Harry Caray

Infobox Person


image_size = 150px
name = Harry Caray
caption =
birth_date = birth date|mf=yes|1914|3|1
birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, United States
death_date = death date and age|mf=yes|1998|02|18|1914|3|1
death_place = Rancho Mirage, California, USA
occupation = Announcer

Harry Caray (b. Harry Christopher Carabina, March 1, 1914, St. Louis, Mo.; d. February 18, 1998, Rancho Mirage, Calif.) was an American 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 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

t. Louis Cardinals

Caray caught his break when he landed the job with the Cardinals in by|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 by|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. He was with the St. Louis Cardinals for 24 years, his longest tenure with any sports team.

Oakland Athletics

He spent one season broadcasting for the Athletics before, as he often told interviewers, he tired of owner Charles O. Finley's interference and accepted 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.")

Chicago White Sox

Caray quickly became popular with the South Side faithful 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 who didn't work out well, including Bob Waller, Bill Mercer and ex-Major League catcher J. C. Martin, among others. But in by|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 by|1977. Piersall and Caray became very popular, and are and still fondly remembered by White Sox fans to this day.

Among many of Caray's experiences during this time with the White Sox include Disco Demolition Night. On July 12, 1979, what began as an effort to sell seats at a White Sox/Detroit Tigers double-header turned into tens of thousands of eager fans storming the outfield at Comiskey Park in between the games of the double-header. Caray tried to calm the crowd by leading the park in the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” but order could not be restored. Eventually the White Sox were forced to forfeit the second game of the double-header.

The decision by White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf to go with "SportsVision" (the first pay cable service devoted exclusively to sports) to televise games at Comiskey Park was ahead of its time as fans weren't ready to pay for something they had been getting for free all their lives. At best roughly 20,000 fans subscribed to it and this decision to go to a limited pay service caused Caray to leave the team and go to the Cubs despite a Sox offer that was worth more.

Chicago Cubs

Caray increased his renown after joining the North Side Cubs following the by|1981 season In contrast to the "SportsVision" concept, the Cubs' own 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 by|1984 and radio station WGN's 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 neighborhood 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" began during his tenure with the White Sox. Habitually singing the song in the broadcast booth when played by long-time Comiskey Park 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 ritual still practiced by many baseball fans around the country.

Many of these performances began with Caray speaking directly to the baseball fans in attendance 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, "All right! 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 home team's 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" continues to this day.

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. He had a particularly frosty relationship with Milo Hamilton, his first partner with the Cubs, who felt Caray had pushed him out in St. Louis in the mid-1950s. Hamilton was fired by WGN in 1984; he claimed that station officials told him that the main reason was that Caray didn't like him.cite book |last=Smith |first=Curt |authorlink=Curt Smith (author) |coauthors= |title=Voices of Summer |year=2005 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |location=New York City |isbn=0786714468 ] Caray's longtime 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 Jimmy Piersall; with the Cubs, he was teamed for 14 years with former pitcher Steve Stone.

Caray was knownWho|date=June 2008 for his unabashed homerism. While advertisers played up his habit of openly rooting for the Cubs from the booth (for example, one Budweiser ad described him as "Cub Fan, Bud Man" in a Blues Brothers-style parody of "Soul Man"), he had been even less restrained about rooting for the Cardinals when he broadcast for them. 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. He was also well-known for his frequent exclamation of "Holy Cow!" As he noted in interviews and in his autobiography (which was titled "Holy Cow!!"), he trained himselfFact|date=June 2008 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.Fact|date=June 2008

In by|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".Fact|date=June 2008

Caray had a reputationWho|date=May 2008 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.

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.

Racism Controversy

On September 12, 1995, during a pre-game radio show for a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cubs, which featured the Wrigley Field debut of Japanese rookie sensation Hideo Nomo, Caray remarked to Cubs manager Jim Riggleman "Well, my eyes are slanty enough, how 'bout yours?" Caray, who had used the term "jap" in on-air remarks previously, refused to apologize for the comment. The broadcaster of the pre-game show, WGN (AM), did issue an apology calling the matter "unfortunate." [ [http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9509&L=UVMTODAY&D=0&T=0&P=176538 LISTSERV 15.5 - UVMTODAY Archives ] ] [ [http://www.illinimedia.com/di/archives/1995/September/26/opn-edit2.html Daily Illini Online Archive for 1995/September/26 ] ]

Non-baseball work

Though best known and honored for baseball work, Caray had also called Missouri Tigers football, St. Louis University Billiken basketball, Boston Celtics and St. Louis Hawks basketball in the 1950s and '60s. Nationally, he broadcast three World Series and three Cotton Bowl games.

