I write, I dabble, I’ve been praised, I’ve been derided. I have been reading Joe for 25 years now and the only thing I can say as a reader and a writer is Joe makes me feel like there are only two avenues to traverse...if I want to be a pale shadow of him as a writer then I quit my day job and write every day and pour my soul into it.
I was fortunate to have been born in 1960 in the San Fernando Valley, before it became "The Valley." My dad was a big baseball fan who at one point, before he became a dad, had seen a game in every major league park. Our family grew to six kids, and my folks would take all of us to a couple of games at Dodger Stadium each year. I think all six of us kids could fill out a scorecard by the time we were ten or twelve, more likely than not stained by mustard from a Dodger dog. Vin Scully's voice was a constant in my childhood and teens, and it wasn't until I moved out of state that I realized how exceptional and unusual Scully was.
Mom and dad are 90 now, still living in Southern California, and were married 65 years in August. They no longer make it to games, but dad still bleeds Dodger blue, and they still watch the Dodgers on TV. He adores Mookue Betts and Clayton Kershaw, and every time Dodgers change pitchers my dad mockingly refers to Dave Robert as "manager of the year. "
As soon as I hit "Post" I'm going to give them a call.
Thanks michael. I don’t know how I forgot about kubek —And game of the week. I confess they were years I wandered in the baseball desert and did not pay close attention to sports. I am very glad that you reminded readers kubek quit broadcasting because he felt players were getting too greedy. I wonder what Kubek would say about the owners that get multimillion bail outs to build baseball stadiums. Regardless, I do believe life began on opening day and life really imitates the World Series.
Joe - That was wonderful. There is something almost mystical in the connection between a city and its teams...its legendary players...our sportscasters...the (sadly, soon to be former) local newspaper sportswriters. All are intertwined. There is stored up heartache (Cleveland)...triumph (everywhere but Cleveland, it seems)...joy...community in the combination of them all. In some way none of us can rationally explain, all of this makes us who WE are. And the love you feel - we all feel - for Vin Scully is evidence of that. That's how I have long felt about YOU; still writing about our Browns, even though you'd moved away from Cleveland decades ago. You became a part of us. You gave us words that captured feelings we did not know how to express. Thank you so much for all of that. And for this piece on Vin Scully. Wonderful.
although i lived in LA for 27 years (gasp!), as a sixth-gen SF Bay Area native, i will always love my Giants, and hate (too weak a word!) the Dodgers!!! that said, Vin Scully was a class act, the quintessential baseball announcer- if not the best, certainly one of them!!! #RIPVin
Since you have written so many beautiful pieces, it would be hard to pick. But I didn't really have to read it again because I've read it so many times before, and loved it every time. He was the heart of LA and I think he always will be, and it's partly because at first he knit different areas (the old line is that LA is 19 suburbs in search of a metropolis--and I live in Las Vegas, which I call the 20th suburb), then he knit different generations. Also, Robert Creamer wrote a great article on him in SI in 1964 that mentioned the importance of eastern games airing when people were stuck in traffic--he got you home, in every way.
And this weekend, Joe, another part of LA is having a similar experience thinking about THEIR heart. Saturday, the Dodgers will honor Jaime Jarrín, who is the answer to a great (I think) trivia question. We know that Vin Scully broadcast longer for a team than anyone else, but who's #2? The answer was a few feet away. Jarrín is retiring after 64 seasons, and he could have kept going (as Vin could have). Nationally, people know him as Fernando's translator. In LA, well, someone once asked a Dodger executive if Jaime was the Latin Vin. He replied, "Maybe Vin is the Anglo Jaime." Vin reportedly loved it, as he loved Jaime, and vice versa. Jarrín has knit generations of Latino/as, as Vin did with Anglos.
Joe, I can't opine as to whether that's your best piece of writing. I do know that it's a simply astounding piece of writing. I started out kind of impatiently wanting to get done reading about this well-chronicled guy, and very quickly I was hanging on every word. Thank you for sharing it with us!
Joe I don’t know if this is your best work but it should certainly make the short list.
Simply the best.
I saw the headline and immediately said, "I'm almost mouthing the words now -- like water out of a shower head."
I write, I dabble, I’ve been praised, I’ve been derided. I have been reading Joe for 25 years now and the only thing I can say as a reader and a writer is Joe makes me feel like there are only two avenues to traverse...if I want to be a pale shadow of him as a writer then I quit my day job and write every day and pour my soul into it.
Or I quit writing
Thanks Joe
But doesn’t that apply to everything, not just writing?
