Vin Scully is being honored by the Dodgers tonight, and he wrote a letter to fans

This is really cool, and there’s a chance it’s going to get a bit dusty.

The Dodgers are honoring Vin Scully before the game tonight, the first of his final series of calling games at Dodger Stadium.

He walked on to a massive ovation:

Vin wrote a note to all fans in attendance:

The text, via the Los Angeles Times:

Dear Friends:

Many years ago, a little red-headed boy was walking home from school, passing a Chinese laundry and stopped to see the score of a World Series game posted in the window. The Yankees beat the Giants, 18-4, on October 2, 1936. The boy’s reaction was pity for the Giants and he became a rabid Giants’ fan from that day forward, until the joyous moment when he was hired to broadcast Brooklyn Dodgers games in 1950. Ironically, October 2, 2016 will mark my final broadcast of a Giants-Dodgers game. It will also be exactly 80 years to the day since that little boy fell in love with baseball.

God has been very generous to that little boy, allowing him to fulfill a dream of becoming a broadcaster and to live it for 67 years. Since 1958, you and I have grown up together through the good times and the bad. The transistor radio is what bound us together. Were you at the Coliseum when we sang “Happy Birthday” to an umpire?  Were you among the crowd that groaned at one of my puns? Did you kindly laugh at one of my little jokes? Did I put you to sleep with the transistor radio tucked under your pillow?

You were simply always there for me. I have always felt that I needed you more than you needed me and that holds true to this very day. I have been privileged to share in your passion and love for this great game.

My family means everything to me and I will now be able to share life’s experiences with them. My wife, Sandi, our children, Kevin, Todd, Erin, Kelly, and Catherine, along with our entire family will join me in sharing God’s blessings of that precious gift of time.

You folks have truly been “The Wind Beneath My Wings” and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for joining me on this incredible journey of 67 years of broadcasting Dodger baseball.

Heartfelt Thanks,

Vin Scully

Even the visiting Rockies are rapt:

Rob Manfred just presented a $50,000 donation to the Jackie Robinson Foundation in Vin’s honor, and he looks thrilled.

If it’s still going, you can watch the stream here, or embedded below:

Update: Sandy Koufax is there too!

 

Update #2: And Kevin Costner!

 

Final update: This was my favorite line from Vin’s speech, though the whole thing was lovely.