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Dodgers News: Meet Joe Davis – the new voice of the Dodgers

By Mary Coyne

Sep 20, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Vin Scully waves to the crowd after a video tribute before the Los Angeles Dodgers played the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. The long-time Dodger broadcaster is retiring at the end of the regular season. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 20, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Vin Scully waves to the crowd after a video tribute before the Los Angeles Dodgers played the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. The long-time Dodger broadcaster is retiring at the end of the regular season. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports /
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The latest Dodgers news has to do with their new broadcaster, who will replace a legend.

Meet Joe Davis, the 29-year old play-by-play announcer who is tasked with the enormous job of replacing the legendary and some would say greatest sports broadcaster in history, Vin Scully.

Scully, the Hall of Fame broadcaster, wrapped up his 67-year career with the franchise last season on October 2 in San Francisco. At age 88, he was ready to put the microphone down and “try and live a little.”

He is known for his clever catch phrases. And because of his almost 7 decades with the team, he made his voice legendary. Scully knew how to use personal stories rather than statistics in order to engage his listeners.

For a relatively young Davis, this will be a hard act to follow. When asked if he planned to incorporate historical segments into his broadcast, Davis told The Hollywood Reporter:

"“I don’t have any plans to copy or mirror that. I definitely won’t touch Vin’s catchphrases like “It’s time for Dodger baseball” or “Hello everybody and a pleasant good evening to you wherever you may be.” That’s blasphemous. If one develops over time, and I think it probably will if I’m lucky to do this long enough, that’d be awesome.”"

Davis, a Michigan native, grew up a Cub fan that counts Chicago broadcaster Harry Caray as one of his early influences.

He covers the MLB and college basketball for the network. However, prior to Fox, Davis worked at ESPN. There, he became the youngest person ever (25) to call a bowl game on television.

In November 2015, Time Warner Cable SportsNet LA hired Davis as an alternate play-by-play for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I won’t sugar coat it. It was bittersweet yesterday listening to the game and not hearing the comforting and familiar voice of Vin.

Additionally, it’s clear that Joe Davis is not going to try and replace Scully – he’s too smart for that. He just needs to find his own way to connect with Dodger fans.

Next: What We Learned From Opening Day

And we just need to give him time to do that.

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