadcasting plans for several years now, and obviously I am very pleased that Vin will be back in 2016!

Vin Scully is Returning in 2014!!!

YES!!!! Vin Scully will continue announcing Dodger games in 2014. Sweet!!!!

(Tip of the cap to Sammy Kline and whoever posts on behalf of 'Vin Scully' on Facebook.)

One Person's Tribute to Vin Scully

No, not mine. But Grant Brisbee has written an interesting tribute to Vin that I am including here partly to make it easier for me to find the link in the future. :) And Vin Scully really is the best announcer ever. It's been such a joy to listen to him announce baseball games for more than 30 years.

RIP Warner Fusselle (1944-2012)

Warner Fuselle, announcer for the Brooklyn Cyclones and former fill-in for Mel Allen in This Week in Baseball, has died.

One of the reasons I am writing this blog entry is to point out the back-handed nature of the ESPN article, which highlights the fact that he was a fill-in. To be fair, that is why I know he is --- and presumably others are most likely to recognize him for this reason --- but it's still rather strange.

Epic Fail. Just Epic.

You're kidding me, right? Apparently, Tim McCarver has won the Ford C. Frick Award (and his name in small ink in the part of baseball's Hall of Fame museum dedicated to broadcasters) for his excellence in broadcasting. He sucks. He is absolutely one of the single worst broadcasters I have ever heard. He's sometimes correct in what he says, but even then McCarver makes his point in seemingly the most arrogant and condescending manner possible---and then he repeats it almost word for word at least five or six times.

From a baseball awards perspective, this is a nightmare. While we're at it, why don't we also make sure that Juan Pierre gets into the Hall of Fame based on his playing career?

I know this is very much a First-World Problem (tm), but still: What on earth were they thinking?

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball Team Broken Up

Jon Miller and Joe Morgan have been announcing ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball as a team for more than 20 years, but they will no longer be the announcing team for Sunday Night Baseball in 2011. Jon Miller still might return---and I hope he'll be back---but Joe Morgan won't be returning. I actually don't think Morgan is that great an announcer, but Miller is awesome.

Vin Scully to be back in 2011!

Yay! Vin Scully will continue announcing Dodger games in 2011, as he is postponing his retirement for yet another year. FTW!

RIP Ernie Harwell (1918-2010)

Once again, the baseball mike has fallen silent, as legendary Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell has died. You can read about him on wikipedia.

I had a chance to listen to Harwell a bit later in his career, and his poem "Baseball, A Game For All America" to me is very meaningful (and, of course, I am listening to it now on iTunes). Here is a YouTube clip of that poem.

Baseball Call of the Year

Wow. Just wow. I'm not even going to describe this, so you're just going to have to follow that link and listen.

(Tip of the cap to Rob Neyer.)

Stupid Comment of the Day

The Reds' color commentator, referring to closer Francisco Cordero and the fact that he was throwing gas past the hitters, just said: "He's not in a save situation, but he's pitching like he is in one." At the time, the game was tied 4-4 in the top of the 9th. Sheesh. The game is kind of in a crucial situation (so who cares if there is a save involved)...

The Dodger announcers on Andruw Jones

The Dodger announcers had a bit of a discussion about Andruw Jones during today's spring training game:

Charlie Steiner: "Let's see. Andruw Jones this spring is 1 for 7 with an infield single and 6 strikeouts."

Rick Monday: "He's in midseason form."


Comment: Ouch!


(The discussion then continued for a little while, but its start was just priceless.)