October 2, 2016: Vin Scully calls his final game as Giants beat Dodgers to clinch wild card

There are times when our humanity transcends decades-long sports rivalries because something, or someone, bigger than all of us is present. In the City by the Bay, the afternoon of October 2, 2016, was one of those times.

The San Francisco Giants were hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park on the last day of the regular season. Vin Scully, the Dodgers’ legendary broadcaster, was about to call his last game.1

Scully had decided the 2016 season would be his last. He began play-by-play radio for the Dodgers in 1950, when the team was in Brooklyn. He had been the voice of the Dodgers for an unprecedented 67 years.2 At age 88, he was long overdue to spend more time with family.3

Scully was asked to broadcast postseason games in 2016, but he declined and explained why he wanted this game to be his grand finale: He said he became a New York Giants fan as an 8-year-old because of a World Series game on October 2, 1936, and 80 years to the day later, the Giants and Dodgers were to play the final game of the 2016 season. Scully called it the “ribbon on the package” of his long career.4

“It was as if it was ordained,” said Scully.5

It was a sunny day with flags fluttering and fluffy clouds floating above the East Bay hills. Before the game started, Scully welcomed fans via AT&T Park scoreboard video:

“It’s time for Giant-Dodger baseball, the greatest rivalry in all of professional sports!”6

Scully was well known for starting his broadcasts with “It’s time for Dodger baseball.” Amending the phrase to include “Giant” and the rivalry caused the fans to roar with approval.

The crowd of 41,445 turned to face the broadcast booth while giving Scully the first of several standing ovations. They held homemade signs like “Vin, We Miss You Already” and “For THIS ONCE We’ll Be BLUE.”7 Fans also raised “Thank You Vin” signs that the Giants had provided.8

The love for Scully by rival Giants fans, and others around the country, should not come as a surprise. KFI-AM, the Dodgers’ high-powered flagship station from 1960 to 1973, could be heard as far away as Des Moines, Iowa. People all over the West couldn’t resist tuning in to hear his welcoming voice over that most intimate of mediums, radio. It was easy to get hooked on Scully, and he developed a national following over time.9

Dodgers fan Gerard Skiles grew up in Compton, California, during the turbulent 1960s. He recalled the times he and his dad would sit together in complete darkness in their living room:

“Then, that melodious, soothing voice cuts through the air. We close our eyes and let the master paint a picture with words in our mind’s eye for the next few hours. We hear the crowd, the PA announcer, and all the names: Wills, Koufax, Drysdale, Mays, Marichal, Alston. … It’s the next best thing to being there.”

“I eventually became a high school teacher with a family of my own,” Skiles continued. “But every time I hear that voice, it transports me back to that wonderful simple time, and my dad is alive again.”10

Scully’s finale featured a pitching matchup of the Dodgers’ Kenta Maeda against Matt Moore for the Giants.11 The Dodgers had already clinched the National League West Division title. The Giants were hoping for a NL wild-card berth.12

With the crowd hungry for a playoff spot, and absolutely giddy over being at Scully’s final game, Moore took the mound. He walked the Dodgers’ leadoff batter, Howie Kendrick. on a 3-and-2 count. Justin Turner flied out to left, and Corey Seager, headed for NL Rookie of the Year honors after setting Dodgers rookie records for hits and doubles,13 grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

In the bottom of the first inning, the Giants’ bats came charging right out of the gate. Denard Span singled to right. Brandon Belt doubled to deep right, moving Span to third base. Buster Posey hit a liner up the right-field line, scoring both. Giants 2, Dodgers 0. After Maeda struck out both Hunter Pence and Brandon Crawford, the inning ended when Posey attempted to steal second and was thrown out by LA’s catcher, Yasmani Grandal.

