Say it ain't so - Vin Scully (sort of) says the "R" word

OK, it was in the course of a speech and it was padded with plenty of wiggle room, but the subject of Vin Scully retiring (lord that's hard to say) from the Dodgers broadcast booth did come up, the NYT reports.

He is 80 and said he felt fine. He still loves calling baseball.

But his contract expires after this season, and he said he would follow the advice of his wife, Sandy, about continuing a run that began in Brooklyn in 1950 and has spanned the ownership of the O’Malley family, Rupert Murdoch and Frank McCourt.

“I want to spend a lot of time with her,” he said at the dinner at Sotheby’s that honored him and another renowned Fordham alumnus, Charles Osgood of CBS News.

“There’s a lot of hoopla in this job, but it’s lonely for the wife,” he said. “So I want to talk seriously with her about her feelings. I want to know what’s in her head. We’ll talk it out over the long summer and then we’ll talk to Frank.”

He said that he did not know what his wife would say. “She’s so selfless,” he said, “that she’ll probably say, ‘Whatever you feel you should do, we’ll do,’ and then we’ll be back at Square 1. It’s a question I get asked a lot at this age.”

If you can stand it, there's even more in the full story here.  Or you can check out some great Scully quotes ("Andre Dawson has a bruised knee and is listed as day-to-day (pause). Aren't we all?") here.

--Veronique de Turenne

Photo: AP