Harry Caray

For the actor with a similar name, see Harry Carey. For the Japanese method of suicide known informally as hara-kiri, see seppuku.

Harry Caray memorialized in a statue near Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Harry Caray (b. Harry Christopher Carabina, March 1, 1914, St. Louis, Missouri; d. February 18, 1998, Rancho Mirage, California) was a radio and TV broadcaster for four Major League Baseball teams, beginning with a long tenure doing the games of the St. Louis Cardinals and ending as the iconic announcer for the Chicago Cubs, both of the National League, in between which he also served time as the announcer for the Oakland Athletics (for one year) and the Chicago White Sox (for eleven years).

Career

St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis-born Caray caught his break when he landed the job with the Cardinals in 1945 and, according to several histories of the storied franchise, proved as expert at selling the sponsor's beer as he'd been in selling the Cardinals on KMOX. Caray was also seen as influential enough that he could affect team personnel moves; Cardinals historian Peter Golenbock (in The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns) has suggested Caray may have had a partial hand in the maneuvering that led to the exit of general manager Bing Devine, the man who had assembled the team that won the 1964 World Series, and of field manager Johnny Keane, whose rumored successor, Leo Durocher (the succession didn't pan out), was believed to have been supported by Caray for the job.

In 1969, however, after the Cardinals had won back-to-back National League pennants and the 1967 World Series against the Boston Red Sox, Caray was unexpectedly fired as the Cardinals' lead broadcaster (Jack Buck subsequently replaced him). Golenbock and other Cardinal historians have suggested the cause was a purported affair Caray had with the daughter-in-law of Cardinals owner August Busch, Jr. (who also owned Anheuser-Busch brewery, the club's owner and broadcast sponsor); Caray first called it a business grudge while never necessarily denying or affirming the rumors.

Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox

He spent one season broadcasting for the Athletics before, he often told interviewers, tiring of owner Charles O. Finley's interference and accepting a job with the Chicago White Sox. (Apparently the feeling was mutual; Finley later said "that shit [Caray] pulled in St. Louis didn't go over here.") As had happened in St. Louis, Caray became popular with Chicago listeners and enjoyed a reputation for joviality and public carousing (sometimes doing home game broadcasts bare-topped from the bleachers). He wasn't always popular with players, however; Caray had an equivalent reputation of being excessively critical of home team blunders and for continuing criticism of certain players after even one on-field mistake. During his tenure with the White Sox, Caray was teamed with many color analysts that didn't work out well, including Bob Waller, Bill Mercer and ex-Major League catcher J.C. Martin, among others. But in 1976, during a game against the Texas Rangers, Caray had former outfielder Jimmy Piersall (who was working for the Rangers at the time) as a guest in the White Sox booth that night. The tandem proved to work so well, that Piersall was hired to be Harry's partner in the White Sox radio and TV booth beginning in 1977. Piersall and Caray became very popular, and are and still fondly remembered by White Sox fans to this day. They made the White Sox broadcasts interesting even if the team was not doing well.

He was considered a fan's broadcaster above all, along the lines of such announcers as New York/San Francisco Giants legend Russ Hodges or Pittsburgh Pirates legend Bob Prince, and that didn't always earn him respect to equal his popularity. However, Caray never pretended to be the kind of objective announcer that such broadcasters as Red Barber and Vin Scully prided themselves on being regardless of their team attachments.

Chicago Cubs

Caray went from local favorite to national phenomenon, however, after he joined the Cubs in 1981. At the same time White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf was unsuccessfully floating a pay-TV scheme for White Sox games, thereby rendering Caray all but invisible, the Cubs' television outlet, WGN, had become among the first of the cable television superstations, offering their programming to providers across the United States for free, and Caray became as famous nationwide as he'd long been on the South Side and, previously, in St. Louis.

The timing was fortuitous especially when the Cubs ended up winning the National League East division title in 1984, led by pitcher Rick Sutcliffe and future Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg, and playing thanks to WGN to a nationwide audience. Millions came to love the microphone-swinging Caray, continuing his White Sox practice of leading the home crowd in singing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" during the seventh inning stretch, mimicking his mannerisms, his gravelly voice, his habit of mispronouncing or slurring some players' names (which some of the players themselves mimicked in turn), and even his trademark barrel-shaped wide-rimmed glasses.

