If there were an inner circle of the hall of fame, for people who not merely excelled within baseball but actively grew the game's reaches, appeal and community - made it more of the celebration that it intends to be, rather than the commercial act that it's so easy to focus on - Vin Scully would surely be in it. Could there be even 20 people throughout the long history of pro baseball who have minted or sustained as many new fans of the game as Scully? Perhaps, but 50? It's not a long list. And even the Ruths and Mantles can only walk their part on the stage for 20 years or so. Scully was in it for 70, and not just punching a clock for the latter decades but reveling in it and bringing the same energy every day.
There were some great memories shared of Fred Rogers (Mr Rogers' Neighborhood) a few years ago, I forget what made them make the rounds. But in one of them, a woman's too-cool-for-school kids, boys of 8 or 10 or so, found themselves captivated by Mr Rogers after she introduced them to the show, despite being far too old for it. They'd come home from their overscheduled lives, get done with their homework, and then turn on a few episodes of a show from a bygone decade. And when she eventually asked why, they said "mom, isn't it obvious? He just likes kids." Around them, Rogers radiated that gentle joy, that genuine friendship and caring and curiosity, that is unmistakable and un-fake-able. Well, Scully had that for baseball, that's the best analogy I could muster. At no point while he was on the air did he stop radiating a genuine love of the game, never over-the-top or forced, but measured at the pace that the game itself provides. It was impossible to listen to a game called by him and not be drawn into some aspect of it, or nod along with his stories that were perfectly calibrated, as if having a conversation with the friend seated next to you at the ballpark. It was soothing, it was entertaining, it welcomed you into the warm embrace of a game that was never too intense or serious for a little anecdote or a joke. But most of all, it was loving. Vin Scully kept going at it for 70 years because of how genuinely he loved baseball, so it was never a job. Why stop? Why do anything else? There's a game on!
May we all find something we love as much as Scully loved baseball.