1957 09 29 Phillies vs Dodgers Last Game Of The Brooklyn Dodgers

[@mattdon2164]

Vin Scully’s voice is soothing and comforting. I never get tired of hearing him call a game. Thanks for a lifetime of great memories, Vin.

[@mattdon2164]

@@agoodpitch9 Almost 70 years ago. It was part of his job. Today, we have the Home Depot pre game show on College Football and so many more “pitches” from announcers, not to mention the “patches” on the sleeves of MLB players. It was and will always be a business and the sponsors bring in revenue.

[@blackfinjrblackfinjr3555]

RIP Vin. You will be missed. 😢😭

[@danielwozny-kozak8148]

Thank you. I was only 5 when tha Bums left Bklyn, but I always knew i missed something special. My first consciousness of BB was the shock on our block that the Dodgers was really going away "forever".... Thanks again. I;m no fan of contemporaryBB, but these old transcripts of ancient games somewhat fills a void. Bless you!

[@darwinblinks]

Now this is historic. Keep it up CBotR!

[@alvinleslie6703]

I would like to thank you for these broadcasts because they bring back so many memories of great baseball broadcasts. Thank you very much for this!!

[@qwj68boots]

Vin Scully's voice is like hearing god doing the play by play.

[@robertristelhueber4459]

Remarkable piece of baseball history! Vin Scully knew that this would be the very last Brooklyn Dodger game but couldn't say it on the air because the club hadn't made the announcement yet. Just 10 days after this broadcast the Dodgers made it official that they'd be leaving Brooklyn and moving to Los Angeles. This game was meaningless because the Dodgers had already been eliminated from the pennant race, but it marked the end of the team's time in Brooklyn. So Roger Craig was the last starting pitcher for Brooklyn, and Sandy Koufax threw the last pitch. The very last Brooklyn Dodger to bat was Bob Kennedy, who retired from baseball after the game. Very sad for Brooklyn fans....the team should never have left New York City.

[@davidcamp3522]

At the time of this broadcast Vin Scully was only 29 years old

[@joeambrose3260]

No shit, Sherlock

[@kevinmiller6324]

@@joeambrose3260 A guy like you certainly needs an award for the most sarcastic comment posted.

[@kevinmiller6324]

These same two teams squared off in the season opener April 16th, with Brooklyn prevailing 7-6 in 12 innings. Starting pitchers were Don Newcomb for the Dodgers, and Robin Roberts for the Phillies.

[@kevinmiller6380]

David Camp-And now he's gone.

[@careyconley4690]

@@joeambrose3260 what a stupid assed comment, Sherlock.

[@willdrucker4291]

VIN SCULLY!!...sounded as good in 2007 as he did in 1957!!.....awesome

[@soundthinking1534]

Another winner!! Love this. Excellent audio quality as well. Light up a lucky!!

[@andrewm4564]

When there was a homerun or double play, they sent 1000 Luckies to a VA hospital!😒

[@chrisstampolis7598]

As the final broadcast of 1957 ends, it is clear that Vin was uncertain if he would continue with the team in 1958. After some especially melancholy thank yous to longtime Brooklyn Dodgers broadcast staff, Vin says "All of us in the booth hope we will be talking to you in 1958....So for the last time: Good bye. Good luck. We'll be seeing you." He obviously could not foresee that he would stay with the team for 59 more seasons and that the final Brooklyn game's inclusion of relief pitcher Sandy Koufax was a foreshadow of how the Dodgers would lead the baseball world in so many waya during the Dodgers' first decade in Los Angeles.

[@daniellack3559]

I am not certain, but Vin may have been having some talks with the Yankees..or maybe it was a few years later

[@joeambrose3260]

Thanks for the bedtime story Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[@billkurtz5446]

His offer from the Yankees came several years later, after Mel Allen was let go. Scully said he was too well established in LA to leave by then, but if the offer had come a few years earlier "I would have said yes before he could hang up the phone."

[@mikedemenchuk7717]

@@daniellack3559 The Yankees wanted him after they opted not to renew Mel Allen but he didn't want to move his family across the country a second time. And he felt some loyalty to Walter O'Malley for insisting that the Los Angeles stations and sponsors hire him.

[@mikedemenchuk7717]

The other interesting thing about Mel Allen's firing is that George Weiss (a former Yankee GM) wanted to hire Allen to be the fourth man in the Mets' booth. But Rheingold wouldn't have it because they thought Mel Allen was too associated with Ballantine.

