This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 67:
= Les Richter: Los Angeles Rams
= John Papadakis: USC football
= Duval Love: UCLA football, Los Angeles Rams
= Luis Sharpe: UCLA football
The most interesting story for No. 67:
Vin Scully, Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster (1950 to 2016)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Los Angeles Coliseum; Dodger Stadium; Pacific Palisades; Hidden Hills
All automobiles in the United States are required to have a Vehicle Identification Number. Car manufacturers started using them in 1966. By 1981, it was a standardized 17-character alphanumeric code.
In Southern California, the only VIN number that matters is 67.
Vin Scully retired from broadcasting Los Angeles Dodgers’ games after the 2016 season. That meant he had put in 67 seasons, going back to 1950 when, as a 22-year-old, he started doing games in the middle innings with Brooklyn’s Dodgers. He was fresh out of Fordham University, a redhead somewhat green learning the craft from Red Barber.
There is no official Vin Scully No. 67 Los Angeles Dodgers jersey. When the Dodgers gave away Scully tribute jerseys in 2023, it had no number – just a red microphone logo on the front where a number should be, and a blue mic on the back. There was a Union 76 patch on the arm — the reverse of 67, perhaps by luck. Mostly, it was because Scully had voiced the oil company’s commercials for so many decades, it seemed simpatico.
(There’s also a reason to believe that had Vin Scully not been locked in as the Dodgers’ voice, Union 76 would not have continued being a sponsor, and the completion of Dodger Stadium may have been more problematic in the early 1960s).
Online, there are dozens of variations of “Scully 67” jerseys offered. At the LADFanstore alone, there are more than a dozen choices, including “black holographic.”
Don’t do it.
An otherwise random prime number now attached in perpetuity to someone who, it has been said, made the greatest impact of any sports figure in Southern California sports history.
Uniformly, No. 67 belongs to Scully, and it fits into the parameters of our “jersey” list here, because so many have created a Dodgers uniform in his honor in so many variations.
That’s the story we’re selling. And so many keep buying.
When Los Angeles Kings’ Hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Miller visited Scully during his final season and presented him with a No. 67 Kings jersey, Miller remarked: “Vin, when you started announcing, a high number like 67 probably meant you were a prospect, you hadn’t yet made the team.”
Scully laughed and replied: “I’m trying my best.”
Our way to honor No. 67 was pulling together “Perfect Eloquence: An Appreciation of Vin Scully” (University of Nebraska Press, 288 pages), released in May, 2024.
When we started the project of recruiting people to write essays about how Scully impacted their lives and surmising his legacy, there were 67 who signed up. We took that as a sign.
Continue reading “No. 67: Vin Scully”
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 