Three Kings

When the Hockey Hall of Fame added King play-by-play announcer Bob Miller to its media wing last month, it confirmed what Southern California sports fans have known for close to three decades.

On practically any night of the year we could tune into a local team broadcast and hear the best in the business.

If Miller’s Kings aren’t playing, chances are Chick Hearn is calling the Lakers. From spring to fall, Vin Scully is on the air with the Dodgers. And if you prefer to listen to Dodger games in Spanish, another Hall of Famer, Jaime Jarrin, gives you that call.

In any case you’ll get an account from a knowledgeable source, with a voice perfectly suited for its sport. And it’s unbiased. Miller said Hearn first taught him not to be a homer, that this market has too many transplants from around the country to simply cheer for the home team, and Miller has kept that in mind just as well as Hearn and Scully have.

As fortunate as we have been to have players such as Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Steve Garvey-Davey Lopes-Bill Russell-Ron Cey, Orel Hershiser, Mike Piazza, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Marcel Dionne-Dave Taylor-Charlie Simmer and Wayne Gretzky wear home uniforms, it has been an equal privilege to have Scully, Hearn and Miller describe their exploits.

Not only do they entertain, they educate. If you’re like me, you learned Dodger lore, the dimensions of the basketball court and the icing rule by listening to Scully, Hearn and Miller.

But as special as it is to have these Hall of Famers all working simultaneously in the same city, it’s even more rare for the three of them to be in the same place at the same time.

“Our lives are so different,” Scully said. At the moment, for instance, “They’re working hard now, and I don’t work if I can avoid it.”

They all know that when they’re doing their job and doing it properly, the game is bigger than the person announcing it. So when the time comes for them to step into the spotlight, we should all stop and look--and listen.

Although their line of work and their personal lives sometimes intersect--for instance, Miller got his job through Hearn, and Scully’s granddaughter attends preschool at Miller’s church--all three planets rarely align.

Their first formal gathering was three years ago at a ceremony between periods at a King game to honor Miller’s 25th season with the team. They got together again Monday at a television studio to tape an episode of “Sports Roundtable” that will be shown on Fox Sports Net 2 throughout the week.

And, unlike the last time, Scully didn’t have to keep shifting his weight to keep warm because the ice was numbing his feet through his loafers.

It felt more like a historical summit than a television show. The studio was filled with extra people including still photographers, publicists, reporters and Hearn’s wife, Marge.

No one enjoyed it more than the participants. At one point during a break in the shooting, Hearn told his colleagues, “This is quite a treat for me.”

Host Bill MacDonald’s job was never easier, because all he had to do was turn the show over to some of the greatest announcers who ever worked behind a microphone. And yet it was never more difficult, because he also had to cut them off for commercial breaks.

Some of the best byplay came during the breaks. One time MacDonald had to wave off his producers to keep them from rolling the tape again until Scully and Miller had finished swapping stories about how Detroit Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson and Detroit Red Wing Coach Scotty Bowman volunteered to share pregame strategies with them.

The announcers managed to find enough time on camera to tell of how they got their start in the business and share some of their favorite memories. During the show’s best off-the-cuff moment, Scully and Hearn began comparing their championship rings. Scully wore the Dodgers’ 1988 World Series memento, Hearn the new 2000 Laker ring. (Miller, trying not to feel left out, showed off his wedding ring.)

Even with the flashy jewelry, nothing was more breathtaking than the sound of all those familiar voices together.

I tried to watch a King game on ESPN recently. I had to turn the channel after a couple of minutes. It just didn’t sound like a King game without Miller’s voice.

And there are two things that instantly make me think of summer days at the beach: the smell of suntan lotion and the sound of Vin Scully’s voice.

The thing about that voice is that its effect on me remains the same no matter how many times I hear it, whether on TV or in person. It still has that same authoritative yet relaxing sound as when it I first heard it come through a transistor radio.

One chilly October evening a few years ago, when I lived in Washington D.C., I turned on the radio and heard Scully’s voice calling the World Series and instantly my mind traveled all the way across the country and back home.

When Red Barber was tutoring a young Scully, he told him, “Listen to what I say, but don’t listen to me.” It was his way of getting Scully to develop his own style.

These days, the opposite of Barber’s advice seems appropriate when it comes to Hearn. Listen to him, don’t listen to what he says.

If there are two emerging trends for the Lakers this season, they are the increase in the number of shots Kobe Bryant takes and the number of mistakes Hearn makes. But even if he misidentifies players, Hearn remains a cut above the rest. It’s the enthusiasm he retains for his job, even into his 80s, even after more than 3,000 games, that is most remarkable.

And it’s good to know Hearn, Scully and Miller were just as enthusiastic about being around each other as any of their millions of fans would be to have joined them.

As Scully said as the three posed for a series of photographs: “This would be a great one to have in the den at home.”

And it’s the only thing we want any of them to hang up.

*

J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Trio Takes Seat at ‘Roundtable’ They have been coming into our living rooms for a combined 120 years. Vin Scully has been the voice of the Dodgers for 51 years, Chick Hearn the voice of the Lakers for 41 and Bob Miller the voice of the Kings for 28.

But the Hall of Fame broadcasters had never come into our living rooms together until Monday night, when they talked about their careers, their memories and their admiration for each other on Fox Sports Net 2’s “Sports Roundtable” show.

The one-hour show is scheduled for four more replays this week, perhaps more during the holidays.

This week’s schedule: Today, 3 p.m.; Thursday, 7 p.m.; Friday, 6 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 p.m.