True, but I don’t think if I saw Joe play tennis I’d have the same reaction
I was fortunate to have been born in 1960 in the San Fernando Valley, before it became "The Valley." My dad was a big baseball fan who at one point, before he became a dad, had seen a game in every major league park. Our family grew to six kids, and my folks would take all of us to a couple of games at Dodger Stadium each year. I think all six of us kids could fill out a scorecard by the time we were ten or twelve, more likely than not stained by mustard from a Dodger dog. Vin Scully's voice was a constant in my childhood and teens, and it wasn't until I moved out of state that I realized how exceptional and unusual Scully was.
Mom and dad are 90 now, still living in Southern California, and were married 65 years in August. They no longer make it to games, but dad still bleeds Dodger blue, and they still watch the Dodgers on TV. He adores Mookue Betts and Clayton Kershaw, and every time Dodgers change pitchers my dad mockingly refers to Dave Robert as "manager of the year. "
As soon as I hit "Post" I'm going to give them a call.
Poetry. That's a beautiful essay
That was beautiful. This old Dodger fan has tears in her eyes. Scully was such a beautiful man.
Thanks michael. I don’t know how I forgot about kubek —And game of the week. I confess they were years I wandered in the baseball desert and did not pay close attention to sports. I am very glad that you reminded readers kubek quit broadcasting because he felt players were getting too greedy. I wonder what Kubek would say about the owners that get multimillion bail outs to build baseball stadiums. Regardless, I do believe life began on opening day and life really imitates the World Series.
This is the first time ever that I wished I lived in Los Angeles.
Simply superb
I like it an awful lot, I do. But that one line...."the Dodgers — the first major sports team in California."
Were the Giants not 'major'?
Didn't they both move in the same year?
The move wouldn't even have been approved without them both going, If I recall the legend correctly.
And are you also arguing the NFL wasn't a major league in the late 50s, because the Ram's had been in LA for a decade by then.
Joe - That was wonderful. There is something almost mystical in the connection between a city and its teams...its legendary players...our sportscasters...the (sadly, soon to be former) local newspaper sportswriters. All are intertwined. There is stored up heartache (Cleveland)...triumph (everywhere but Cleveland, it seems)...joy...community in the combination of them all. In some way none of us can rationally explain, all of this makes us who WE are. And the love you feel - we all feel - for Vin Scully is evidence of that. That's how I have long felt about YOU; still writing about our Browns, even though you'd moved away from Cleveland decades ago. You became a part of us. You gave us words that captured feelings we did not know how to express. Thank you so much for all of that. And for this piece on Vin Scully. Wonderful.
Beautiful!
Your best article will be your next.
You’ve written some great things, Joe. This is one of my favorites.
This one, and the one Joe wrote on August 3 right after Vin Scully passed away.
although i lived in LA for 27 years (gasp!), as a sixth-gen SF Bay Area native, i will always love my Giants, and hate (too weak a word!) the Dodgers!!! that said, Vin Scully was a class act, the quintessential baseball announcer- if not the best, certainly one of them!!! #RIPVin
Since you have written so many beautiful pieces, it would be hard to pick. But I didn't really have to read it again because I've read it so many times before, and loved it every time. He was the heart of LA and I think he always will be, and it's partly because at first he knit different areas (the old line is that LA is 19 suburbs in search of a metropolis--and I live in Las Vegas, which I call the 20th suburb), then he knit different generations. Also, Robert Creamer wrote a great article on him in SI in 1964 that mentioned the importance of eastern games airing when people were stuck in traffic--he got you home, in every way.
And this weekend, Joe, another part of LA is having a similar experience thinking about THEIR heart. Saturday, the Dodgers will honor Jaime Jarrín, who is the answer to a great (I think) trivia question. We know that Vin Scully broadcast longer for a team than anyone else, but who's #2? The answer was a few feet away. Jarrín is retiring after 64 seasons, and he could have kept going (as Vin could have). Nationally, people know him as Fernando's translator. In LA, well, someone once asked a Dodger executive if Jaime was the Latin Vin. He replied, "Maybe Vin is the Anglo Jaime." Vin reportedly loved it, as he loved Jaime, and vice versa. Jarrín has knit generations of Latino/as, as Vin did with Anglos.
Ah. Jaime is an absolute joy.
I got to interview him for a website, and what a kind, sweet, smart man.
Joe, I can't opine as to whether that's your best piece of writing. I do know that it's a simply astounding piece of writing. I started out kind of impatiently wanting to get done reading about this well-chronicled guy, and very quickly I was hanging on every word. Thank you for sharing it with us!