Scully
On a day he regaled a Hollywood Radio and TV Society audience with tales from his 60-year Dodger broadcasting career, Vin Scully allowed that he does not feel it's his on-air responsibility to discuss baseball's off-field issues.
Speaking before a full house at the Beverly Wilshire, Scully said his job was to call the play-by-play and nothing more.
"My obligation is to tell the fans at home what's going on between the lines," Scully said. "As far as the hot-button issues of steroids, I have nothing to do with that.
"Even with Manny (Ramirez) -- the world knew Manny had a 50-game suspension. There wasn't any reason for me to talk about they were fertility drugs or whatever. I just felt it was not my role."
That approach would extend, Scully said, to the latest controversy surrounding the Dodgers -- the volatile divorce of team owners Frank and Jamie McCourt.
"As someone who holds a great sanctity for marriage, it breaks my heart," Scully said. "But that's all. I have nothing else to say about it."
But the day was mostly devoted to storytelling. One anecdote involved a rare occasion in which Scully became profanely tongue-twisted.
"My mind told my mouth to say, 'There is a hot shot hit foul,'" Scully recalled to great laughter. "No way."
Contact Jon Weisman at
jon.weisman@variety.com