Vin Scully to return for 66th season in LA in 2015

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vin Scully is staying in the booth for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 86-year-old Hall of Fame announcer will return for his record 66th season with the team in 2015. The announcement was made by in Korean, Spanish and English by players Hyun-Jin Ryu, Yasiel Puig and Justin Turner on the Dodger Stadium video board in the second inning of Tuesday night’s game against Atlanta.

The news was greeted with loud cheers and a prolonged standing ovation for Scully, who stood and waved to fans from his booth, where he hugged his wife, Sandi.

A decision about Scully’s future has become an annual rite of passage in recent years as he evaluates his health and his family’s wishes in considering whether he wants to continue.

“God willing, I will be back next year,” he said in a statement released by the team. “Naturally there will come a time when I have to say goodbye, but I’ve soul-searched and this is not the time.”

Scully’s consecutive years of service make him the longest-tenured broadcaster with one team in sports history. He calls all nine innings of the team’s home games and road games in California and Arizona for the Dodgers’ new television home on SportsNet LA, while the first three innings of his games are simulcast on the radio.

Scully and the Dodgers have been invisible to 70 percent of Los Angeles television viewers so far this season. Only customers of Time Warner Cable Inc. and a couple of its partners have been able to watch the team’s games. Subscribers of major providers such as DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon and AT&T have been shut out.

“I’m obviously not alone in saying that I’m overjoyed Vin will be coming back to the booth in 2015,” team president and CEO Stan Kasten said. “Our fans deserve the very best and Vin’s voice, knowledge, experience and passion for broadcasting Dodger baseball are second to none.”

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.

At 25, he became the youngest person to ever broadcast a World Series game. In 1955, he called the Dodgers’ first and only World Series championship in Brooklyn, and later called their five other World Series victories.

Vin Scully to return for 66th season in LA in 2015