Scully, at His Best, Let Bonds Take Center Stage

How appropriate it was that Vin Scully was there to call another historic home run.

In Los Angeles, viewers watching on Fox Sports Net 2 or listening to KXTA (1150) got to hear Scully call Barry Bonds’ record 71st home run Friday night.

In a way, that was a good thing. But as Scully mentioned on the air, he would have preferred it didn’t come during an inning when he was on TV and radio.

If he were only on TV, Scully wouldn’t have had to talk as much. And that would have suited him just fine.

But he had to describe the scene for the radio audience as well.

Still, Scully, in typical fashion, kept it simple.

When Bonds came to the plate in the first inning, Scully mentioned that Barry’s father, Bobby, was not in attendance because he was in Connecticut at a charity golf tournament.

Chan Ho Park delivered the first pitch to Bonds low and away. Then came the pitch that will go down in baseball history.

“Fastball hit into deep right-center field,” Scully told his audience. “It is a way out and gone. There it is, No. 71.”

Scully paused for about 15 seconds. Then he continued.

“Barry Bonds, for those of you on radio, is being greeted at home plate by his entire ball club. An absolutely phenomenal record that lasted exactly three years.”

Scully provided a succinct history of the record Bonds broke, about how Babe Ruth’s record of 60 stood for 34 years and Roger Maris’ record of 61 stood for 37 years. And now Mark McGwire’s record of 70 had stood for only three years.

When Bonds was shown talking on a cell phone, Scully concluded he was talking to his father in Connecticut.

“Now that Bonds has done it, that part of the show is over,” Scully said.

He then said, “I was kind of hoping, to be honest, it would be after the simulcast. I always remember the radio-television critic who wrote Scully did his finest by not saying anything. But unfortunately it was radio as well as TV.

The first four innings are simulcast, then Rick Monday takes over on radio. Before Ross Porter was sidelined because of sinus surgery, only two innings were simulcast.

This is only the third year there has been any kind of simulcast of Dodger games. The idea is to keep Scully as part of radio broadcasts to appease sponsors.

Scully, earlier in the day, talked by phone about his view on silence during big moments.

“Remember that old Jack Benny routine,” he said. “Benny says a mugger told him ‘Your money or your life?’

“The mugger becomes impatient and again says, ‘Your money or your life?’ And Benny says, ‘I’m thinking, I’m thinking.’

“That line, I believe, drew the longest laugh in television history. And Benny had the good sense to not say a word.”

The home run call Scully is probably most famous for is Kirk Gibson’s blast in the 1988 World Series.

“High fly ball into right field. She is gone! In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened.”

He then shut up, and drew praise for it.

Scully also called Hank Aaron’s record 715th home run in 1974, which came against the Dodgers.

Bill Buckner was in left field. Scully said, “Buckner is back, to the track, to the wall, he is climbing the bullpen fence. It is gone! “

He was asked if he had anything planned if Bonds were to hit No. 71 on his shift.

“I don’t have anything planned,” he said. “I didn’t for Henry Aaron. As usual, I’ll let the crowd go bananas. That’s better than anything I could conjure up. I’ll just let him take the stage.”

And for an encore, Bonds added home run No. 72 in the third.