Vin Scully signed today to broadcast Dodger games through 2008

[Oeditpus Rex]

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060222&content_id=1319794&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la

This season will be his 57th with the club. Fifty-seven years.

Has there ever been anyone better?

[KitchenWitch]

1. Vin is a legend

It will be a sad day in all of baseball when he is lost.

[Oeditpus Rex]

2. I think he'll keel over and die at the mike

Or, in Charles Schulz fashion, it'll happen right after the last out of a season.

I can't imagine Dodgers baseball without Vinny. It's hard now because he does only the first three innings on radio.

[KitchenWitch]

3. The Twins lost their Public Address announcer last year

right before the season started. It was a very sad thing, his voice and announcements were unmistakeable, and he is missed.

They are still using a recording of his "No Smoking" announcement in his honor.

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. That is sad

A good PA announcer can really add to the ballpark experience. I can still imitate the guy the Giants had in the '60s and early '70s, and the Yankees guy is a legend.

When I was a kid and on through my teens and early '20s, the Dodgers had a guy... John something... who was absolutely straightforward, no matter the occasion. I used to think he was boring, but I later learned that's the way it's supposed to be done. PA announcers shouldn't be cheerleaders.

The Giants have had a woman on the PA for a few years now. They also let some kid do like one batter every game. Maybe it's her kid, I dunno.

I filled in as announcer once for the minor league club in my hometown, and I did it one year for my college's women's basketball team.

[Chi-Town Exile]

5. Nobody does it better than Vin. eom