NewsScully talks ball at Newsmaker Luncheon
Veteran broadcaster speaks to Hollywood group
Andy Friendly, Vin Scully and Ron Shelton smile at the Newsmaker Luncheon. (Ben Platt/MLB.com)
By Ben Platt / MLB.com
11/10/09 6:52 PM EST
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Over his 60-year career, it's not unusual for broadcasting legend Vin Scully to completely disappear from the public once the Dodgers season ends, but the 81-year-old Hall of Fame honoree is loyal to his friends. So when Andy Friendly, the president of the Hollywood Radio & Television Society, asked Scully to take part in the society's prestigious Newsmaker Luncheon, he agreed to, as he would say, "pull up a chair" and chat for a while. "Andy Friendly is an old friend and we go back many years," Scully said before the luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. "I figured people had heard enough of me all spring, summer and fall, so I pretty much pull away and hide out, but Andy asked me to, I said yes for him and here we are." "This is tremendous for us," said Friendly, a respected film and television producer. "It's a dream come true for the HRTS, because the words 'legend' and 'icon' get tossed around a lot, but when you are talking about Vin Scully, you are talking about a true broadcasting legend and we are thrilled to have him." Once he is committed to taking part in such an event, Scully admits it is kind of fun to talk about his broadcasting career and answer questions from a very knowledgeable audience. "It's nice," said Scully, who announced this past summer he would return to the Dodgers for his 61st season behind the microphone and then go year-to-year after that. "The feeling of meeting people and make them smile and enjoy their lunch a little bit -- that's all I need anyway and, as I said earlier, to fulfill the definition of a friendship, to do something for someone you've known for years -- that makes it all worth while." "He is our connective tissue," said Southern California native and noted film writer/director Ron Shelton, who had the honor of introducing Scully at the event and hosted the question-and-answer session during the luncheon. "He's sort of the center for us. The city of L.A. holds together because of Vin. His voice for over a half of a century, introduced us to Major League Baseball and 50 years later he's still doing it. He's a story teller to me and he made me feel comfortable immediately as a kid -- he's a great broadcaster on good years and on bad -- and, as the L.A. Times once said, he's 'the most trusted man in Los Angeles.'" On the baseball front, Scully was pleased with the Dodgers' 2009 season that saw the team return to the National League Championship Series for the second consecutive year. "It's a very hard thing to win," said Scully. "A lot of money is spent by each and every team and only one team can finally win, and as things turned out, it was the team that spent the most money [referring to the New York Yankees]. The point is that it's so difficult, so for the Dodgers to do what they did -- to draw 3.7 million fans, to win the Western Division, to survive the first round of the playoffs -- that makes it a tremendous year, when you consider there are 30 teams out there scrambling and only one can win. I think people forget how hard it is to win a championship." Scully was also pleased about the possibility of Dodgers manager Joe Torre extending his contract beyond the 2010 season. "Two years, two championships, he's gotten them close," said Scully of Torre. "Besides he's a delight to be with. I've known Joe for well over 40 years and he's exactly the way he was from the first day I met him. He's not impressed with himself, he's not impressed with what he has won, he knows he's a human being and, above all, he knows he's only as good as his team." The same could be said for the man paying the compliment. Dodgers fans and fans of baseball treasure every moment in which Vin Scully describes a baseball game.Ben Platt is a national correspondent for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
