Home Run Derby

It’s been over ten years since Harry Caray left us.  Home Run Derby did our own little tribute back in February, with some great Harry Caray quotes and a recollection of my 1989 phone conversation with Harry.

But there’s always room for more Harry Caray memories … especially when they involve photos of Harry which are undoubtedly (in my mind, anyway) the last pictures taken of Harry Caray at Wrigley Field.  Shannon Blosser-Salisbury sent us the pics and her recollections of the day.

September 21, 1997 was Harry’s last game at Wrigley and it was also Ryne Sandberg’s last game at the friendly confines.  The Cubs whomped all over Curt Schilling and the Philadelphia Phillies, posting four Home Runs en route to a final score of 11-3.   Sandberg was substituted in the fifth for a pinch runner, garnering a standing ovation from the 29,922 fans who attended the game to say goodbye to the future Hall of Famer.   Little did they know they were saying goodbye to Harry Caray as well.

A few of those fans hung around the stadium for a while, and as they were leaving the ballpark, noticed that Harry Caray was leaving as well.  Shannon and her friends took the following pictures of Harry getting ready to get in his car.

As always, Harry was jovial and gracious with his time and talked to some fans as he was getting ready to go …

Even though the car door was open, Harry stopped to give one last autograph to a young fan on Clark Street before driving away from Wrigley for the last time.  There’s a unique collectors item.

And then, Harry got into his car … and left Wrigley Field for – whodathunkit -the last time.  

Here’s Harry singing “Take me out to the Ballgame” for the last time at Wrigley Field. 

Cub fans had another chance to see Harry at the annual Cubs Convention in January 1998, and he no doubt sang Baseball’s anthem one last time with Cub fans before he passed away a month later. 

But I can’t find any pictures of that.

Thanks to Cub fan Shannon Blosser-Salisbury at The Pollyanna Society for sharing her Harry Caray pictures with Home Run Derby. 

Harry’s last game at Wrigley Field was Shannon’s first.  She went expressly to see Harry Caray.  HRD is happy she got her wish, because for Harry, there wasn’t a next year.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Cubs, Harry Caray. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.