By: Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

From 1969-76, Vin Scully did play-by-play of Dodgers-Expos' games from Jarry Park in Montreal.

From 1977-2004, he called games from Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

Scully was at Olympic Stadium Oct. 19, 1981 when Rick Monday hit the famous home run off of Steve Rogers as the Dodgers beat the Expos to win the NLCS.

Scully’s soothing, deep voice was at Olympic Stadium Aug. 23-24, 1989 when the Dodgers and Expos silently went through 21 innings of no-run ball until Rick Dempsey brought in the go-ahead run in the top of the 22nd with a home run off of Dennis Martinez, his former Orioles’ batterymate, who was making a very rare relief appearance.

I was there to witness that game as a reporter and it ended up close to six hours in length, finishing at close to 2 a.m. Eastern time. Just two months earlier, Scully was at the mike for another 22-inning Dodgers’ game. In this one, the Astros won. Go figure, two, 22-inning games in the space of two months.

Scully was behind the microphone when Expos pitcher Martinez fired a perfect game July 28, 1991 at Chavez Ravine.

On July 3, 1993, Scully had to announce – with much difficulty -- on air the death of Dodgers’ broadcaster and early 1970s Expos announcer Don Drysdale, who had died of a heart attack in a Montreal hotel room. The announcement was delayed, pending notification of next of kin.

“Never have I been asked to make an announcement that hurts me so much as this one. And I say it to you the best I can with a broken heart,’’ Scully said on air about Drysdale’s death.

Scully, 88, is bowing out as Dodgers’ lead announcer at the end of the regular season. He has said he will not do any post-season games, if the Dodgers find their way there.

As the season winds down, we in Canada still occasionally with great delight hear and see Scully when Sportsnet breaks to another game following the conclusion of a Jays’ game or late nights on MLB Network or on MLB Network highlight packages.

“Vince mentored me, he coached me, he’s always been very helpful. He and I are very, very good friends,’’ Dodgers’ Spanish-language broadcaster Jaime Jarrin told me recently.

Since 1950 when Scully entered the Brooklyn Dodgers’ broadcast booth, Scully’s voice has been full of storytelling, anecdotes, reliability and trustworthiness.

“Vinny brought to me the magical game of baseball,’’ Rick Monday told me the other day. “I was intrigued by him. My mom Nelda came out to southern California as a single parent and Vinny and broadcast partner Jerry Doggatt were our friends.’’

And when Monday was talking about ‘friends’, he meant people he heard on air, listening through the airwaves.

“We knew Vinny in our cars and in our homes,’’ said Monday, a Dodgers’ announcer since 1985. “He was a friend before I met him. I was in the professional ranks for six years and what made my mother proud of me and when it sunk in is when my mother was watching a game and she’s seeing me and Vince Scully mentions her son’s name on the air. He was talking about her son.’’

That would have been 1972, Monday’s first season with Cubs,  a National League team, after he spent six seasons with the Athletics, first in Kansas City and then in Oakland, both American League venues where Scully’s voice largely could not be heard, if never.

Monday has a cassette tape of Scully’s call April 25, 1976 from Dodger Stadium when Monday, as a Cub, rescued the U.S. flag from two protesters, who were about to set it on fire in centre field.

When Monday was traded to the Dodgers by the Cubs following the 1976 season, it was a homecoming for Monday because he was raised in Santa Monica after he was born in Batesville, Ark.

“Vinny has been a friend of millions of people but they never met him,’’ Monday said. “From all of us, as our friend is going into retirement, you can make the legitimate claim that Vinny is the most influential person in Dodgers’ baseball history.

“Jackie Robinson was right there as a man, a great ballplayer, who contributed to society. There was the O’Malley family for all the great players that came through the organization. The single most influential part of the Dodgers came with Vinny’s presentation of the game he absolutely loves.

“I feel for Vinny for the love he has for the game. That is the part he may miss. The beauty and quality of the broadcast go hand in hand with the quality of the person. However, when you think of the broadcaster Vinny, the person is even better than the broadcaster.’’