One Really Right Thing About MLB

Yes, there is a lot wrong with Major League Baseball, and as a fan I am starved for a more innocent time. I remember the first MLB game that I saw in person back in 1963 in Kansas City, Missouri between the Chicago White Sox and the Kansas City Athletics. The Sox won 7-1 , and Juan Pizzaro, the Sox pitcher, belted a home run deep into the night. It was utopia for a kid from Wallace, Idaho. The smell of fresh peanuts, cups of beer, and cheap cigars somehow bonded together chemically to produce the sweet fragrance of  an expensive perfume, the smell of real baseball.
The drunk in front of us continually shouted obscenities at the umpire, and made derogatory remarks about his home team A’s. It was all part of the experience . It was MLB in a much more innocent time. Steroids were not yet heard of. Free Agency and obscene multi millions a year contracts were still years away.

One wonderful element of those innocent days is still with us in the not so innocent era of today’s MLB,. The 2nd MLB game that I saw in person when I was growing up was in the Magic Kingdom of Los Angeles, and the beautiful stadium built in Chavez Ravine we call Dodger Stadium. It was on a 4th of July, and the crowd was treated to a great game between the St Louis Cardinals and the LA Dodgers. I noticed an odd thing in Dodger Stadium, Everyone had earphones on, and they were listening to their transistor radios . Yes, they were right there in the stadium, and could see all of the action with their own eyes, but what was a Dodger game without the golden radio voice of the legendary Vin Scully? The voice of the Dodgers since their Brooklyn days. And now, 64 years, later, we are blessed to still be able to turn to a more innocent time as THE VOICE of baseball will be back for his 65th year of calling Dodger games.

Yes, there is much wrong with MLB, and sometimes I think about not following it anymore. Then, I think of Vin Scully, and I  smile, and his golden, magical, voice take me back to a more innocent time. I can smell the cheap cigars, the cups of beer, the freshly mowed grass, and hear the chatter of the infielders, and all is well with the world. Thank you Mr.Scully.


http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/vin-scully-return-dodgers-booth-65th-season-article-1.1435052