One of the greatest baseball play-by-play announcers of all-time, Vin Scully, 88, will be calling his final games at Dodger Stadium this week. Scully has been broadcasting Dodger games since 1950, when he joined another legend, Red Barber, along with Connie Desmond, behind the microphone. In those days the Dodgers played in Brooklyn, not Los Angeles. The Dodgers moved to California in 1958.

Scully's final regular season game broadcast from Dodger Stadium is set for September 25. His final game is expected to be broadcast from San Francisco's AT&T Park on October 2, 2016. </s> Members of the Los Angeles Dodgers, including Dave Roberts, explain what it meant to send Vin Scully, in his last home game, off with a walk-off win to clinch the NL West title. (1:01)

LOS ANGELES -- After 67 years, Los Angeles wasn't ready to say goodbye to Vin Scully.

With the Colorado Rockies holding a 3-2 lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Corey Seager, the Los Angeles Dodgers' 22-year-old shortstop, hit a home run to right field to tie the game and extend the final home game for the 88-year-old announcer one more inning.

Sunday was the final game Scully will broadcast from Dodger Stadium as he nears the end of a 67-year career that began in 1950, when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, and spanned nearly seven decades.

"And wouldn't you know we'd go extra innings," Scully said after Seager's home run. "Of course, you didn't have anything better to do, anyway."

With two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, Charlie Culberson homered on a fly ball to left field to give the Dodgers a 4-3 victory and their fourth straight National League West title, a franchise first, in Scully's final game behind the microphone at Dodger Stadium.

"The Dodgers have clinched the division," Scully said on the call. "And will celebrate on schedule."

It was a storybook moment in a storybook career for Scully, who was given a standing ovation after the game from the crowd and the players, who took off their championship hats and waved them at a smiling Scully up in the broadcast booth.

"Vin, we love," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said on the field after the game as he looked up at Scully. "This is for you, my friend."

Scully will retire after finishing a three-game series in San Francisco next weekend.

During Sunday's game, Dodgers players tipped their helmets toward Scully before stepping into the batter's box -- an idea that was hatched by Adrian Gonzalez and Justin Turner while the two were texting the night before the game.

After Roberts' on-field interview, Scully got on the microphone and addressed the crowd from the press box named after him.

"I'm terribly embarrassed," he said, standing up from his chair with his wife, Sandra, seated behind him. "I was hoping the team would win the game 10 to nothing, and there would be no tension, and it would be a nice, easy day because I have a very, very small, modest contribution on my last day. I have always felt you folks in the stands have been far, far more important to me. You have given me enthusiasm. You have given me young at heart.

"Believe me when I tell you I've needed you far more than you've needed me. Anyway, I wanted to try and express my appreciation to all the players. God bless them, and to all you folks at the ballpark. It's a very, very modest thing, but I sang this for my wife -- it was a loving gesture. You know the song, the 'Wind Beneath My Wings,' and that's what you are. You are the wind beneath the team's wings, and you are the wind beneath my wings. I know it's modest, I know it's an amateur, but do you mind listening?"

With that, Scully sat down as the players on the field and the crowd erupted in applause while a recording of Scully singing "Wind Beneath My Wings" played at Dodger Stadium.

When the song had finished, the players began jumping and celebrating their win in the division on the field before heading to the clubhouse. Meanwhile, Scully said goodbye to his friends in the broadcast booth before exiting the Vin Scully Press Box for the final time.

"Thank you," Scully said as he walked out. "Thank you so very much." </s> From there, the final day of work for the iconic baseball voice went into routine mode on a day that was anything but routine. The 88-year-old hunkered down and prepared to announce the regular-season finale between the Giants he grew up loving and the Dodgers he spent his entire adult life bringing to millions of fans through his golden, friendly tones. And when it was over, his sign-off was purely and simply Scully.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Vin Scully arrived for his last day at the office Sunday morning wearing a blue sport coat with a red, white and blue tie, and of course his ever-present smile. He and his wife, Sandi, boarded a golf cart that took them to the press elevators and up to Booth 7, the visiting TV booth at AT&T Park, where a microphone awaited the last broadcast of his storied career.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Vin Scully arrived for his last day at the office Sunday morning wearing a blue sport coat with a red, white and blue tie, and of course his ever-present smile. He and his wife, Sandi, boarded a golf cart that took them to the press elevators and up to Booth 7, the visiting TV booth at AT&T Park, where a microphone awaited the last broadcast of his storied career.

