LOS ANGELES — The voice of summer in Los Angeles plans to return next year.
Vin Scully will be back for a record 67th season in the broadcast booth for the Dodgers, who revealed the news Friday night in the second inning of their game against the Chicago Cubs.
Magic Johnson, a co-owner of the team, appeared on the Dodger Stadium video board to tell the crowd that Jimmy Kimmel had a major announcement.
Late-night TV host Kimmel appeared and without a sound used cue cards to explain Scully would return for another season “at least,” read one of the cards.
His last card read: “God bless us everyone.”
The 87-year-old Scully stood up and waved from his booth as the crowd cheered.
The Hall of Fame announcer’s consecutive years of service make him the longest-tenured broadcaster with one team in sports history.
“I talked it over with my wife, Sandi, and my family and we’ve decided to do it again in 2016,” Scully said in a statement distributed during the game. “There’s no place like home and Dodger Stadium, and we look forward to being a part of it with all of our friends.”
Earlier Friday, Scully asked Cubs manager Joe Maddon to visit his booth in the press box.
“He was aware of our players, of course, but he wanted to know about a lot of the young guys,” the manager said. “I’ve never asked for my photograph to be taken with anybody, but we did and I’ll keep that. It was a very nice meeting and to get my photograph taken with him was pretty special. I was very honored.”
Scully confided in Maddon that he was going to return.
“I was happy,” Maddon said.
Scully calls all nine innings of the team’s home games and road games in California and Arizona for the Dodgers’ television home on SportsNet LA, while the first three innings of his games are simulcast on the radio.
“Vin is a national treasure and the Dodgers couldn’t be happier to have him back at the microphone in 2016,” team president and CEO Stan Kasten said. “Vin makes every broadcast special and generation after generation of Dodger fans have been blessed to be able to listen to him create his poetic magic since 1950. We look forward to adding many new chapters to that legacy in 2016.”
However, a dispute between Time Warner Cable and other cable subscribers now in its second year is keeping 70 percent of the Los Angeles television market from seeing the team’s games.
Only customers of Time Warner and a couple of its partners have been able to watch, while subscribers of major providers such as DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon and AT&T have been shut out. Even Scully can’t watch road games because he lives in an area not served by Time Warner.
Scully began his professional broadcasting career in 1950 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He has called three perfect games, 25 World Series and 12 All-Star games. He was behind the microphone for Kirk Gibson’s Game 1 homer in the 1988 World Series, Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series, Hank Aaron’s record-setting 715th home run and Sandy Koufax’s four no-hitters, including a perfect game.
Last season, the Dodgers revealed Scully’s return on a night when talking microphones featuring his dulcet tones were given away to fans.
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