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Lanny Frattare works in the broadcast both on Sept. 27, 2006, during a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Houston Astros. Frattare, now the Special Assistant to University Relations and Assistant Professor of Communication at Waynesburg University, shared his memories of Vin Scully, who died on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of the Associated Press)
Lanny Frattare works in the broadcast both on Sept. 27, 2006, during a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Houston Astros. Frattare, now the Special Assistant to University Relations and Assistant Professor of Communication at Waynesburg University, shared his memories of Vin Scully, who died on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of the Associated Press)
Reaction came from around the baseball world, and the entire sporting world for that matter, when iconic broadcaster Vin Scully died Tuesday at the age of 94.
Two well known sports announcers in the area recalled their interactions with Scully and expressed their feelings and opinions about the Hall of Famer.
Former Pirates broadcaster Lanny Frattare, now the Special Assistant to University Relations and Assistant Professor of Communication at Waynesburg University, was straightforward with his assessment of Scully.
“I think he was the greatest baseball announcer ever,” said Frattare, whose 33 years behind the mic for the Pirates is the longest tenure in team history. “And that’s no insult to Bob Prince or Jack Buck, Harry Kalas, Mel Allen or any of those guys. Vin Scully was the best.”
Frattare, who endeared himself to Pirates fans with his signature phrase, ‘There was nooooo doubt about it,’ after each Pittsburgh victory, was a great admirer of Scully’s style and work ethic.
“Scully was always well prepared,” Frattare said. “He knew the right word or the right phrase for every moment.
“The challenge of being on the air three hours a night for 162 games is to create a freshness, and with Scully nothing was ever stale. There were no clichés. It was always well described action. He knew when to shut up.
“There’s a story about Vin Scully when he called the Hank Aaron home run that broke Babe Ruth’s record. Scully called the home run, described what happened and then took his headset off, got out of his chair and walked to the back of the press box. Because he believed the moment needed to breathe, the moment needed to have its own life. He did not bombard his audience with inane comments. That’s part of the legacy being left by Vin Scully.”
George Von Benko, who hosts the sports talk show “Sportsline” on WMBS-AM (590) Saturday mornings and writes the weekly feature “Memory Lane” for the Herald-Standard, agreed with Frattare.
“I thought Scully was the gold standard if you were an announcer,” Von Benko said. “He didn’t shout. He had a great tone to his voice. His description ... I remember when Sandy Koufax threw his last no-hitter and how Scully handled that so well and talking about the time on the scoreboard in the City of Angels.”
When Koufax struck out the final batter to complete what was a perfect game on Sept. 9, 1965, Scully took a long pause to allow listeners to soak in the moment, then said, “On the scoreboard in right field it is 9:46 p.m. in the City of Angels, Los Angeles, California, and a crowd of 29,139 just sitting in to see the only pitcher in baseball history to hurl four no-hit, no-run games.”
Frattare hopes future broadcasters take note of Scully’s legacy.
“Whenever we pay tribute to someone like Scully ... to me legacy means an individual who has left for future generations a mantra,” Frattare said. “There are important lessons to be learned from the way Vin Scully did baseball. I’m hoping that we just don’t have this day of celebrating Vin’s life and then forget about what he meant to the game of baseball and broadcasting from the standpoint of what he embraced as the important principles of being an effective broadcaster.”
Scully was known as one of the nicest, friendliest people in sports and Von Benko verified that.
“I met him several times and I once interviewed him when I did a piece about the great Bob Prince,” Von Benko said.
“He was tremendous. He was so unassuming, he treated everybody as if they were the most important person in the world. He was not struck by his fame or his fortune, he was just a down-to-earth person who believed in treating people very well.
“I remember one time the Dodgers were in town and Tommy Lasorda came in and sat down with me and Chuck Tanner, who I was really good friends with, they were both scouting at the time. And Vin Scully walks into the room and asks, ‘Can I join you?’ And we all sat down and had dinner together. I’ll never forget that, me, Chuck, Tommy and Vin Scully. He was so extremely nice and treated me very well.”
“Great guy. We would always have conversations whenever he was in Pittsburgh or I was in Los Angeles,” Frattare said.
“I asked him once if he would speak to my Pittsburgh Rotary Club, which met at the William Penn Hotel, and he was kind enough to say yes. It was a noon meeting and he came and gave a tremendous speech, great stories. What an honor for me to be standing up there in front of 100 people in a Rotary Club and introducing the great Vin Scully to them. He did a remarkable job of entertaining my fellow Rotarians.”
Von Benko, who was a broadcaster for Duquesne men’s basketball and Pitt women’s basketball, summed up Scully through something he heard from Prince.
“Bob Prince used to tell me, and he was of the same mold, if you’re broadcasting on radio, you’re painting a picture for the listener,” Von Benko said, “and Vin Scully did that better than anyone.”
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