[@danielbaumstark6565]

Thank you for these. My grandfather who was 15 at the time attended the dodgers last home game in Brooklyn. He used to tell me ab his childhood memories as a New York baseball fan. Now I know what it was like to listen to these games 60 years ago, when tv was in its infancy

[@enniswhalen2428]

D B - Let me guess, your granddad was not "pleased" (?) with the Dodgers' move. . . .

[@danielbaumstark6565]

Ennis Whalen he was not

[@enniswhalen2428]

D B - Never met him, but I had that impression!

[@charlesreidy2765]

So this was the Brooklyn Dodgers last game ever before moving to LA.

[@rentslave]

The Phillies also played in the last Dodger game played in Jersey City.

[@markjohnson9455]

If I did not know the date of the broadcast, I would not know it because it has a modern feel to it with Vin's voice still broadcasting as late as 2016. He is a walking and breathing baseball history book with feet who transcends time.

[@douglaslowe5]

at 1:37 jerry mentions Gino Cimoli and Duke Snider heading to California. didnt mention so was the whole team

[@garylobo348]

Whewwww before the game even started, they had us smoking and drinking.. two wonderful things for your health! Ahhh the good old days.

[@jamesrivera4947]

Never too early in the day to smoke cigarettes 🚬 and drink beer🍺

[@PittsburghMarky]

We are merely changing from one vice to another. Tobacco is now out, but gambling is in!

[@kevinmiller6380]

@@jamesrivera4947 Smoking cigarettes and watching Captain (Kan)garoo. So don't tell me I've got nothing to do.

[@fredmar6436]

@@kevinmiller6380 Just don't count those flowers on the wall. Ha, Ha. 1965.

[@douglaslowe5]

the 6th inning is brought to you by heroin.

[@44032]

The Dodgers are 84-69 and 10 games out with this last game to go. The Phillies are about to reach .500 at 77-77 but the Whiz Kids of 1950 are a distant memory. Ed Bouchee's last moment of glory before the infamy...1:35:00 Campy's last at bat.

[@williamdunphy352]

Jerry Doggett (PBP) 1-4 Vin Scully (PBP) 5-9

[@Lava1964]

Sandy Koufax throws the last pitch for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

[@Docpowjr]

So many regulars were out it’s interesting what everybody was doing in the off-season is also interested that more isn’t made that they’re leaving for Los Angeles the next season I wonder when everybody knew and it began to sink in

[@thomasspearance7176]

the dodgers move from brooklyn was not a formally done deal until 10-8-57 - i would think that jerry and vin were instructed not to talk about it, and to stay focused on selling plenty of schaefer and luckys....those golden days...

[@thomasspearance7176]

Roy Campanella's final game....

[@cottagechskitty]

Yes I am pretty sure that was it. The approval was given way back in May. They just needed to work out all of the details. So yeah. Everyone knew

[@cottagechskitty]

Yep. His accident was over the following off-season

[@andrewm4564]

@@cottagechskitty The Dodgers paid Campy his full $50,000 salary in 1958, after he was paralyzed.

[@hamburg1306]

He wasn’t fooling anyone either. Giants weren’t going to California by themselves.

[@willdrucker4291]

Story has it that the reason Carl Furillo, Jim Gilliam, and Gil Hodges decided to start this final game was to give Dodger fans from South Jersey one last opportunity to see them play, even though it wasn’t “official” that the club was moving to L.A...

[@mikedemenchuk7717]

But it's not like the L.A. Dodgers would never play in Philly.

[@johnnyso1979]

Don Zimmer, Roger Craig, Gil Hodges, Joe Pignatano and Richie Ashburn? All 1962 Mets.

[@kenhenderson1762]

Vin hadn't been told anything by Dodger management but the New York newspapers were full of stories about the Dodgers leaving. Vin was sure that they would use a local guy in LA so he was afraid this could be his last baseball game ever. A couple of months later Walter O'Malley said that he wanted Vin and Jerry Dogget to move with the club and Vin and Jerry needed to get to LA right away to meet the local sports press.

[@alonenjersey]

I think the official radio station for Brooklyn was WHN 1050 which years later would become a Country Western music station.

[@rentslave]

1050 was WMGM in those days.