In the bottom of the second, the Giants flexed their offensive muscles again. Joe Panik hit a one-out grounder up the middle for a single. Conor Gillaspie lined a double to left, moving Panik to third. The Dodgers got the second out when Maeda fielded Moore’s comebacker and threw to Grandal, who tagged Panik at the plate. But Span hit a fly to deep right and turned it into a triple while batting in Gillaspie and Moore. Belt walked on six pitches. Posey hit a single to deep right, scoring Span and moving Belt to third. Pence grounded out to end the inning. Giants 5, Dodgers 0.

In the third, Maeda surrendered a double to Pagan and a single to Moore. After the single by the Giants’ pitcher, Maeda was replaced by reliever Luis Avilán, who ended the inning by striking out Span.

Prior to the fourth inning, Willie Mays and Giants CEO Larry Baer presented a plaque to Scully commemorating his final broadcast.14

In the top of the fourth, the Dodgers got their first hits of the game. Moore gave up a single to Turner to start the inning. He struck out the next two batters. Adrian Gonzalez hit a line-drive single to center, advancing Turner to second. Grandal then lined a single to short left, scoring Turner and moving Gonzalez to third. Joc Pederson flied out to deep center. Giants 5, Dodgers 1.

During the middle of the fourth, fans turned to the broadcast booth again and cheered while Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” played over the ballpark sound system.15

During the seventh-inning stretch, Scully sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” with the Giants’ broadcasters.16

Through seven, the Giants had 12 hits and had been walked four times, the Dodgers had three hits and two free passes. The score remained 5-1, Giants.

In the top of the eighth, Moore recorded his sixth one-two-three inning of the game.

For the bottom of the eighth, reliever Joe Blanton took the mound for the Dodgers. Span hit a single to left and advanced to second on an error by left fielder Yasiel Puig. Belt fouled out to third and Posey struck out swinging. Then Pence ripped a line drive up the right-field line, scoring Span. The next batter, Crawford, got a line-drive single to center, scoring Pence. Giants 7, Dodgers 1.

With the six-run lead, Giants fans seemed confident about moving on to the postseason. Moore had pitched brilliantly, but his pitch count was up to 107. So reliever and fan favorite Sergio Romo came in to pitch the top of the ninth and close out the regular season. The first batter, Andre Ethier, sent a liner to short left for a single. Austin Barnes lined out to center. Puig struck out swinging. The Giants were one out from securing a playoff berth. Dodger Rob Segedin was at the plate.

Here’s Scully’s final, final call: 

“This crowd is bursting at the seams right now. Two balls, two strikes, two out. Boy, 489 consecutive sellouts here at AT&T Park.

“All right, big pitch coming out. Romo out of the stretch, and the 2-2 pitch on the way. Sergio deals a slider hit in the air to left-center, coming over is Pagan – he puts it away!

“And the Giants are the wild-card team.17 The city is going wild, appropriately enough, and they are heading for New York. …

“That was awfully nice. The umpire just stood up and said goodbye, as I am [waving] goodbye. Seven runs, 16 hits for the winning Giants, 1-4-1 for the Dodgers. The winner, Matt Moore, the loser, Kenta Maeda.

“I have said enough for a lifetime, and for the last time, I wish you a very pleasant good afternoon.”18

Clinching a playoff spot and giving a classy sendoff to Scully was the “ribbon on the package” to end the 2016 regular season for Giants fans, but there was more.

After the fans settled down, a video message from Scully was played. It included his wish for us.

“May God give you for every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.

“You and I have been friends for a long time, but I know in my heart that I’ve always needed you more than you’ve ever needed me and I’ll miss our time together more than I can say.

“But you know what? There will be a new day, and eventually a new year. And when the coming winter gives way to spring, oh, rest assured once again, it will be ‘time for Dodger baseball.’

“So this is Vin Scully, wishing you a very pleasant good afternoon, wherever you may be.”19

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Harrison Golden and copy-edited by Len Levin. The author thanks John Fredland for his assistance.

Sources and Photo Credits

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted SABR.org, Baseball-Reference.com, and Retrosheet.org for general person, team, and season data.

Vin Scully photo: SABR-Rucker Archive.

