Newport council to consider declaring Vin Scully Day
A city councilman is asking his colleagues to designate Oct. 11 as Vin Scully Day in Newport Beach as an ode to the longtime Los Angeles Dodgers baseball announcer.
Councilman Keith Curry asked city staff to place a resolution on Tuesday’s City Council agenda honoring Vincent Edward “Vin” Scully, who this month completed his 67th and final season as the voice of the Dodgers. During Tuesday’s meeting, council members will decide whether to designate the day in Scully’s honor.
Though Scully does not have any known direct connection to Newport Beach, Curry said he touched the lives of so many people across Southern California that a day in his honor is appropriate. The 88-year-old’s tenure with the Dodgers is the longest of any sports broadcaster with one team.
“He is so much a part of the fabric of Southern California that I thought it was appropriate for Newport Beach to join the rest of Southern California to honor his contributions to our community, to sports and for being so much a part of the fabric of all our lives,” Curry said.
Scully began his broadcasting career with the Dodgers in 1950 when the team was based in Brooklyn, N.Y. He transitioned with the team when it moved to Los Angeles in 1958 and continued his tenure over the following six decades.
Newport Beach isn’t the first city to consider honoring the broadcasting legend. The Los Angeles City Council voted this year to change the name of the street leading to Dodger Stadium’s main entrance from Elysian Park Avenue to Vin Scully Avenue.
Generations of baseball fans grew up glued to the radio listening to Scully call Dodgers games. Curry recalled sleeping with a transistor radio under his pillow when he was 10 years old to listen to Scully announce the Dodgers’ 1965 World Series win.
“Hundreds of thousands of people did the same thing,” Curry said. “We all listened to him whenever we could. He belongs to all of Southern California.”
Tuesday’s City Council meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the Newport Beach Civic Center, 100 Civic Center Drive.
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
