{"id":184812,"date":"2016-09-29T15:12:59","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T19:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=184812"},"modified":"2016-10-03T14:23:33","modified_gmt":"2016-10-03T18:23:33","slug":"curt-smith-no-one-better-legendary-broadcaster-vin-scully-184812","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/curt-smith-no-one-better-legendary-broadcaster-vin-scully-184812\/","title":{"rendered":"Curt Smith: Vin Scully ‘the best there ever was’"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was difficult for Curt Smith to rank the top 101 baseball broadcasters for his 2005 book, Voices of Summer<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Picking No.1 was easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cA broadcaster is judged over a period of years by his wearability,\u201d says Smith, a University senior lecturer in the Department of English<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cNobody wears better than Vin Scully. He\u2019s the Roy Hobbs of broadcasters, the best there ever was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scully\u2019s legendary career ends Sunday when he calls the Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 season finale against the San Francisco Giants at A&T Park in San Francisco. The Bronx native has been the Dodgers\u2019 broadcaster for 67 years\u2014from 1950 to 1957 in Brooklyn and since 1958 in Los Angeles. He called his final game at Dodger Stadium last Sunday but will make a rare road trip this weekend to cap his Hall of Fame career.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s 2009 book, Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story<\/em> (University of Nebraska Press), is the only biography written on the modest, iconic broadcaster, who turns 89 in November. Smith, a former speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush, has authored numerous books on baseball broadcasting and is widely considered one of the nation\u2019s leading authority on the subject.<\/p>\n