A lot of folks thought Vin Scully was going to retire after this season, but he’s got one more in him, he says:
Vin Scully, thought to be retiring this winter after 60 seasons, said this week he is planning on coming back for one more summer. Scully, 81, said if he continues to feel well he will work past his landmark year and retire after the 2010 season.
“God willing, I will probably come back for one more year,” Scully said in a phone interview. “At this moment, my health is excellent, and I’m leaning toward one more year.”
And then retire?
“Yes, that makes sense,” he said.
The L.A. Times’ Bill Plaschke, of course, gets this all wrong, going on about how the Dodgers need to take the next 15 months to think really, really hard and come up with some sort of special, spectacular sendoff. After describing a tribute video the team has been playing on the scoreboard and how Scully himself, while honored, felt rather uncomfortable with the whole thing, Plaschke says this:
This was the Dodgers’ first attempt at a farewell, and it was a good one, but now it’s time to get serious. If they could build a Mannywood in a couple of weeks, surely they can use the next few months to figure out a way to permanently honor Scully in a way that no Dodger has been honored before . . .
. . . Turn this Dodgers monument into a statue. Sculpt Scully sitting in a booth, with a microphone and headsets and his ever-present scorebook. Fill the desk with dozens of ports where fans can plug in headphones and listen to tapes of Scully’s calls. What greater tribute than having Dodgers fans gathered at his feet as one, listening to his voice forever? Place the sculpture just beyond the Dodger Stadium center-field fence, in the area currently populated by autograph booths and fans chasing batting practice fly balls. Lay down some grass like they do at Yankee Stadium for the center-field Monument Park. Call it Scullyville.
Apart from the fact that Scully himself is probably reading that this morning and spitting coffee across the table due to just how horrifyingly opposed it is to everything he’s ever stood for as a broadcaster, it’s a fabulous idea.
