Beloved Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully says farewell to the game in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO - Certain moments transcend baseball, surpass decades-old rivalries. Sunday at AT&T Park was one of those moments.

Vin Scully, the legendary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer, called his last game after 67 years behind the microphone.

Even Giants fans, despite their sworn duty as San Francisco faithful, briefly set aside the hatred for their anything Dodger Blue and paid sincere homage to the sweet-voiced Scully.

The Giants, Scully's favorite childhood team, honored sport's most revered announcer with tributes all afternoon.

Fans were welcomed to their seats with a photo placard of Scully wearing an orange blazer, “Thank you Vin” on the back. Several came with homemade signs thanking Scully for his years of dedication to the game, one saying “We miss you already.”

Before the game, a video tribute on the center field big screen hushed the crowd and sparked the first of several standing ovations for Scully. One fan even brought a bouquet of orange and yellow daisies for Scully.

Since Scully, 88, announced his retirement from baseball following this regular season, he has been honored in Los Angeles with visits from opposing teams' stars, retired players and celebrities. They've recounted how he encouraged their love of baseball and how he spun romantic tales about their teams through the years.

Although he'd reduced his travel schedule over the past three years, and didn't broadcast away games at all this year, Scully chose to end his career with a perfect symbolic circle that included the Giants.

Sunday was 80 years to the day that Scully became a baseball fan – setting on course an iconic career full of charming stories, interesting history and folksy tidbits about the men millions of fans head to the ballpark to watch hit, throw and catch baseballs.

It was Oct. 2, 1936, and the young Vincent Edward Scully was walking home from school when he spied in the window of Chinese laundry the score of Game 2 of the World Series. The Yankees had shellacked the New York Giants, 18-4.

The New York native Scully felt sorry for the Giants, and became a fan that day. He studied writing and broadcasting at Fordham University in the Bronx, became a professional at 22 and began calling Dodgers broadcasts in 1950, joining the famed Red Barber in the booth.

In 1953, at age 25, Scully became the youngest person to broadcast a World Series game, a mark that stands today.

Sunday, after calling more than 9,000 games, 21 no-hitters and three perfect games, Scully ended his illustrious career calling a Dodgers game, fittingly against the Giants.

The Dodgers, NL West champions the past four years, are again headed to the postseason, but Scully will be watching from home. He has said he will spend his retirement reading papers over leisurely breakfasts and enjoying time with his family, which includes 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

As Dodgers fans have heard for the past several decades, Scully opens each game with “It's time for Dodger baseball.”

On Sunday, the Giants played a modified call, to the delight of fans at AT&T Park: “It's time for Dodger-Giant baseball. The greatest professional rivalry in all of sports.”

On his broadcast, he told stories of the sometimes heated competition, which began when both teams were in New York and carried over when they both moved west.

It truly began in 1933, he said, when the New York Giants won the World Series and the Brooklyn Dodgers finished 26.5 games back. The following spring, the Giants manager quipped about the Dodgerrs, “Are they still in the league?” and the rivalry was cemented, Scully said.

Scully's call Sunday was simulcast in its entirety on two Los Angeles TV stations and one radio station, and the Giants aired his third-inning call on their channel.

Last weekend, Scully was farewell-feted by Dodgers fans in Los Angeles, where he closed out his final home game with a return thank you to fans, a version of “Wind Beneath My Wings” he'd recorded as a love note to his wife, Sandi.

In San Francisco for the season-ending three-game series, the Giants presented Scully with a number of mementoes.

Giants great Willie Mays visited, the team treated his family to dinner and a suite to view the game, arranged for him to celebrate Mass at the park and presented him with a framed photo of New York Giant Mel Ott, Scully's favorite player, hitting his 500th home run and a ticket stub from the game.

Scully complimented the Giants' hospitality.

“They've been terrific,” he said. “I can root for them now when they go to New York to play the Mets. You're darn right,” he said on air.

Between innings, the Giants played short tributes to Scully, including highlights of his career.

In the middle of the fourth, Giants fans held up the thank-you placards and turned them toward Scully's booth as Frank Sinatra sang “My Way.”

They played his call of “The Catch,” the Joe Montana-to-Dwight Clark touchdown in the 49ers 1981 NFC championship game. And they inserted ‘THX VIN' on the out of town scoreboard.

The Giants also announced Sunday they will name the visiting broadcast booth in Scully's honor.

He seems a little embarrassed by all the attention he's received this season.

During the game, a clip played with him explaining the 1936 story and said Sunday would be the “ribbon on the package” to his storied career.

“It's time now to put that package away,” he said, to another standing ovation.

As for his near future, Scully has said he has no major plans, only to spend time with his family. Some of his grandchildren play baseball, so he will attend their games. Always known as a balanced announcer, Scully said he finally can root for the Dodgers now.

“I'd truly like to be remembered as a good guy, a good husband, a good grandfather,” Scully said. “A good sportscaster? That'll be disappearing as the sands blow over the booth. I want to be remembered as an honest man, a man who lived up to his beliefs.”

At the end of the game, which the Giants won 7-1, Scully signed off for the final time with a familiar hope for his listeners:

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