Scully a storyteller as much as a poet

He is the poet laureate of baseball, but I prefer to think of Vin Scully as the forgotten Grimm brother. In the manner of Jacob and Wilhelm, he’s a masterful storyteller.

It’s the bottom of the ninth for the Dodgers’ broadcaster nonpareil, who is retiring after 67 seasons in the booth. People in my business and other businesses are writing tributes and odes to him; colleague Ed Graney wrote his on Thursday.

As a lifelong Dodgers fan, Graney has heard a lot of Vin Scully’s baseball stories, and for that I am envious — as a Cubs supporter, I am more familiar with Harry Caray sloshing his beer and sloshing his words during the seventhinning stretch. Which also can be endearing, especially if you’ve had a few yourself.

But with Scully you always got a story, and sometimes they weren’t even about baseball. Those were some of the best ones. I was listening Aug. 28 during the Cubs’ final swing into Chavez Ravine under Vin Scully’s watch when he spun a yarn during the bottom of the fifth. It was not about Preacher Roe or Billy Grabarkewitz or Rick Monday having saved the flag but about the Beatles — this was on the 50-year anniversary of the lads having played Dodger Stadium.

The Beatles played 27 songs in 11 minutes, Vin said, and then he told the rest of the story, which included but was not limited to the following elements: thousands of hysterical fans, a stripped down Lincoln Continental, an armored car with flattened tires, a rendezvous at a Union 76 station, the Hells Angels.

I have a copy of the transcript; I considered typing it up here. But that would never do the story justice — it wouldn’t have the melodious tone, the pauses in just the right places.

So here’s the link where you can listen for yourself: http://m. mlb.com/video/topic/6479266/ v1108493183/?query=vin%2Bscully%2Bbeatles

It’s a great story as only Vincent Edward Scully, the baseball poet laureate, could tell it. With the melodious tone, with the pauses in just the right places.

Thursday’s column about Hollywood stuntman Eddie Braun replicating Evel Knievel’s flying leap of the Snake River Canyon produced email remembrances from two RJ readers who were there on Sept. 4, 1974. I shall hereby refer to them as the Evel Twins.

Wrote Randall Fike, the Big R of Las Vegas: “Outside of Twins Falls … Snake River Canyon rim … people threatening to push the media corral over the edge if he didn’t jump, wind or not … what a scene!!

“The town had swollen to way over capacity and stores were putting stacks of beer in the aisles. Needless to say, the police department didn’t see it coming … it was almost a combination of Sturgis (motorcycle rally) and NASCAR. Instant rave!! I shall never forget it …”

Similar deal for Martin Naus: “I still have the ticket I purchased ($25) and the receipt with my name on it stamped Snake River Canyon Enterprises, INC,” he wrote.

“I hope Eddie Braun comes to Las Vegas with his sky rocket. I’ll be first in line to purchase a ticket and hopefully get Eddie Braun’s signature on (my) Evel Knievel ticket …”

A Facebook pal who wasn’t standing on the canyon’s rim shared an Evel thought that shed light on the daredevil’s time in Las Vegas.

Wrote David Blake: “I approved a bet from Evel at the old Aladdin Sports book; he made a nice bet on Air Force, of all teams. I even remember he laid 3 1/2 on the AF.”

Evel Knievel did make it over the Snake River Canyon when his parachute malfunctioned and wind gusts nearly blew him into a watery grave. But let the record show he had a hunch about the efficiency of the Air Force triple-option. MINOR ACCOMPLISHMENT

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (the top farm club of the New York Yankees) defeated the El Paso Chihuahuas (San Diego Padres wannabes) 3-1 in the Gildan Triple-A Baseball National Championship Baseball Game Tuesday night at AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tennessee.

Paid attendance was an admirable 9,471.

I still think it would be cool to play the Triple-A championship game at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, or some other traditional old ballpark where the traditional old baseball media would make a big fuss of it.

Or what about that Iowa cornfield where “Field of Dreams” was filmed?

Such as a baseball game featuring teams from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and El Paso.

Anyway, it marked the first time a team with a slash and a hyphen and a capital letter in the middle of its nickname had won a minor league championship game sponsored by a paint company.

It also may have rekindled memories of the defunct Triple-A World Series played in Las Vegas at Cashman Field from 1998 through 2000.

But only faint memories.

TAKIN’ IT TO THE (WHITE) HOUSE

The other drivers said it would have taken an Act of Congress to prevent Kyle Busch from winning last year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. So perhaps it should follow he’ll be meeting with President Obama on Wednesday.

In keeping with his tradition of entertaining sports champions, the president will welcome the Las Vegas lead foot and his pit crew members, who may be cautioned not to get anything on the carpet.

It can be assumed Joe Gibbs, Busch’s car owner, will be on hand, too, because when Gibbs was in the District of Columbia as coach of the three-time Super Bowl-champion Redskins, he had high approval ratings.

A SHOT OF B-21

The Air Force’s new long-range bomber officially has been dubbed the B-21 Raider.

It has nothing to do with Cliff Branch, the former wide receiver who wore No. 21 for the Oakland Raiders. Nor is it related to the possibility of the Raiders moving to Las Vegas.

But if the latter comes to pass — and should the new bomber leave the hangar before the Raiders leave Oakland for Las Vegas — the B-21 Raider may be a good bet to lead the first flyover.

MARK J. TERRILL/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully is seen prior to a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants on Tuesday in Los Angeles. His final game at Dodger Stadium — where he has called nearly 5,000 games over the years — will be Sunday...