L.A. City Council approves Vin Scully Avenue

LOS ANGELES -- Some 66 years after he started broadcasting games for the Dodgers, Vin Scully is set to go on the map.

On Friday, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved renaming Elysian Park Avenue as Vin Scully Avenue, via a proposal brought forward by councilman Gil Cedillo.

"I am overwhelmed," Scully said in a statement. "I was raised in the streets of New York, and to have a street named after me in Los Angeles is almost too much to comprehend. I am eternally grateful to the Los Angeles City Council and especially Councilman Gil Cedillo."

The new Vin Scully Avenue will stretch one-third of a mile from Sunset Boulevard to the main entrance to Dodger Stadium.

"A path to Dodger Stadium is a pathway to my heart," Scully said. "For 55 years, it has been an honor to walk that road to one of the greatest entertainment centers in the world, a place that has brought so much joy to all of us. I thank God for this great honor."

Scully was not in attendance for the city council vote.

A number of Dodgers representatives, including manager Dave Roberts, current players such as Clayton Kershaw, Scott Van Slyke and Yasmani Grandal, and former players such as Orel Hershiser, Ron Cey, Eric Karros and Maury Wills, were at City Hall when the motion was put to a vote. Roberts took the podium to support the motion before the vote.

Scully is set to begin his 67th and possibly final season in the booth for the Dodgers. He began his tenure in 1950, when the club was still in Brooklyn, and has been the primary play-by-play voice for the team for all 58 years that it has been in Los Angeles.

"There's no better way to recognize such an iconic Dodger as Hall of Famer Vin Scully than naming a street after him," Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said in a team release. "We appreciate Gil Cedillo and city officials bringing this to the forefront, and we look forward to the day when everyone can drive on Vin Scully Ave. when they enter Dodger Stadium."

Scully, who in recent years has called just home games, said he would like to broadcast a few road games this year, including the regular season-ending series in San Francisco and games in San Diego and Anaheim.

"As a little kid who grew up literally in the Polo Grounds and was an avid Giants fan, I think I would love to finish in a Dodgers-Giants game," Scully told MLB.com. "God willing, it will work out. We'll see."