Caray's national popularity never really flagged after that, although time eventually took a toll on him. Nicknamed "The Mayor of Rush Street", a reference to Chicago's famous tavern-dominated neighbourhood and Caray's well-known taste for Budweiser, illness and age began to drain some of Caray's skills, even in spite of a remarkable recovery from a 1987 stroke. There were occasional calls for him to retire, but he was kept aboard past WGN's normal mandatory retirement age, an indication of just how popular he really was.

The seventh-inning stretch

His famous seventh-inning stretch singing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" came about almost by accident, during his tenure with the White Sox. Habitually singing the song in the broadcast booth when it played by organist Nancy Faust, Caray was doing it one afternoon when WMAQ radio producer/broadcaster Jay Scott decided to open the booth mikes on him without his realizing it. (Scott had suggested the idea in a memo some years before, but Caray had rejected the idea. He accepted it once it caught on with the home fans.) For the rest of his career, Caray enthusiastically led the song's singing during the seventh-inning stretch, using a hand-held microphone and holding it out outside the booth window. And, he inserted the home team's name for "the home team" in the song's lyric, a practice that has been copied by fans around the majors singing the same song.

Many of these performances began with Caray speaking directly to the Wrigley faithful, either about the state of the day's game, or the Chicago weather, while the park organ held the opening chord of the song. Then with his trademark opening, "Alright! Lemme hear ya! Ah-One! Ah-Two! Ah-Three!" Harry would launch into his distinctive, down-tempo version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". For the lyrics "One, Two, Three, strikes you're out...." Harry would usually hold the microphone out to the crowd to punctuate the climactic end of the song. And if the visitors were ahead in that game, Harry would typically make a plea to the Cubs offense: "Let's get some runs!"

The seventh-inning stretch routine became Caray's best-remembered trademark; after his death, the Cubs began a practice of inviting guest celebrities, local and national, to lead the singing Caray-style. The use of "guest conductors" has continued into the 2007 season.

Personality and style

Caray had a number of broadcasting partners and colleagues through the years, some of whom made known their dislike of the man. Milo Hamilton, especially, never forgave Caray for taking what he thought was his job-to-be as the Cubs anchor once Brickhouse retired. Caray's long-time St. Louis partner, Jack Buck, was guarded in his comments about Caray in his own autobiography, while acknowledging that he sometimes felt held back by Caray. However, Caray also didn't lack for broadcast companions who played well with and off him. With the White Sox his longest-lasting partner was the eccentric and knowledgeable former outfielder Jimmy Piersall; with the Cubs, his partner was the equally knowledgeable but rather less eccentric former pitcher Steve Stone.

Caray was well-known for his frequent exclamation of "Holy Cow!" He trained himself to say that expression, to avoid any chance of using profanity on the air. (This on-air expression was later used by New York Yankees broadcaster Phil Rizzuto.) Caray also avoided any risk of mis-calling a home run, using what became a trademark home run call: It might be . . . it could be . . . it IS! A home run! Holy cow! On p.51-52 of his 1989 autobiography, Holy Cow!, Caray said he first used the "It might be..." part of that expression on the air while covering a college baseball tournament in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the early 1940s. He also said that was probably the first time he said "Holy cow!" on the air, an expression he used all his life in situations where his street-kid tendency to use X-rated language was unacceptable.

His catchphrases of "Holy Cow!" and "Cubs win! Cubs win!" after every Cub triumph, which always seemed to represent genuine, unfeigned enthusiasm, carrying on the upbeat tradition of his predecessor Jack Brickhouse. While with the White Sox, of course, he had exclaimed "Sox win! Sox win!" and "Cardinals win! Cardinals win!" when with St. Louis. He said later that his firing from the Cardinals changed his outlook and made him realize that his passion was for the game itself, and the fans, more than anything else.

In 1987, the Cubs had Ryne Sandberg, Jim Sundberg, and Scott Sanderson on the roster. Caray often confused these names and it was not uncommon for him to refer to "Jim Sandberg", "Ryne Sanderson", or "Scott Sundberg". Caray was intrigued by unusual names, and one of his frequent on-air bits was to try to pronounce a multi-syllabic name backwards.

