Dodger Announcer Porter ‘OK’ After Sinus Surgeries

The voice was a familiar one, and it sounded as good as ever. .

Ross Porter was still at UCLA Medical Center on Thursday when he took the call.

“I’m feeling OK,” the Dodger broadcaster said. “I should be out of here in a couple of hours.”

Porter, after two surgeries and eight days at the hospital, was getting ready to return home to Calabasas.

The second surgery was a delicate 10-hour operation to repair a hole the size of a quarter in his right sinus. Fluid from his brain was leaking through the opening.

“It was quite a serious problem,” neurosurgeon Neil Martin said. “Our fear was that this condition can cause meningitis, so we had to seal the leak.

“He should make a complete recovery and be ready to go next season.”

Porter, providing play-by-play of his ordeal, said, “I first started feeling a tickle in my throat last Thanksgiving. I had a CT scan during spring training at Vero Beach in March and they found a complete blockage of my right sinus. I tried steroid shots, everything. Nothing seemed to fix it.

“So about three or four weeks ago I asked about having my sinuses washed out.”

During the four-hour operation Aug. 29, the hole in the right sinus was discovered, and a second surgery was scheduled for two days later.

After the second operation, it was determined that Porter, 62, would miss the rest of the season.

“It didn’t make much sense for me to try and come back this late in the season,” he said. “I plan to simply get a lot of rest.”

That meant the Dodgers would continue with only two broadcasters, Vin Scully and Rick Monday. Everything pretty much hinged on Scully, but he agreed to do whatever was necessary. It was decided that for locally televised games, the first four innings, instead of two, would be simulcast, with Monday calling the remaining five innings on radio. For radio-only games, Scully would do the first three innings and the final three, with Monday handling the middle three.

And Al Downing was asked to fill in for Porter on Dodger radio postgame shows.

Scully took last Sunday off--it was a radio-only game--because of the holiday weekend. But he’ll be on the radio Saturday, when the Dodgers’ game at St. Louis will be a Fox network telecast.

Scully had been doing TV only the last two seasons, although the first two innings of televised games are simulcast on radio and TV.

“I said I’d be glad to jump in with both feet after the Labor Day weekend,” Scully said from Denver. “I had already made some family commitments for last Sunday, so I asked for that day off.

“When a member of your team, a member of your family, has a problem, you adjust immediately. Our main concern is for Ross, for him to get well and for him to come back when he is ready.”

Said Monday: “Work loads are not a concern in a situation like this. A speedy recovery for Ross to the main concern.”

Scully said announcing a few more games is no big deal.

“Tenors like to sing, announcers like to announce,” he said.

Scully said that after learning that Porter would need a second surgery, he called to reassure him.

“My main concern was Ross’ mental outlook,” Scully said. “I told him there would be no hiring of anybody else, that we’d be saving his seat at the table.”

Porter said calls from Scully, Monday, Jaime Jarrin , Bob Daly, team President Bob Graziano and others within and outside the Dodger organization have been overwhelming.

“And I haven’t even been home yet,” he said.

More good wishes are awaiting. The Dodgers have set up a link on their Web site, www.Dodgers.com, specifically for fans to message Porter.