AT&T Park plaque: Courtesy of Ron Cervenka, Think Blue LA.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN201610020.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2016/B10020SFN2016.htm

Notes 

1 The game was broadcast on TV and radio in Los Angeles and San Francisco. For the third inning, the Giants’ TV and radio broadcasts were turned over to Scully to call the game while the home team broadcasters, Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, listened.

2 He is considered by many to be the greatest broadcaster in history. BR Bullpen, “Vin Scully,” Baseball-Reference.com, https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Vin_Scully, accessed December 7, 2024. It was Scully’s practice to call baseball games without a partner. He did the play-by-play and the color commentary. It was important to him to maintain a direct, intimate relationship with the listener.

3 A devout Catholic and family man, Scully and his wife, Sandi, had five children, 16 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren as of October 2016. Many of the family members were present for his final broadcast in San Francisco. Scully had curtailed traveling in recent seasons and called only a limited number of road games, while continuing to broadcast the Dodgers’ home games.

4 At age 8, Scully walked by a New York laundry and saw the score of Game Two of the 1936 World Series posted: New York Yankees 18, New York Giants 4. The empathetic Scully felt sorry for the Giants and it made him a Giants fan. He lived near the Giants’ ballpark, the Polo Grounds, and went on to idolize Mel Ott and Willie Mays. The New York Giants moved west to San Francisco after the 1957 season, as did the Dodgers, from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

5 Janie McCauley (Associated Press), “Scully Calls Final Game in Hall of Fame Broadcasting Career,” Forest City (North Carolina) Daily Courier, October 4, 2016: B3.

6 McCauley, “Scully Calls Final Game in Hall of Fame Broadcasting Career.”

7 “Vin Scully’s Final Call: ‘I Have Said Enough for a Lifetime,’” nytimes.com, October 2, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/03/sports/baseball/vin-scully-final-inning-los-angeles-dodgers.html.

8 When fans arrived at AT&T Park they received souvenir photo-placards showing Scully wearing an orange sport coat and this text: “Vin Scully Final MLB Broadcast – Seasons: 67, Broadcasts: 9,000+, Baseball Fan: 80 Years.” The back side was a sign reading “THANK YOU VIN” in large letters, albeit in orange and black, rather than Dodger blue. “Scully Calls Final Game in Hall of Fame Broadcasting Career,” KCAL News Los Angeles, October 2, 2016, https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/vin-scully-preparing-to-call-final-dodgers-game/.

9 Scully gained a national following when he broadcast baseball and other sports on NBC and CBS in the ’70s and ’80s. In addition to baseball, he broadcast PGA golf events and NFL Football. Baseball was his favorite sport. He once said, “Football is to baseball as blackjack is to bridge.” BR Bullpen, “Vin Scully”; Greg King, “Vin Scully,” SABR Baseball Biography Project, accessed December 7, 2024, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/vin-scully/.

10 “Vin Scully: Voice of Generations,” Riverside (California) Press-Enterprise, October 2, 2016: Cover A. Here are what some sports journalists had to say about Scully:

• “I miss baseball’s poet laureate, the Dodgers’ announcer who simply had a knack for saying things that so beautifully and lovingly captured the essence of the moment” – Joe Posnanski, Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments (New York: Penguin Random House, 2023), 124.
• “Nobody understands baseball the way Vin Scully does. He knows it for the laid-back, relatively relaxed sport it is. Scully is the world’s best at filling the dull times by spinning anecdotes of the 100-year lore of the game. He can make you forget you’re watching a 13-3 game and take you with him to a time and place where you are suddenly watching Babe Ruth steal home. He is like a marvelous raconteur who can make you forget you’re in a dungeon” – Jim Murray, Los Angeles Times. Curt Smith, Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story (Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2010), 154.
• “What is very much a craft to baseball broadcasters is art at its highest form to Scully; and what Michelangelo and Da Vinci and Picasso probably labored over for untold days and months, Vin Scully does extemporaneously. … Quite simply, the greatest friend the game of baseball has ever known” – Howie Rose, voice of the Mets on WOR Radio. “The Last Call: Scully Had Special Impact on Mets Announcer,” New York Post, October 2, 2016: 76.