Death

Caray maintained a winter home in Palm Springs, California, along with his legal residence in Chicago. [ [http://www.harrycarays.com/harry_caray.html Harry Caray's] ] 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 his wife Dutchie, when he collapsed and was rushed to Eisenhower Hospital in Rancho Mirage, California. He never regained consciousness, dying of cardiac arrest with resulting brain damage four days later. [ [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/nl/news/1998/02/19/news.caray.html Sports Illustrated] ] Steve Stone also mentioned in his book "Where's Harry?" (p.186-187), cite book |last=Stone |first=Steve |authorlink=Steve Stone (author) |coauthor=Barry Rozner |title=Where's Harry |year=1999 |publisher=Taylor |location= Dallas, Texas |isbn=0878332332 ] that Caray's took place in downtown Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral on February 27. Many celebrities and athletes were in attendance, including Sammy Sosa and former Chicago Bear's head coach Mike Ditka.

Legacy

At his funeral, the organ played "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Harry Caray's body is interred in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.

Following his death, during the entire by|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. He married his third wife Delores "Dutchie" (Goldmann) on May 19, 1975. His son Skip Caray followed him into the booth as a baseball broadcaster with the Atlanta Braves until his death on August 3, 2008, and his son Chris had a long career with Maritz Travel before passing away at an early age from brain cancer. 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 by|1998 to by|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". His half-brother Josh is a broadcaster and producer for WLAQ radio in Rome, Georgia, calling the Class A Rome Braves baseball and Rome High School football.

Another of Caray's grandsons, Eric Stanger (son of Patricia Caray) is also enjoying a very successful career in the radio business, as Director of Talk Programming for ABC Radio Networks, and Director of Affiliate Relations for the syndicated radio personality Sean Hannity.

Honors and special events

On October 23, 1987 Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse 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 six restaurants, a 10pin bowling lounge, 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 by|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.

On June 24, 1994, the Chicago Cubs had a special day honoring Harry for 50 years of broadcasting Major League Baseball. Sponsored by the Cubs and Kemper Insurance, pins were given out to some unknown number of fans in attendance that day. The pins had a picture of Harry, with writing saying "HARRY CARAY, 50 YEARS BROADCASTING, Kemper MUTUAL FUNDS" and "HOLY COW".

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 and turning hot dogs into currency (20 hot dogs would equal roughly a nickel). 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 "" 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 Cubs game is shown on a TV in a pizza parlor.

Recent Chicago-area TV and radio ads for AT&T's Advanced TV have featured comedian John Caponera impersonating Harry Caray. However, due to a complaint by Caray's widow, AT&T had withdrawn advertising featuring Harry Caray. [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Chicago-does-not-appreciate-your-Harry-Caray-imp?urn=mlb,71146]

David Draiman, lead singer for Hard rock band Disturbed, did an almost identical impersonation of Harry Caray on a radio broadcast interview.

Former Chicago Cubs reliever and current Atlanta Braves reliever, Will Ohman, performed a Harry Caray impersonation when announcing the starting lineup for the Atlanta Braves during a Fox Game of the Week in 2008. [http://uatgsports.ca/site/uatg/talent_bios/owen/mlb/video-braves-reliever-channels-harry-caray/]

References

* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quocaray.shtml Baseball-Almanac] Harry Caray Quotes

External links

* [http://www.harrycarays.com/ Harry Caray's Restaurant website] . Includes biographical details and pictures.
* [http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/frick/caray_harry.jsp Baseball Hall of Fame - Frick Award recipient]
* [http://www.helloagaineverybody.com/ Hello Again Everybody] The Harry Caray Documentary
* Budweiser [http://www.youtube.com/v/pnwyYjaf_CI commercial starring Caray] performing a rap (at You Tube).
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2492 Harry Caray at Find A Grave]
* [http://www.wjbc.com/media/Musials_3000th_hit.mp3 Audio: Caray calls Stan Musial's 3000th career hit in 1958]
* [http://www.cubs.com Chicago Cubs Homepage]