Vin Scully: 2016 will 'realistically' be my last season of broadcasting

Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully announced Friday his plans to return next summer for a 67th season calling games for the Los Angeles Dodgers

On Saturday, however, Scully all but confirmed he won't return to the broadcasting booth after the 2016 campaign, saddling the Dodgers with the unenviable task of replacing the icon roughly 13 months from now.

"I would say realistically, and I don't want any headlines, but I would say next year would be the last one," Scully said at a press conference Saturday at Dodger Stadium. "I mean, how much longer can you go on fooling people? So yeah, I would be saying, 'Dear God, if you give me next year, I will hang it up.'

Scully, who called his first Dodgers game in 1950, has earned almost every broadcasting accolade imaginable over the better part of the last seven decades, cementing his status as one of the game's most enduring figures despite never throwing a pitch or stepping into the batter's box. Still, the 87-year-old Brooklyn native has confidence the Dodgers can find a capable successor.

"Let me put it this way," he said. "I saw Mel Allen leave the Yankees. I saw Red Barber leave the Dodgers. I saw Russ Hodges leave the Giants. I saw Harry Caray leave the Cubs. I saw Jack Buck leave the Cardinals. And you know what? Not one of those teams missed a game. They kept on playing, and the fans kept on going. And I will just go along where they are, and be very happy and privileged to be in that company."

Unfailingly humble even as his stature throughout the game grew, Scully insisted he doesn't want any grand gestures in his honor next season.

"I don't want (a farewell tour)," he said. "As you know, I don't travel with the team. We haven't determined how much I'll do next year as far as leaving Dodger Stadium. But the last thing I would want is to have one of these glorified 'Goodbye, it's been great.' No. In fact, as God as my judge, I'd have been thrilled if they had announced I was coming back last year, this year, in the notes."