Vin Scully, legendary Dodgers broadcaster, dies at age of 94

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Vin Scully, the longtime broadcaster of the Los Angeles Dodgers, died Tuesday at his home in Hidden Hills, Calif., the team announced.

Scully was 94 years old.

A native of the Bronx in New York City, Scully was the voice of the Dodgers from 1950 through the 2016 season, joining the team when they moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958. The final game he ever called was the Dodgers game against the Giants at Oracle Park (then AT&T Park) on Oct. 2, 2016.

Scully's iconic voice was the soundtrack for generations of Dodgers fans in Los Angeles and around the country.

"We have lost an icon," Dodger President & CEO Stan Kasten said in a statement released by the team. "The Dodgers Vin Scully was one of the greatest voices in all of sports. He was a giant of a man, not only as a broadcaster, but as a humanitarian. He loved people. He loved life. He loved baseball and the Dodgers. And he loved his family. His voice will always be heard and etched in all of our minds forever. I know he was looking forward to joining the love of his life, Sandi. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family during this very difficult time. Vin will be truly missed."

The news of Scully's death was announced during Tuesday's broadcast of the Giants-Dodgers game in San Francisco, and NBC Sports Bay Area broadcasters Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow were understandably emotional.

"You don't have to be from the Los Angeles area to appreciate what that man did for not just baseball but for all of the sports that he announced," Kuiper said.

"I loved him," Krukow said. "Taught me baseball. But he said it, he said I've had a glorious walk through life and he did.

"It was a goal of mine just to have him say my name on the radio. I figured if he said my name on the radio, I had arrived. And then we got to know him after our career as players was over and we got to be able to call him friends."

While Scully called Dodgers games for 67 years, he was open about growing up a Giants fan in New York.

"When I was 8 and a half years old, I was leaving grammar school and walking home," Scully said in a video posted on Twitter in 2020 on the four-year anniversary of his final game. "I went by a laundry and in the window they had the line score of a World Series game. The Giants had lost to the Yankees that day, October the 2nd, 1936, by the score of 18-4. Well, when I saw the Giants having lost by such a heavy score, the little boy that I was, I felt so sorry for them and I became a rabid baseball fan, and especially for the Giants.

"And from October the 2nd, 1936, I had my life dedicated to baseball."

Scully began every Dodgers game by saying the unforgettable words: "It's time for Dodgers baseball," and to this day, the team uses the abbreviation "ITFDB" on social before every game as a tribute.

In addition to his time with the Dodgers, Scully also called nationally televised MLB games as well as NFL games and PGA Tour golf.

Scully was a treasure to all sports fans, and his voice and wealth of knowledge will be missed by the entire community.

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