From there, the final day of work for the iconic baseball voice went into routine mode on a day that was anything but routine. The 88-year-old hunkered down and prepared to announce the regular-season finale between the Giants he grew up loving and the Dodgers he spent his entire adult life bringing to millions of fans through his golden, friendly tones. And when it was over, his sign-off was purely and simply Scully.

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"I have said enough for a lifetime, and for the last time I wish you all a very pleasant good afternoon," Scully said at the end of the Giants' 7-1 victory to clinch a National League Wild Card spot.

Video: LAD@SF: Scully montage starts his final broadcast

All around him all day long, the tributes from the Giants and their fans included signs saying "Thank You, Vin" handed out to fans and "THX VIN" plugged into one of the spots on the out-of-town scoreboard. He waved and smiled when a pregame ceremony had fans on their feet, but he was in his seat and ready to go for the first pitch, as he had been for 67 years and more than 9,000 broadcasts.

:: Farewell, Vin Scully ::

This time, he recorded a special rendition of his trademark opening that played on the big screen at AT&T Park to get the game started.

"It's time for Dodger-Giant baseball, the greatest rivalry in all of professional sports," said Scully, who was not available for media interviews, choosing to focus on the job at hand and sharing the moment with his family.

Charley Steiner, who along with partner Rick Monday normally would share the broadcasting duties with Scully, had one job Sunday, and that was to introduce Scully's final broadcast. Steiner has had a front-row seat for eight days of amazing tributes to Scully, and really an entire season dedicated to honoring the venerable voice. On Sunday, Steiner knew one thing to a certainty.

"I think he's the happiest guy at the ballpark," Steiner said.

Video: LAD@SF: Giants fans, Willie Mays salute Scully

The joy came through as usual in the way Scully described the action. A few examples:

• The Giants opened the scoring with a two-run single by Buster Posey: "The sun has broken through the clouds and it is shining on the Giants for the moment."

• Matt Moore's attempt at a suicide squeeze: "So the Giants, with a poor-hitting pitcher, decided to try and squeeze, and he was a poor bunter."

• The Dodgers' starter was struggling: "It's gray overhead, but for Kenta Maeda, it feels like the sky is falling. He doesn't need Chicken Little to tell him that."

• Giants third baseman Conor Gillaspie made a spectacular catch of a foul ball: "Gillaspie went head-first into the photographers' well, and all's well that ends well."

• After his family joined him in the booth: "It has been a party, a retirement party, and it has been marvelous."

Video: LAD@SF: Picture montage from Scully's early years

And baseball fans around the world sighed and laughed and savored every last moment of a friendly voice's depiction of the game for the final time.

"He's going out on top of his game, doing something he's done better than anybody else and done longer than anybody else," said Steiner, who called being part of the whole Scully farewell the "highlight of my career."

In a special presentation in the middle of the fourth inning, Giants president Larry Baer and Hall of Famer Willie Mays were in the booth with Scully as he waved to the adoring Giants crowd with Frank Sinatra's "My Way" playing and a video presentation of old photos on the video board. At its conclusion, Scully looked into the camera and shared a perfect bit of perspective on this day for this man:

"I was sitting here thinking, talking to Willie: Who would ever have thought that little red-headed kid with a tear in his pants and his shirt tail hanging out playing stick ball with a tennis ball and a broom handle would wind up sitting here after 67 years of broadcasting and with my arm around one of the greatest players I ever saw, the great Willie Mays? There are miracles, aren't there, right? Let's go back to this one. I've had enough spotlight for 10 years, 10 lives."

But for one last time, the spotlight and the eyes and ears of baseball fans everywhere were transfixed on Vin Scully, his rare and gifted voice finally uttering its last words at a baseball game.

Video: LAD@SF: Scully's grandchildren join him in the booth

With the game over and the microphone turned off, Scully headed to the press elevator with Sandi alongside him, got on the golf cart and headed out of the ballpark, waving to Dodgers and Giants fans all cheering his exit.

