CHICAGO – Over the past two days, fans around the country have been recalling or replaying the iconic calls from his decades-long broadcasting career.
There are a lot of them to choose from Vin Scully’s highlight reel, one that’s been watched countless times since the announcement of his death late Tuesday night at the age of 94. From Kirk Gibson’s walk-off homer in the 1988 World Series to Dwight Clark’s “The Catch,” there are a lot to choose from.
While he did spend a lot of his time with the Dodgers (67 years), Scully was on hand for a few memorable Chicago sports moments through the years.
We’re featuring those on #WGNTBT this week.
For the Cubs, Scully was on the call for the team’s 1989 National League Championship Series against the Giants for Game 1 at Wrigley Field and then Games 3, 4, & 5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco as part of the NBC Sports broadcast team.
Due to a case of laryngitis, the announcer was forced to miss Game 2 of the series, with Bob Costas brought in as a last-minute replacement.
Harry Caray may have had the call on the Cubs’ first night game at Wrigley Field in history on August 8, 1988 on WGN-TV, but it was Scully who got the duty for the first official contest under the lights at the “Friendly Confines.”
After the game against the Phillies the night before was rained out, NBC carried the game against the Mets the next night, with Scully calling the game along with Joe Garagiola.
The Cubs would win that night 6-4, with a four-run seventh inning proving to be the difference in the team’s first win under the lights at Wrigley Field.
At Comiskey Park, Scully saw some history as well, first in 1959 when he was in the television booth for NBC during the World Series between the White Sox and Dodgers.
Back then, the primary announcers for each team were brought in to call the Fall Classic on television. Scully was the representative for the National League champions while WGN-TV legend Jack Brickhouse represented the American League pennant winners.
The Dodgers would defeat the White Sox in six games in what would be the last World Series in Chicago for 46 years.
In 1983, Scully would call the 50th-anniversary All-Star Game at Comiskey Park on July 6th of that year with Garagiola in what would be a 13-3 American League victory. Fred Lynn would become the first in the history of the game to hit a Grand Slam, doing so in the third inning.
During his time at CBS, Scully was also on the broadcast for a number of National Football League games, doing so from 1975-1982.
In his third year in that span, the announcer had the chance to call a historic moment in Chicago Bears history on a not-so-great afternoon in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
In what became known as the “Slush Bowl,” the Bears faced the Giants on December 18, 1977 with the chance to clinch a playoff berth. With footing treacherous and holding onto the ball an adventure (11 combined fumbles), the teams went to overtime tied at nine.
With time ticking down and three total misses on the day (2 field goals, extra point) Bob Thomas trotted onto the slushy turf and hit a 28-yard field goal to give the Bears a 12-9 victory. In the last 14-game NFL regular season, the Bears finished 9-5, which earned them a Wild Card berth in the NFC playoffs.
It was their first postseason appearance since they won the 1963 NFL Championship, with the 14-year drought still remaining the longest for the playoffs in franchise history.
Larry Hawley featured Scully’s memorable Chicago sports moments in this edition of #WGNTBT, and you can watch that in the video above.