[@Musicradio77Network]

@@rentslave WMGM was a top 40 station in the late 1950's and early 1960's before WMCA and WABC came to the pack. WINS was its competitor during that time. When two top 40 stations like WABC and WMCA arrived at the beginning of the 1960's, they were hurting WINS and WMGM, because of too many competitors. So WMGM decided to give up top 40 and flipped to easy listening by February 1962 and changed its call letters back to WHN the way it used to be since the 1940's. WHN has been playing MOR/Standards for the rest of the 1960's until 1972 when it flipped to country and stayed there until 1987 when it flipped to sports as WFAN and lasted for a year until October 1988 when the station moved to 660 after WNBC-AM faded into radio history after a 66-year run when it was part of NBC Radio since it launched in 1926 as WEAF.

[@daniellack3559]

You really know your radio history and you are spot on with every detail you covered...well done indeed.

[@andrewm4564]

In the late 60's, there was a WMGM that broadcast in South Jersey. I think it was FM. It was preprogrammed with a computer dj called "Wimgim."

[@mikedemenchuk7717]

WHN/WMGM/WFAN was off-and-on the Dodgers/Mets station for decades. The Mets also took the Dodgers' old spot on WOR-TV.

[@timrobinson7373]

Wonder how many Brooklyn fans were crying at their radios and tv's knowing this was the last time they would see and hear their Brooklyn Dodgers?

[@ryanfromsaneli]

Good question! I'm a Dodger fan myself born and raised in El Paso, TX. I just saw a video on Vin Scully's Twitter where he was talking about Brooklyn's organist Gladys Gooding playing sorrowful songs this entire game. Walter O'Malley wanted her to pep up the music so he sent someone to tell her. The individual yelled the request through the the door she locked that leads to the organ room but she didn't reply and kept playing sad music. That should tell you it was a permanent hole in the heart of Brooklyn residents :/ .

[@andrewm4564]

The paid attendance at the last game at Ebbets Field was 6,702, although were probably a few thousand more there who got in free because of various promotions. The game was on a Tuesday night against the Pirates, who were fighting for last place with the Cubs. The Dodgers won 2-0.

[@kevinmiller6380]

@@andrewm4564 While the Giants drew 11,606 fans to the Polo Grounds for their last ever game, also against the Pirates.

[@junkboxxxxxx]

Crack open a Schafer 🍻🍻🍻

[@waldcast]

Eppadon, it is not fair to knock Scully. At this point, Vin had no idea if he was going to be with the team in L.A. or not. KLAC, owned by Gene Autry, was pushing for a Los Angeles based broadcaster. Vinnie's future was up in the air.

[@far02222]

Autry owned KMPC radio in Los Angeles.

[@hamburg1306]

O’Malley was loyal to his employees and Vinnie was making the move to LA as long as he wanted to go. O’Malley didn’t like anyone who was associated with Branch Rickey so that’s why Red Barber was dispatched in 1954.

[@fatfreddyscat5767]

As an Angeleno born in 58, Thankful Omalley brought Vin and Jerry to LA.

[@billkurtz5446]

Actually Barber left of his own volition, due to a money dispute (naturally) with O'Malley. The Yankees offered him more money to switch.

[@kevinmiller1985]

@@hamburg1306 Tex Rickards was asked by O'Malley to come to LA for the 1958 season, but he declined.

[@ser010267]

The end of an era

[@mikemickypeterdavy]

Nice job by the Phillies. 👍

[@hamburg1306]

O’Malley was secretive about the move to the very end. Even the press release on October 8th was cryptic. Take the necessary steps to draft the Los Angeles territory. Contrast to the Giants where Stoneham had the decency to meet with the press to announce the move on August 20th.

[@jamesrivera4947]

Film footage seems to indicate remorse and sorrow by the fans, as if sensed impeding doom. Scully makes off handed reference to "the end of the season."

[@PittsburghMarky]

@@jamesrivera4947 On Sept. 25, 1957 the New York Times ran a picture of two fans putting up a sign in the rotunda at Ebbets Field designating the Sept. 24 game would be the Dodgers' last there. I once asked Dick Groat of the Pirates about playing in the last game at both Ebbets and the Polo Grounds and he told me "we didn't know they'd be leaving," but I would imagine that might be a ballplayer's focus of the time on the matters on the field rather than those off of it. You may have had some hope against hope some miracle might happen, but everybody knew. There were "Save the Dodgers" rallies in April 1957. Everybody knew.

