Colleagues share stories about Vin Scully

They have been Vin Scully’s colleagues in the baseball broadcast booth, and shared many more life experiences outside it.

These are some of their stories, as a week-long tribute to Scully begins at Dodger Stadium for his final seven home games:

• Ross Porter, Dodgers play-by-play man from 1977 to 2004:

“If it had not been for Vin, I would not have had the opportunity to broadcast games for the Dodgers. There were 200 applicants for the job to become the team’s third announcer (with Scully and Jerry Doggett) and Vin recommended me (at the time, Porter was the sports anchor at KNBC Channel 4).

“We never had a cross word between us in 28 years, and he always showed me total respect. We still talk on the phone regularly and share e-mails.

“Everyone knows what a superb broadcaster he is, but it is also meaningful to me that I have never seen Vin rude to anyone, whether he was asked for an autograph, a photo with a fan or presented a question – some at inappropriate times. He has been a total gentleman.

“So popular, he was once asked to run for governor of California by the head of one of the political parties in the state. Vin thanked the man for the courtesy of the invitation but declined, and did not admit he belonged to the other party.

“Vin helped raise money for charities and non-profit organizations, always anonymously. He agreed to let a Los Angeles hospital honor him at a fundraising dinner to build a neonatal unit after a devastating earthquake. The event raised $1.5 million.

“Vin has assisted my family’s non-profit numerous times. He has always been extremely humble and grateful to God for his broadcasting opportunities. He takes great pride in his marriage to Sandi of over 40 years, and his family, including 16 grandchildren.

“We have all been blessed to have Vin Scully as part of our lives.”

• Charley Steiner, Dodgers play-by-play man from 2005 to the present:

“It was probably 1998 or ’99, when I was doing baseball play-by-play for ESPN – one TV game on Wednesday nights and another for radio on Sundays. I was at the old Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego one night. I knew Vin in passing, but here we were at the same table having a bite to eat before this game, and I was telling him: I had no idea what kind of grind this was – two games a week, flying in from the East Coast, flying back, then flying out again for Sunday’s games, then doing the All Star Game and World Series … I’m not complaining, but it’s knocking me out.

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“So there’s Vin, Mt. Olympus eating a cheeseburger, and he says: ‘I have an idea for you. Find yourself a good home-town team and in a good home town and it’ll be a wonderful life and lifestyle.’

“Well, easy for him to say, I thought.

“And I’ll be damned if seven years later, a home town found me to do their games, who happen to be the team I rooted for growing up in Brooklyn, and with the guy calling games whom I already admired so much. I took his advice. It’s the God’s honest truth. Vin just sat back as avuncular as one could be, and I guess you could say I followed him to freedom.

“And what we’ve been watching this year is someone landing a luxury jet liner perfectly on the runway. It bespeaks the grace and dignity he’s maintained over his career. He’s doing it the right way.

“There had been the discussion about whether he would call games on radio in the post-season and he would tell us (me and Rick Monday) that he didn’t want to infringe on our jobs. Heck, we told him we wanted him to do it. He has earned the right to do whatever he wants. Please, I said to him, I want to listen to you do it. He’s been doing games for as long as I have been on Earth – I’ve always known how many years he’s been with the Dodgers because he started when I was born.

“I remember as well when I first started in L.A. and there were people who were saying that I would be the one who replaced Vin. That’s irrelevant. I never wanted it, I love doing radio and all I ever wanted to do as a kid was be a Dodgers announcer. There is no better way than to be in his shadow. Besides, nobody replaces him. As I was telling Joe Davis (the latest broadcasting hiring), just think of this as joining a very exclusive club. First came Red Barber, then Vin and Jerry Doggett, Don Drysdale, Rick Monday … and you’re the next one in a very long but also very short line. It’s part of a wonderful club.

“And now I get to have dinner with Vin each night at home games. I don’t want to share too much, but basically it’s just three chums (with Monday) sitting down and talking about traffic, the news may be on the TV, last night’s game, the upcoming game … it’s not like we have any agenda. But now I’m in the front row watching this ‘Going Away Tour’ happen, and he’s the only man on Earth where the going-away tour comes to him. One night the security guard knocks on the door and says, ‘Mr. Machado and Mr. Schoop are here to see you.’ It’s Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop, 24-year-old and a 26-year old (players from the Baltimore Orioles). They just wanted to say hello and take a picture. Two charming young men, so nice and respectful who knew who Vin was and … it was such a sweet moment.

“It’s fascinating to see the adulation on a daily basis and how he deals with it – again, he’s a model example of how one should handle whatever this is. It’s been a wonderful sentimental journey for me personally, really lovely … and I am welling up just talking about it. It’s a very emotional thing. It’s bittersweet, because it tugs at the heart, but there’s no place I’d rather be right now for this. I am very, very lucky.”

• Dick Enberg, the retiring San Diego Padres play-by-play man and former voice of the Angels, whom Scully called to congratulate by cellphone during the press conference for Enberg’s Baseball Hall of Fame announcement in 2014:

“My favorite call of his has always been the tribute to Roy Campanella at the Coliseum (a Dodgers-Yankees exhibition game on May 7, 1959, as a fundraiser for the Dodgers catchers immobile from a car accident). There was the classic line as about how ‘the lights are starting to come out like thousands and thousands of fireflies’

“As he did so often, Vin’s words painted the scene with all the right hues and tones, another Scully masterpiece to be shared by all.

“As a colleague, I marvel at Vin’s exhausting preparation and impeccable presentation, producing a story teller non-pareil.

“He has been a dear friend of anyone and everyone with an affection for the game of baseball and has been an inspiration for all broadcasters to attempt to reach his level of excellence.

“His home run call, ‘She is gone,’ highlighted many a game. Shortly, ‘he’s gone,’ and our connection with the game won’t be nearly as rich and that makes me very sad.”

Online: More reflections on Scully from members of the Dodgers’ organization who have worked with him in a media capacity will post through Oct. 2 at www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth