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‘I have said enough for a lifetime’: Vin Scully ends his legendary career

October 2, 2016 at 8:58 p.m. EDT
Vin Scully waves to fans alongside Willie Mays. (Tony Avelar/Associated Press)

Vin Scully’s final stint in the broadcast booth Sunday may have lacked the drama of his Dodger Stadium sendoff last week, in which Los Angeles hit home runs in the bottom of the ninth and 10th innings to tie and then win the game. But even though his farewell unfolded during a 7-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants that took place in enemy territory there was still something appropriate about the setting, given that Scully grew up in the Bronx as a Giants fan.

Scully narrating Angel Pagan’s bodyslam of an activist on the field is a thing of beauty

Of course, those were the New York Giants, with whom Scully became smitten during the 1936 World Series. In fact, he told viewers, that affinity for the Dodgers’ rival began with Game 2 of that series — which took place Oct. 2, exactly 80 years before Sunday.

Fourteen years after that childhood moment, he launched his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and 67 years in the booth later, Scully ended his last game with these words:

“I have said enough for a lifetime, and for the last time, I wish you a very pleasant good afternoon.”

That wasn’t quite it for Scully, as viewers were then treated to a message he’d recorded before the game. Saying, “All I can do is tell you what I wish for you,” the 88-year-old recited a poem, then closed with his iconic phrase, “So this is Vin Scully, wishing you a very pleasant good afternoon, wherever you may be.”

https://twitter.com/VinScullyTweet/status/782706837544050688

“This is his last game, and we’re honored to think he’d come up here, 80 years to the day that he became a Giants fan,” San Francisco Manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? Not just a tremendous body of work but how long he’s been doing it and how great he still is. So it’s pretty cool.”

Scully won’t call Dodgers’ playoff games; career ends with regular season

During the seventh-inning stretch, Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow thanked Scully for “67 incredible years that you’ve given baseball.” Scully then sang along with “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” laughingly mouthing “Dodgers” during the “root, root, root for the [home team]” verse.

Before the fourth inning, the Giants honored Scully with a plaque outside of the visitors’ broadcasting booth at AT&T Park, in a ceremony that caused him to be slightly late in getting back on the air. Scully was joined by fellow Hall of Famer Willie Mays, his favorite Giants player.

https://twitter.com/VinScullyTweet/status/782681626748739584

During the sixth inning, Scully offered something of an apology to his audience for all the fuss over his departure getting in the way of him actually calling the game. “It has been a party, a retirement party,” he said, “and it has been marvelous.”