[@sportsmedia25]

Roger Craig who later became SF Giants manager was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers

[@sdgakatbk]

I was thinking the same sort of thing about a number of players. Gil Hodges managed the Mets later. Joe Pignatano was a coach on the Senators and Braves though I remember him also with the Mets. Don Zimmer managed the Padres, Red Sox, Rangers, and Cubs. He also coached on a number of teams, the last being the Devil Rays in 2014. Joe Lonnett coached with the White Sox and the Athletics and then followed Chuck Tanner to Pittsburgh where he was third base coach on the 1979 World Championship team. Tanner had made a promise to Lonnett that if he ever became a big league manager Lonnett would be one of his coaches. Chuck Tanner came to Pittsburgh by a trade. Pittsburgh traded Manny Sanguillen for Tanner after the 1976 season. A 1978 trade brought Manny back to Pittsburgh.

[@kevinmiller1985]

@@sdgakatbk Hodges also managed the expansion Washington Senators starting in 1963 shortly after he retired as an active player. Pignatano was one of the Mets coaches in 1972 when Hodges died suddenly. Pignatano stated in an interview that he remembered watching Hodges falling over backwards and busting his head wide open on the sidewalk as he and three other coaches were walking back to their hotel after finishing a round of golf. Don Drysdale, who was a teammate of Hodges starting with his rookie season in Brooklyn in 1956, said he was so shook up over Hodges sudden death that he didn't even leave his apartment in Texas to go to the funeral because he didn't want to see anybody.

[@andrewm4564]

Richie Ashburn was a radio/TV announcer for the phillies for a number of years.

[@fredmar6436]

@@andrewm4564 How about Philly manager Mayo Smith. 1968 Tigers.

[@andrewm4564]

@@fredmar6436 Mayo Smith had a little more success with the Tigers than he did with the Phillies!

[@privatepenguin3137]

Did they know that the Dodgers were moving to LA the next season at this point? They didn't mention it.

[@oscarwinner2034]

Yes, but they were not allowed to discuss it.

[@willdrucker4291]

What do Gil Hodges and my father, Jack Drucker, have in common?....BOTH were killed by those damned Lucky Strikes...

[@eyesonyou99]

Lol!! Off season jobs!!

[@hamburg1306]

Vin was loyal to O’Malley and he was obviously under orders not to mention anything about the move. A shame that he was muzzled from saying a proper goodbye to the Brooklyn fans.

[@epaddon]

Frankly, I'm not sure Vin would have thought he was being "muzzled". If Vin had one major blind spot throughout his career it was the fact that he was the most loyal shill Walter O'Malley could have asked for. Vin essentially took the company line that Brooklyn was nice, but so long, it's been nice knowing you we're out for greener pastures. Never once in any interview with him have I seen him asked a tough question about O'Malley or hear him offer any criticism of O'Malley (this was an owner who after he moved to LA was basically the lordly tyrant of the National League and who also kept home games off television to maximize his profits) or acknowledge that he was a controversial figure. Nor have I ever heard him confronted on what the move did to Brooklyn as a community. I have heard many modern announcers, including Yankee ones be ripped for being "company men" but ask yourself how different was Vin ultimately?

[@hamburg1306]

Louis Macchia actually the official announcement was on October 8th. Cryptically stated, “the necessary steps be taken to draft the Los Angeles territory”. Couldn’t even say it in English. Had to be crafty to the end. I disagree the Dodgers under O’Malley did all they could to forget their Brooklyn roots. Only exception was staying in Vero Beach until 2008. The Giants have done a much better job at honoring their New York heritage.

[@hamburg1306]

Louis Macchia you’re definitely in the minority in sticking with the Dodgers after the move. My Dad was a huge Dodger Fan and he like most switched their alliance to the Mets. And to show there’s redemption we’re rewarded with the miracle Mets of 1969.

[@joeambrose3260]

Put a red sock in it

[@kevinmiller1985]

@@hamburg1306 The Detroit Tigers were in Lakeland, Florida longer than the Dodgers were in Vero Beach; as a matter of fact they're still there.

[@stpaulimdog]

Are you able to monetize this? Did you get hit with reused content? I can't find any info about this anywhere. I had some old radio broadcasts and I deleted them and was wondering if I did the right thing.

[@kevinpyne5808]

How often did the Dodgers play at Jersey City as mentioned in the beginning of broadcast?

[@olivercrangle7160]

They played there 15 times over 2 seasons.I was at one of those games in '57.

[@jimmym2486]

I’m a Mets fan but I remember in 79 As a kid their was some brief talk about the Giants moving to Jersey City That would have been so cool I would have rooted for the Giants except against the Mets ( Like I root for the Devils except when they play the Islanders) because while you can root for more than one team . You can only be a fan of one in a sport.

[@orbyfan]

The uncredited voice of Vin Scully appeared on Armed Forces Radio Service broadcasts of "Suspense" in the late 1950s, describing various American military decorations.

