When Derek Jeter retired two years ago, it was the "end of an era" in baseball. David Ortiz will call it quits whenever the Red Sox finish their season and you'll hear those same four words used. It's the same when Peyton Manning or Tom Brady retires or when a league changes television networks (like when Fox grabbed the NFC from CBS in the mid-'90s), its playoff format or major rules.
But in all those cases, eras aren't ending. A page is being turned or, sometimes, maybe a new chapter is beginning. There might never be another Roger Federer or Serena Williams but tennis won't cease to exit without them. (Witness golf and Tiger Woods.) The NFL was great on CBS and still great on Fox. Even though we think things won't be the same, the new reality is barely recognizable from the old one. The perceived ending of eras are most often erroneous and overrated.
That being said, Vin Scully retiring is the end of an era baseball, and sport, that will never seen again. We'll never see anything like it again. The great Dodgers play-by-play man, who started with the team in Brooklyn, followed them to Los Angeles and became a national icon in calling some of the great moments in sports history but never left his trusty perch behind home plate at Dodger Stadium will call his final game Sunday, 67 years and almost 100,000 innings after his first. How long has he been around? Scully made it into the broadcasting hall of fame 35 year ago. The general manager in his first season behind the mic was Branch Rickey, the man who integrated baseball. Rickey was born in 1881. He called games involving players who'd faced Babe Ruth.
Poster Comment:
The creator of the X-Files grew up in LA and he thought Vin Scully was the Voice of God so he named one of his lead characters Dana Scully.
The Dodgers lost today 7 to 1 to the Giants. In fact the SF Giants swept them.
The Giants and the Mets play for the Wild Card spot on Wednesday. Winner plays the Cubs.