California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 181

Introduced by Assembly Member Gatto

May 5, 2016

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 181—Relative to the Vin Scully Highway.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 181, as introduced, Gatto. Vin Scully Highway

This measure would designate a specified portion of Interstate 5 in the County of Los Angeles as the Vin Scully Highway. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering the cost, to erect those signs.

Fiscal committee: yes.

WHEREAS, Vincent Edward “Vin” Scully, born in the Bronx
on November 29, 1927, served in the United States Navy and
attended Fordham University where he began his career as a student
broadcaster and journalist. While at Fordham, Vin was assistant
sports editor for The Fordham Ram, played center field for the
Fordham Rams baseball team, called radio broadcasts for Rams
baseball, football, and basketball games, and even sang in a
barbershop quartet. He also helped found Fordham’s FM radio
station WFUV, which now presents a Vin Scully Lifetime
Achievement Award each year; and

WHEREAS, Vin began his broadcasting career with the
Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950, moving to Los Angeles with the club
in 1958, and is considered by many to be the greatest broadcaster
in history with a smooth voice baseball fans everywhere recognize
instantly; and

WHEREAS, For many years, Vin was heard nationally calling
the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and World Series games
for CBS Radio and NBC television, National Football League
games on CBS television, and also some tennis and golf; and

WHEREAS, Vin is one of the only sports broadcasters to work
without a partner. He says that broadcasting solo allows him to
have a conversation with the listener rather than a broadcasting
partner, allowing a rapport with the listener, that could not
otherwise occur. When asked about why Vin goes solo, fellow
broadcaster Charley Steiner once said “Poets don’t need straight
men.”; and

WHEREAS, Vin holds the record for most World Series as a
broadcaster with 28 series and the longest tenure with one club,
now in his 67th season. He has been behind the microphone for
20 no-hitters and three perfect games. The honors bestowed upon
Vin by the Dodgers include having him throw out the ceremonial
first pitch and making a bobblehead doll in his likeness; and

WHEREAS, Vin has been named California Sportscaster of the
Year 31 times, won the Ford Frick Award in 1982, was awarded
an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement in 1995, was named
Broadcaster of the Century in 2000 by The American Sportscasters
Association, was named the greatest broadcaster of all time in
historian Curt Smith’s 2005 book Voices of Summer, was the
Grand Marshal of the 2014 Tournament of Roses Parade in
Pasadena, and was the recipient of the Commissioner's Historic
Achievement Award, the second nonplayer to receive the
prestigious distinction after Jackie Robinson’s widow, Rachel. In
2016, in honor of his final season behind the microphone, the Los
Angeles city council renamed Elysian Park Avenue, the street on
which Dodger Stadium is located, “Vin Scully Avenue,” making
the ballpark’s address 100 Vin Scully Avenue; and

WHEREAS, Vin joined Hall of Fame announcer Red Barber
and Connie Desmond as part of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ broadcast
team in 1950, just one year after graduating from Fordham
University. And in 1982, 32 years after he called his first Dodgers
game, he was inducted into the Broadcaster’s wing of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame; and

WHEREAS, Vin, whose vivid yet simple descriptions of
baseball games have thrilled fans since 1950, has been behind the
mic not just calling the play-by-play, but painting verbal pictures,
making each game truly captivating regardless of the score or the
standings of the teams. He has shared with us his profound gifts
that have put him at the top of his profession: an unforgettable and
beautiful voice, a rich imagination giving him the perfect
description to every moment of a broadcast, a contagious
enthusiasm for the game of baseball regardless of which teams are
playing, and an ability to talk with listeners, wherever they may
be, as if he is an old friend; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the
portion of Interstate 5 between State Route 134 and State Route
110 in the County of Los Angeles as the Vin Scully Highway; and
be it further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested
to determine the cost of appropriate signs consistent with the
signing requirements for the state highway system showing this
special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate
sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs; and be it
further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the Director of Transportation and to the author
for appropriate distribution.