Caray originally had a reputation for mastering all aspects of broadcasting - writing his own copy, conducting news interviews, writing and presenting editorials, covering other sports such as University of Missouri football, and hosting a sports talk program.

Non-baseball work

Though best known and honoured for baseball work, Caray had also called Missouri Tigers football and St. Louis Hawks basketball in the 1950s and '60s. Nationally, he broadcast three World Series (all involving the Cardinals) and three Cotton Bowl games.

Death

Caray maintained a winter home in Palm Springs, California, along with his legal residence in Chicago. As discussed in Steve Stone's 1999 book, Where's Harry? (p.177-184), Caray was at a Palm Springs restaurant on February 14, 1998, celebrating Valentine's Day with Dutchie, when he collapsed and was rushed to a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California. He never regained consciousness, and died of cardiac arrest with resulting brain damage there four days later.

Legacy

Harry Caray's body is interred in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.

Following his death, during the entire 1998 season the Cubs wore a patch on the sleeves of their uniforms depicting a caricature of Caray. Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa dedicated each of his 66 home runs that season to Caray.

Caray had five children, three with his first wife, Dorothy, and two with his second wife, Marian. His son Skip Caray followed him into the booth as a baseball broadcaster with the Atlanta Braves, his son Chris had a long career with Maritz Travel before passing away at an early age from brain cancer, and his daughter Patricia worked for Coca-Cola in Atlanta before retiring to Bradenton, FL where she currently resides.

Caray's two daughters with wife Marian both opted for careers in the healthcare field. Michele lives in St. Louis, MO and works as a Registered Nurse with OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions, a division of UnitedHealth Group. Daughter Elizabeth lives in Phoenix, AZ and works as a pharmaceutical representative for Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Caray's broadcasting legacy was extended to a third generation, as his grandson Chip Caray replaced Harry as the Cubs' play-by-play announcer from 1998 to 2004. He later returned to work with his father Skip on Atlanta Braves broadcasts, where he had worked for awhile in the early 1990s. In what Harry Caray said was one of his proudest moments, he worked some innings in the same broadcast booth with his son and grandson, during a Cubs/Braves game on May 13, 1991. On-air in a professional setting, the younger men would refer to their seniors by their first names. During 1998, Chip would refer to the departed Harry in third person as "Granddad".

Honors and special events

On October 23, 1987 Harry Caray's Restaurant opened in the Chicago Varnish Company Building, a Chicago Landmark building that is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There are now three restaurants, a 10-pin bowling alley, and an off-premises catering division which bear the Harry Caray name. The original restaurant has received numerous awards for its food and service, and features many items of memorabilia, even a statue of a "Holey Cow" (complete with holes!) wearing the trademark Harry Caray eyeglasses.

In 1989 the Baseball Hall of Fame presented Caray with the Ford C. Frick Award for "major contributions to baseball." He also has his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Caray's style became fodder for pop culture parody as well, including a memorable Saturday Night Live recurring sketch featuring Caray (played by Will Ferrell) as a host of a space and astronomy TV talk show, in which his questions to scientists and professors included whether or not they would eat the moon if it were made of spare ribs. The sketch continued after Caray's death. When asked by Joan Allen (impersonating NASA flight director Linda Ham) about his death, Will Ferrell as Caray replied, "What's your point?" The Bob and Tom Show also had a Harry Caray parody show called "After Hours Sports" which eventually became "Afterlife Sports" after Caray's death. In 2005, the cartoon Codename: Kids Next Door had two announcers reporting a baseball game. One was a parody of Caray, the other, Howard Cosell. The most widely-accepted impersonation of Caray in Chicago was done by Jim Volkman, heard most often on the Loop and AM1000. Also, comedian Artie Lange, in his standup, talks about Caray.

Caray can be briefly heard in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, as a Cub game is shown on a TV in a pizza parlor.

References

• Baseball-Almanac Harry Caray Quotes

External links

• Harry Caray's Restaurant website. Includes biographical details and pictures.
• Baseball Hall of Fame - Frick Award recipient
• Hello Again Everybody The Harry Caray Documentary
• Budweiser commercial starring Caray performing a rap (at You Tube).
• Harry Caray at Find A Grave

Template:S-awards