Vin Scully has been broadcasting Dodgers games for a very long time.

How long? The first year he was a broadcaster, Connie Mack was still an active manager (for the 1950 Philadelphia Athletics). In fact, the very first spring training game Scully broadcast involved those two teams; the story was recounted at Baseball Analysts in 2009.

Friday night, Scully announced on the air that he would be returning for a 63rd season in the booth in 2012:

"God's been awfully good to me, allowing me to do the things I love to do," Scully said on the telecast. "I asked him one more year, at least, and he said OK."

The Dodgers issued a news release soon after, confirming the 83-year-old Hall of Fame broadcaster would be back. The team said Scully would again call all home and select road games.

For those of us who have enjoyed Scully's broadcasts for decades, both via his national work on NBC's baseball telecasts in the 1980s and now on MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings, this is wonderful news. Scully weaves stories through every broadcast and is a joy to hear.

That was news to Dodgers management, who recently sent out a survey to "rate" the team's broadcasters, including Scully. That prompted the Los Angeles Times' T.J. Simers to write this humorous "review" of Scully's talents last Tuesday. Truly, there is no rating you can give Scully except "outstanding".

46 years ago next month, the Dodgers' Sandy Koufax threw a perfect game against the Cubs in Los Angeles. Scully's radio call was preserved on tape; you can listen to it here. It's a tribute to the man not only for the stories that he told on that 1965 evening, but that he sounds almost exactly the same today.