The rivalry in San Francisco began at Seals Stadium in 1958 — rookie Orlando Cepeda homered as the Giants trounced Don Drysdale 8-0 in the first big-league game on the West Coast — and moved to Candlestick Park and eventually Pacific Bell Park, and Scully recalled every step of the way, starting when he called games just a row behind fans at Seals Stadium.“A fellow would turn around and just say to me, ‘Do you have a match?’” Scully said. “It was that informal and that close.”
In those days, broadcasters read the commercials between innings, and Scully sometimes found himself in competition with Giants fans, especially when he read beer commercials.
“They’d start hollering the names of all the other brands of beer that they could possibly think of,” Scully said, “so that taught us to record all the commercials rather than be heckled by the fans.”
At Candlestick, fans at Dodgers-Giants games sometimes were as competitive as the players, not necessarily in a good way.
“At Candlestick, the wind was a nightmare,” Scully said, “but I also thought that the surroundings affected the personality of the audience. I could be completely wrong, but it was cold, raw, windy, and I think the people in the stands were unhappy and sometimes would take their unhappiness out.
“But once they moved to AT&T Park, it’s completely different. The fans are good-natured, they’re happy, they’re fair, they’re wonderful. … The weather at AT&T has made it a wonderful party atmosphere. No meanness at all.”
That’s where Scully’s career will end and a long, wonderful chapter of Giants-Dodgers lore will close. In his 67th year chronicling and analyzing two storied teams, Scully will sign off for the last time and extend a “very pleasant good evening” to a rivalry that wouldn’t have been the same without him.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 22 September 2016 00:22 (seven years ago) link