Have you ever heard Vin Scully call a Dodger game? It’s magical. After 65 years in the booth, you’d think that the 87-year-old would get bored, but Scully still appreciates and personalizes the game. While other are talking about sabermetric voodoo, Scully is telling you about the backup third baseman’s peanut allergy and how he proposed to his girlfriend. That’s why Vin Scully is a legend, and that’s why there was such a panicked reaction on Thursday when he thought that he had lost his 1988 World Series ring at a Costco… because apparently Vin Scully loves jumbo bottles of mustard and the majesty of getting free meat on a stick while shopping for dungarees:
On Tuesday, they were walking past the meat department when Sandi pointed at some ribs. With five grown children and 16 grandchildren to feed during the holidays, we’re talking Fred Flintstone-sized ribs. Vin grabbed the packaged meat, stuffed it into plastic bags, and piled it on top of the overflowing cart. Eventually the couple navigated the extravaganza past the cashier, past the hot dog and pizza stand, and out to their SUV in the parking lot.
Once they had loaded the trunk, Scully climbed into the front seat, glanced down at his Costco-weary hands, and noticed something missing.
His 1988 World Series ring had disappeared from his finger.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, I’ve lost my ring,’ ” Vin said.
Scully quickly called the Dodger’s PR department, which interrupted their steady stream of trade announcements to sound the alarm on Twitter. Scully then went into the store where a kindly assistant manager named Elias Rahhal snapped into action because that’s what people do for Vin Scully when he’s in distress.
“I went into a panic, I assured him we’d do everything to help find the ring, Vin is like family to us,” said Rahhal, who printed out Scully’s receipt and began a painstaking retracing of Scully’s steps through the tower stacks and free food samples.
Upset but determined to keep things in perspective and not yet ready to call the FBI or another investigative government body, Scully and his wife Sandi drove home where Sandi promptly found the ring… in a plastic bag with the aforementioned ribs.
And that’s the story. The ring was returned, the ribs got cooked, Elias Rahhal kept being a great employee, and the Dodgers went back to hoping that their trade of the Tin Man to the Padres went through. It really isn’t a Tolkienesque tale, but I bet Peter Jackson could make a movie and a half out of it, and at least it ended with a bag of meat and not some sh*thead on eBay.
(Source: LA Times)