But before he left, he had some final words for the fans in his last postgame wrap, words that tell the tale about Vin Scully and the love he has for baseball and its fans.

"You and I have been friends for a long time," Scully said, looking into the camera, "but I know in my heart that I've always needed you more than you ever needed me. I'll miss our time together more than I can say. But you know what? There will be a new day and eventually a new year, and when the upcoming winter gives way to spring, rest assured once again it will be time for Dodger baseball.

"So this is Vin Scully, wishing you a very pleasant afternoon, wherever you may be." </s> Vin Scully’s iconic voice on the videoboard welcomed a sellout crowd to Game No. 162, the regular-season finale, yes, and – more notably – the last of his decorated, Hall of Fame broadcasting career.

“It’s time for Giant-Dodger baseball, the greatest rivalry in all of professional sports,” Scully declared.

Scully attended morning mass in the ballpark as is his usual Sunday routine and then headed for his booth to work as he has done for an astounding 67 years – exactly 80 years after he became a Giants fan at age 8 in the Bronx.

“It was as if it was ordained,” Scully said during San Francisco’s 7-1 win that secured the Giants the second NL wild card. “I hope you’re enjoying it and I hope I’m not interrupting it too much.”

San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy cherished his chance to visit with Scully last week at Dodger Stadium, and to be part of Scully’s special farewell Sunday.

“This is his last game, and we’re honoured to think he’d come up here, 80 years to the day that he became a Giants fan,” Bochy said. “That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? Not just a tremendous body of work but how long he’s been doing it and how great he still is. So it’s pretty cool.”

Fans in the sellout crowd turned to look up at Scully with their standing ovation and held signs as a Scully video welcomed fans on the scoreboard shortly before first pitch at AT&T Park, where he has been riding in and out of the ballpark on Hall of Famer Willie Mays’s golf cart and had some time to reminisce with the Say Hey Kid on Saturday.

The 88-year-old Scully politely declined any kind of on-field celebration offered by the Giants. San Francisco then jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first.

“Just as it has been for two years, the Dodgers are in trouble at AT&T Park,” Scully said. “The sun has broken through the clouds and it is shining on the Giants for the moment.”

Scully’s booth featured a special security detail all weekend, and Scully had several personal drivers to get around the city. He handled the Giants’ broadcast in the third inning, then said while San Francisco fans might consider it no big deal, it was for him, noting his appreciation of the thoughtful gesture.

Scully offered some memorable phrases early in his finale:

During Hunter Pence’s first-inning at-bat, Scully noted, “He would make coffee nervous. … He’s just been a wild man swinging the bat this series.” Scully noted later in the broadcast Pence is one of his favourite players because “he tries so hard,” but noted the right fielder is trying too hard right now.

“A room-service fly ball to Angel Pagan,” he called Adrian Gonzalez’s fly to left in the second. Later, Scully described Pagan’s “piercing eyes.”

Everybody involved seemed to appreciate the moment, being a tiny part of it or simply playing witness to the end of an era in baseball.

“It’s hard to repeat what happened last Sunday at Dodger Stadium, but the finality now, Dodgers-Giants, I know there might be a tear in Vin’s eye,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “To be a part of what he’s done in his last game, I’ll give him a little salute at some point.”

Afterward, Roberts called it a “huge honour” to be part of Scully’s finale and also “sad day, but it’s something that definitely should be rejoiced. He’s had an amazing career.”

Mike Krukow and the other Giants broadcasters told Scully how much they loved him and led Take Me Out to the Ball Game in the adjoining booth from Scully during the seventh-inning stretch.

How did Scully finish his career?

After pinch-hitter Rob Segedin flied out to left field to end the game in San Francisco, Scully spotted the umpires bidding him farewell from the field.

Scully closed his broadcast by telling viewers, “I have said enough for a lifetime and for the last time I wish you a very pleasant good afternoon.”

His work wasn’t done just yet.

Scully narrated a video of his own career highlights before he returned to the screen with a message that was taped before the game. He told viewers he’d “miss our time together more than I can say.”

Then he closed again, reciting a familiar and favourite line among Dodgers fans: “This is Vin Scully wishing you a very pleasant good afternoon wherever you may be.”
Vin Scully, broadcaster for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers since 1950, calls his final Dodgers home game.