11 Coming into this game, Maeda, a rookie from Japan, had a 16-10 record and an ERA of 3.28. Moore was in his sixth big-league season; the New Mexico product had a record of 12-12 and a 4.21 ERA.

12 Entering the game, the Dodgers had a 91-70 record and had a five-game lead in the NL West. The Giants were 86-75, in second place in the division. Los Angeles clinched the NL West title on September 25, 2016, during Scully’s last broadcast ever at Dodger Stadium. The game ended with Charlie Culberson hitting a walk-off homer with two outs in the bottom of the 10th. The final three regular season games at Dodger Stadium were an Appreciation Weekend for Scully that included fan giveaways and speeches by Scully, actor Kevin Costner, Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, and pitchers Sandy Koufax and Clayton Kershaw.

13 Seager had 193 hits and 40 doubles in 2016. He made the NL All-Star team, finished third in the NL’s MVP voting, and was selected as the league’s Silver Slugger at shortstop. His teammate Maeda was third in the Rookie of the Year voting.

14 The plaque was placed on the wall of the visitors’ broadcasting booth at AT&T Park. The Giants also named the booth in Scully’s honor. Scully was also given a framed picture of Giants great Mel Ott that included a game ticket from the day Ott hit his 500th home run in 1945. Mays had spent time with Scully in the broadcast booth during the previous day’s game as well. John Shea, “He Made Most of ‘Remarkable Opportunity,’” San Francisco Chronicle, October 3, 2016: B7.

15 “Scully Closes 67-Year Career with Final Call at AT&T Park,” San Mateo (California) Journal, October 3, 2016: Sports.

16 Tom Hoffarth, “Pleasant Afternoon with Scully,” Orange County Register (Anaheim, California), October 3, 2016: Cover A.

17 The Giants qualified for the postseason as the NL’s second of two wild-card teams. The Giants pulled off a season-ending three-game sweep of the Dodgers to avoid a playing a one-game tiebreaker with the St. Louis Cardinals. In the playoffs, the Giants defeated the other wild-card team, the New York Mets, 3-0, in a single-game playoff. The Dodgers won their first playoff round as well, defeating the Washington Nationals three games to two. Both the Giants and Dodgers, however, fell to the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs went on to play Cleveland in the World Series and, in a memorable Game Seven, won their first championship since 1908.

18 “Vin Scully’s Final Call: ‘I Have Said Enough for a Lifetime.’” At the top of the ninth inning Scully said, “Don’t be sad that it’s over. Smile because it happened. That’s really the way I feel about this remarkable opportunity I was given, and I was allowed to keep for all these years.”

19 Teddy Mitrosillis, “Here are Vin Scully’s Final Words as Dodgers’ Broadcaster,” nypost.com, October 2, 2016, https://nypost.com/2016/10/02/here-are-vin-scullys-final-words-as-dodgers-broadcaster/. On August 2, 2022, Scully died at age 94. The death was announced as the Dodgers were playing the Giants in San Francisco. The Giants played a video tribute on their scoreboard after the final out. The star of the game, Dodger Mookie Betts, said, “It’s just a tremendous loss, not just for the Dodgers but baseball in general.” Associated Press, “As Vin Scully’s Death Announced, Dodgers Beat Giants 9-5,”cbssports.com, August 3, 2022, https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/as-vin-scullys-death-announced-dodgers-beat-giants-9-5/. When asked about his legacy, Scully said, “I’ve always felt [that] I haven’t really accomplished anything. What I’ve done is spend a lifetime talking about the accomplishments of others. I hope people would consider me a good human being and a good husband, father, and grandfather. The last thing would be the fact that I was a pretty good broadcaster.” Smith, Pull Up a Chair, 234.