There was an item on the Web Wednesday morning about the retirement of legendary Dodgers' announcer Vin Scully, perhaps as early as the end of next season. If true, Scully will have worked in seven decades and 61 seasons for one team – not to mention doing a host of other things that other teams would do well to follow.
His heir apparent, Eric Collins, was hired this year and does the TV games east of the Rocky Mountains – about 40 in all.
One of the columnists in the L.A. Times, Chris Erskine, ripped Collins in print. While not wishing to be the next voice of the Dodgers after Vin Scully, the writer still pointed out that Collins is "painful and seems to need more seasoning."
Duh.
Anyone who takes on any new job is going to need seasoning. The secret is to give the employee time to make the job his own. All of us have been the recipient of such patience.
I've not heard Collins, but I am sure his style is different from Scully's. Whose wouldn't be? There are two people in the world who can quote Shakespeare, Chaucer and show tunes in the span of a baseball game – Scully and his mentor, Red Barber.
Somebody gave Scully the opportunity to put his stamp on the Dodgers' broadcasts once upon a time. And it worked rather well, I dare say. It would be nice if the L.A. media would be as kind to Eric Collins.
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