NLCS: The greatest Dodger

LOS ANGELES—OK, it’s quite fair to point out that the Dodgers’ fans are not the most savvy ones out there. They miss a lot of the nuance of the game, which lends much to the reputation as not quite as knowledgeable as they ought to be. But give them credit where it is due—they were quite loud last night for Game 1 of the NLCS. Part of that has to do with the fact that the PA system is pumped up way past 11. Out on the field it sounds just bounce all over the joint. There’s a lot of cinder block-like concrete in Dodger Stadium that just doesn’t absorb the sound well. In that sense, it’s kind of like old Shea Stadium.

Dodger Stadium is nothing like Shea, though. For one thing they have those damn beach balls bouncing all over the place here. Even though it’s a tight, 1-0 game heading into the middle innings, fans are just happily batting a ball and clapping along with the pre-programmed sound affects blasted through the PA.

Yet another reason Dodgers fans are not taken seriously.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Dodger fans when Vin Scully retires from broadcasting after the 2010 season. After all, it is not farfetched to think that a lot of people are baseball fans simply because they like listening to ol’ Vin do the games. Heck, I’ll even admit that I subscribed to the MLB package on Comcast simply to be able to get the Dodgers broadcasts and hear Vin spin his yarns and tell stories about the game and the players.

In the official ranking of sports announcers, Vin Scully was rated as the best of all-time. However, to me it just doesn’t seem good enough. Sure, Vin announces baseball games and I’m sure if asked he’ll humbly say it isn’t anything more than that. But I disagree. Vin behind the microphone is like a concert pianist at the keyboard, a great painter with a brush in hand, or a great writer typing away at a laptop.

The guy is truly an artist.

He’s also the link between the real Dodgers of Brooklyn and the Los Angeles version that came about in 1958. More than anyone, Vin Scully is the Dodgers. Like Harry Kalas in Philadelphia, there are very few people who have heard baseball without Vin describing the action.

Let’s see if those fans stick around when he retires.

'He really was a delightful guy...'

It's been ridiculously difficult to stop reading all the tributes, memories and stories. It also seems as if it's impossible for people to stop writing them. E-mails and message board posts are flooding in from everywhere. Everyone had a moving reaction, which really might be the greatest legacy ever.

There are rarely two opinions that are alike when it comes to sports, but even the most jaded sports fan has to agree that Harry Kalas was pretty great. The remarkable part was that Harry loved the fans just as much as they loved him.

And so the tributes and remembrances pour in and chances are they will never stop. Makeshift shrines have been set up at the ballpark, stories come like a deluge from a flood, as smiles and tears intersect in a crazy convergence of emotion.

After all, in the end we're all only as good as the way we treated our friends. Since Harry Kalas was friends to everyone, well, the tributes are fitting.

"We knew it was an incredible relationship that Dad always had with the fans," his son Todd Kalas said on Tuesday. "When I first walked up, and I see the fan tribute on the corner there [at the Mike Schmidt statue at the front of the ballpark] - that that was tough. I kind of lost it. I couldn't look at it."

Certainly that sentiment can be applied to Phillies games. Really, who can remember a Phillies game without Harry Kalas. It's never existed in my lifetime. So maybe it's a fitting tribute that for the first half inning of Friday's game there will be no commentary on television.

Moreover, the tributes from far away from Philadelphia are the most interesting. For instance Leonard Shapiro of The Washington Post, a city with pretty much no real pro sports history (even the Redskins were not originally established in the city), wrote about Harry even though he admitted that he never knew the man or heard him call a Phillies game.

Even folks who didn't spend a long time in the city got it. Boston guy Paul Flannery, who worked for a while at the Delco Times (and would have been a helluva baseball writer), offered something for the folks in Boston on WEEI's web site. Again, Paul wasn't in Philly for long, but he was here long enough to know what we all knew.

Finally, the most accurate tribute comes from an LA guy and the dean of sports broadcasters (maybe even the greatest broadcaster ever), Vin Scully. Ol' Vin started calling Dodgers games in 1954 when they were still in Brooklyn, so he's seen a thing or two in his day.

Before Monday's home opener in Los Angeles, Scully took the time to talk to reporters about HK:

"He had World Series rings, a Hall of Fame announcer, but he was a wonderful guy. Everybody loved Harry. I would think, of all the people in baseball to grieve, I might guess that Mike Schmidt, the Hall of Fame third baseman (would the most). I know how much he admired Harry and I know how much Harry thought of him. I think Mike, along with many other people (will be mourning). And I'm sure the city of Philadelphia has been just decimated, because they did love him completely."

But more importantly:

"Above all, yeah, he was a wonderful talent, but he really was a delightful guy. First and foremost."

There are thousands more and likely thousands more to come. And just like with Harry calling a ballgame, we probably won't be able to pull ourselves away.