[@JayTemple]

Did Cimoli get paid in Cimolians?

[@rentslave]

Gino went to work for UPS.Those brownshirts make plenty of Cimolians.

[@kevinmiller6380]

@@rentslave 😄😄😄😄😄😄

[@epaddon]

I have to say in all honesty that this broadcast probably represents the low-point of Vin Scully's entire career as a baseball announcer. Because it reveals that he was ultimately a company man for Walter O'Malley and that clearly meant he wasn't about to touch on the fact that this was the end of a civic institution for the people of Brooklyn. I will concede that the announcement wasn't "official" yet, but everyone knew it was going to happen and the fans who were tuning in I think were owed a lot more than hearing the usual hackneyed cliches about what the players were going to do in the off-season and oh hey, buy your copy of a yearbook about your favorite team that isn't going to be there because we still want to grab a buck off you as we head out the door! By contrast, Russ Hodges on this same day, hit all the right notes on the last broadcast of the New York Giants. His close as the TV cameras panned around a now empty Polo Grounds (the audio is thankfully preserved) is even greater than his call of Bobby Thomson's home run as he spoke about what the stadium and what the team had meant. His closing words, "Lest we forget," are enough to bring a tear to the eye even 60 years later. Maybe it's true O'Malley straitjacketed Vin from having a similar moment on this day, but I'd note that one of the knocks I hear so much about later announcers is that they are "company shills". Well, even Vin had to play that role too because this broadcast of a seminal moment in baseball history surrounding it at the time is treated as if nothing's happening and that all will still be right for Brooklyn fans next season.

[@rentslave]

Dodger yearbooks continued to be sold in the Greater New York area for a few years afterwards.

[@martybadagliacca7960]

Riss Hodges was also a great announcer equal to Vin Scully but as I recall ( I was only 13 at the time and an avid Brooklyn Dodger fan living in Williamsburg) the NY Giants move to S F was already definite. We all know the Dodgers were going to LA but it wasn’t made official yet. Very sad day for NYC fans!!

[@hamburg1306]

Yeah I agree. But it’s definitely an extension of O’Malley’s chicanery. The Giants has the decency to announce the move in August. O’Malley strung out the fans and didn’t officially announce move until October 8th. So Scully definitely towed the company line as he was going to make the move to LA. But what a disservice to the audience. Everyone knew the NL wouldn’t allow only one team to California so it was obvious the Dodgers were joining the Giants in California.

[@timwoods3171]

Eppadon, listen again... Vin Scully is "saying it without saying it." Listen to all the farewells he's giving folks the opportunity... Jerry Doggett, legendary stats guy Allen Roth. The producer, the director, etc. For himself, "The end of our eighth year with the ballclub..." "Friends, we don't want to go into a big, long thing here... I imagine sometime or another we've gotten a little mad at the other (O'Malley) end too."

[@epaddon]

I've listened to that ending trying to sense a hidden message to the fans but it doesn't come off to me. It's frankly pretty much a generic kind of end-of-the-season wrap-up that I've heard many other broadcasters from other teams do on the final day of the season. I think we need to move past the deified status Vin Scully has achieved for the totality of his work which is well-deserved and just acknowledge that on this day, Russ Hodges bettered him for conveying the sense of loss that fans were feeling that day.

[@jamesrivera4947]

Imagine a delineation of how players plan on spending the off season🤔

[@timrobinson9657]

quick question did they know the Dodgers were moving to LA or wait till the WS to break the news to the world?

[@hamburg1306]

Absolutely correct. The Giants announced the move to SF in August. Common knowledge that NL wasn’t letting only 1 team to go to California. So obvious Dodgers going west with Giants.

[@hamburg1306]

Yes. Even though not “officially announced” until October 8th. It was common knowledge that NL would not allow only 1 team to relocate to California. So obvious Dodgers were joining them. NL approved transfer in May 1957 provided both teams were to relocate. There’s video on KZbin from William Wrigley commenting on vote.

[@joeambrose3260]

Grow up

[@kevinmiller6380]

@@joeambrose3260 Shut up.

[@dneutron]

🕸🎼Schaefer….is the…one beer to have…when you’re having more than one,

[@williamdunphy352]

Umpires HP 1B 2B 3B

[@JayTemple]

Tony Venzon, Bill Jackowski, Shag Crawford, Bill Baker, in that order

[@joeambrose3260]

Batboys ?

[@jerrysims6551]

Chico Fernandez!