Nothing can shake Vin Scully, not even an earthquake.
The legendary baseball announcer calmly integrated play-by-play commentary of the earthquake that struck Southern California on Friday evening into his call of the Dodgers' exhibition game against the Angels at Dodger Stadium.
"A little tremor in the ballpark," Scully told viewers as Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis waited for a pitch from Garrett Richards of the Angels in the sixth inning. "I am not sure if the folks felt it but we certainly felt it here in press-box row. A tremor and only that, thank goodness."
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, that "little tremor" was a magnitude 5.1 earthquake that occurred at 9:09 p.m. PT and was centered near Brea in Orange County. The Dodgers and Angels continued the second game of their Freeway Series after the tremor.
The unflappable 86-year-old shifted from discussing the action on the field to the rumbling beneath it and then back again with a good-natured ease that few could have managed. Later during the 11-pitch at-bat, Scully regaled listeners with a recollection from the 1989 World Series when the Loma Prieta earthquake struck the Bay Area.
"Shades of '89 ... Candlestick Park ... that's in the dirt," Scully said, never losing track of the game being played. "The most terrified man in San Francisco had to be the fellow who was working up in the lights. He was up on a light tower when the earthquake hit Candlestick Park and the tower swayed and he's that poor devil hanging on. He was OK but no doubt scared to death."
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