Comments on: My Phone Call with Harry Caray

By: Mac

Mac — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:50:03 +0000

I was just drifting thru the net and caught your story. COOL, VERY COOL. I too miss him very much, baseball will never be the same for me. While it is extremely difficult to explain what he meant to my childhood when I talk to my kids about growing up, they can see the enthusiasm in the way I talk and act out those memories of summers past. I tear up and get goose bumps evry year about this time (Feb. when the guys report out west,Mar. as we hype up for another run at the pennant,Apr. opening day)whenever I hear familiar sounds,songs or even cut the lawn for the first time of the season. Hey thanks again, and Go Cubs , Go: I’ve already taken up enough of you time.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:17:28 +0000

i remember wheni first saw Harry Caray and someone hit a homerun and he said “HOLY COW! CUBS WIN!!” he was one of my faveorite people in the world. i miss him very much.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:37:46 +0000

Hey, I stumbled upon this post by accident but I’m glad I did. I am a closet Cubs fan – I root for the other woeful team, the Royals. But I grew up with WGN and Harry Caray. My parents both worked and my little brother and I would stay with my grandmother all day before and after little league practice and games. My grandmother of all people would watch the Cubs play every day on WGN and she LOVED “old mush-mouth” as she so affectionately referred to Harry as. I remember so many funny and classic moments of Harry calling games I can’t begin to list them all. And the sad thing is, listening to Cubs games on TV now is hard. Its never going to be the same.

Probably my most memorable Harry Caray experience though happened in 1989. My little brother and I got to go to Wrigley for the first time – it just so happened to be against the Expos when the Cubs took the last two games in the series to tie and take the division lead. The first time we heard Harry sing during the stretch, I think forgot to sing ourselves because we were too busy fighting over the field goggles just to see him up-close. Well little did we know, after that first game, we sat in Wrigley until most of the people had filed out. When we decided to leave ourselves, we were making our way out to the parking lot behind the stadium when Harry walked out from a door and nearly took out my little brother. When we both realized who it was, we were awstruck. Harry (most likely drunk) wasted no time in helping my little brother off the ground. After dusting him off and giving us both high fives when we told him it was our first time to Wrigley he started to walk away. Then he whirrled around and said, “Hey you guys! Cubs Win!” and gave us a thumbs up and that classic Harry smile.

By: wmaq

wmaq — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:50:42 +0000

[...] himself, authorities said. DeKalb Police Lt. Gary Spangler told the student newswww.frontpagenews.usMy Phone Call with Harry Caray Anyone who regularly or even occasionally reads this site knows that I am a huge Harry Caray fan.? [...]

By: Dorasaga

Dorasaga — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:49:43 +0000

Hi guys.

I ‘m from the Niles suburb, and frankly, when I just started to get into professional baseball, Harry just passed away like nine months.

I didn’t know him before. I didn’t recognize his voice before. And frankly, I had many great ballpark and baseball memories without Harray, and I doubt I would ever need him to remind me of how marvelous baseball is.

But since then, every time I pass by Addison Street or watch a Cubs game at the Friendly Confine, I remember Mr. Caray, and how much he had done for the City of Chicago.

Thank you, Mr. Caray. May You Be the Cubs’ Guardian Angel–

2008 World Series at Wrigley, a Centennial Sensation!

By: Over the hump with blog nation « Casey’s Clipboard & Wally’s World

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:26:17 +0000

[...] Home Run Derby: My Phone Call with Harry Caray [...]

By: Art Rawspine

Art Rawspine — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:57:36 +0000

My Harry Caray memory came from a road trip my friends and I took to Miami in ‘94 to watch the Cubs and the Fish play. The night of the game we were milling about near home plate when I looked up and saw Harry looking out over us from the press box. We all started raising hell at that point and Harry hung his head out of the window and Yelled “HEY GUYS! WHERE YA FROM?” My one friend hollered back “TAMPA!” Needless to say, Harry wasn’t impressed with that answer and quickly disappeared back into the press box. We kept trying to get him back, to no avail. A couple of days later we were on our way home and found out while listening to the Cubs radio network that Harry collapsed prior to that game and was hospitalized from the heat. He didn’t travel with the Cubs much after that and passed away a few years later. I miss him too, and just can’t develop the same amount of passion for the Cubs since he’s been gone.

By: Evan

Evan — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:30:29 +0000

I was 10 years old at the 1992 Cubs Convention with my dad and waited in line for what seemed like forever to get Harry’s autograph. He sat me up on his lap and talked to my dad and me for a little bit, then we moved on. Later that day we saw him in the lobby of the hotel, where I approached him again for yet another autograph. He was happy to oblige.

All of this was not why I will always have a warm spot in my heart for Harry.

It was later that night my dad and I were having dinner at Harry’s restaurant when he came in with a few guys and sat down at the table right next to us. After settling down at his table, he looked over and recognized me from earlier in the day and called us over to sit down at his table to talk some baseball. We talked for what seemed like an eternity before we let him get back to his dinner, but he would not let us leave before he signed yet another autograph and took a picture of my dad and me (he actually took the picture of the two of us, without even thinking that we would want a picture with him in it).

The Cubs may have been terrible, but he always kept things interesting.

By: italiarican

italiarican — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:31:44 +0000

I remember that story – amazing.

Unlike a lot of broadcasters today who play at being “regular guys” but are obviously phonies, Harry was always the real deal, right up to the end.

By: Len Cleavelin

Len Cleavelin — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:43:29 +0000

I attended Northwestern University Law School, which in the fall of 1979 (my freshman year) was a stone’s throw or so away from the WBBM (I think) studios. One noonhour I was walking from my dorm to a White Hen Pantry in the neighborhood to get a sandwich for lunch, and as I was passing the WBBM studios (on the way), Harry Caray came dashing out the front door.

For a minute my reason failed me, and I said something like “Holy sh*t, you’re Harry Caray.”

For a second he shot me a look that, if looks could kill, would have dropped me dead in my tracks (must have been a bad morning). I quickly regained my composure and simply said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Caray; I’m sure you get stopped too many times by pushy fans. But I grew up in St. Louis, MO listening to you and Jack Buck call Cardinals games on KMOX, and I just wanted to say thank you for all those magical summer evenings.” At that he smiled, shook my hand, and exchanged a few seconds pleasantries as the cab he hailed pulled up.

That was one of the few redeeming moments of the three years spent in the festering hellhole that was Northwestern Law School; that and cutting class to go to ballgames at Wrigley Field made it worth going.