Lip Man 1 Posted yesterday at 05:58 PM Share Posted yesterday at 05:58 PM (edited) February 18, 1998 – Former White Sox broadcaster Harry Caray (born Harry Carabina), died in Rancho Mirage, California at age 83. It was four days after he suffered a stroke during his Valentine’s Day dinner, and two weeks short of his birthday and the beginning of his 54th season in the majors. Caray was born in St. Louis, was a terrific prep ballplayer, and while playing semipro baseball in the city he wrote to KMOX radio, insisting he could do a better job broadcasting than the current analysts. After brief stops in Peoria and Kalamazoo covering sports, he hooked on broadcasting the Cardinals and Browns in 1945. A hallmark of Harry’s style was his sprightly rapport with fans, as he often was broadcasting solo, with no color man. And often to his detriment with ownership, Caray was willing to criticize the play on the field, including that of his own team. After his long tenure in St. Louis and one year in Oakland, the White Sox hired Caray for TV and radio. He worked for the team from 1971-81 before skipping the South Side for the Cubs, with whom he’d finish his career. The Sox offered Caray more money to stay for the 1982 season than the Cubs but Caray had an acrimonious relationship with new owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn and wanted no part of the ill-fated SportsVision experiment. In addition to his many years broadcasting baseball, Caray also broadcast St. Louis Flyers hockey, University of Missouri football, St. Louis University and Western Michigan University college basketball, the Boston Celtics and St. Louis Hawks of the NBA and eight Cotton Bowl games (1958–64, 1966) on network radio. Edited yesterday at 05:59 PM by Lip Man 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melton1972 Posted 19 hours ago Share Posted 19 hours ago Harry learned that his St Louis contract was not being renewed while he was broadcasting the last game of the season. He was told by the sportwriters, not by any member of the Cardinals management. You can hear it all on you tube. Supposedly he was fired for sleeping with Gussie Busch's daughter in law. I loved the fact that Harry attended the subsequent news conference with a 6 pack of a Budweiser rival. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nrockway Posted 10 hours ago Share Posted 10 hours ago Thanks, Lip Man. Love these posts, glad you're doing them. Get a little wiser every day reading them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lip Man 1 Posted 2 hours ago Author Share Posted 2 hours ago 8 hours ago, nrockway said: Thanks, Lip Man. Love these posts, glad you're doing them. Get a little wiser every day reading them. You are welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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