Manager Dave Roberts concluded the posthumous tribute to broadcaster Vin Scully by urging the crowd to chant one of his most famous lines: “It’s Dodger baseball time.”
Scully, who called Dodgers games for 67 years and retired in 2016, died Tuesday at age 94.
Under beautiful blue skies, a minute of silence was observed at Dodger Stadium on Friday in memory of the revered Scully. A video tribute was then shown, narrated by current chronicler Charley Steiner and accompanied by the memorable version of “Somewhere over the Rainbow” performed by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo’ole.
Scully once described a beautiful night as “a cotton candy sky with a blue canopy.” Her voice was the soundtrack to baseball games for generations of Dodgers fans.
He was a great storyteller. However, Roberts speculated that Scully would not have wanted to hog all the attention, as she did at the ceremony.
“Vin, as he looks down at us, must be thinking right now that he hated having all the spotlight,” Roberts said. “Well, this is going to be a very awkward moment, but he deserves it. Vin was a man of character, integrity and class, a true gentleman. He wasn’t just a Dodger, he loved the baseball that matters so much to all of us.”
The Dodgers and San Diego Padres lined up on the first and third lines during the ceremony.
In 2016, when Scully called his last game at Dodger Stadium, he had placed a banner in his box that said, “I’ll miss you.”
Scully then told the fans that she would need them more than they needed him. His last visit to Dodger Stadium was June 9, 2021.
Later during the ceremony, the Dodgers gathered on the mound for a photo with the broadcast box in the background. A new banner, unfurled by broadcaster Joe Davis and broadcaster and former pitcher Orel Hershiser, was put up with a message that read, “Vin, we’ll miss you.”
The crowd jumped to its feet as the video concluded with an image of Scully waving from the field with a rainbow behind her.
The umpires gathered at home plate and looked toward the box. Their caps were then removed as a sign of respect.
Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin did the same from the mound.