Home Run Derby

I’ve seen lots of Cub games from the Wrigley Field Bleachers. 

All told, I’ve probably NOT SEEN just as many Cub games from the Wrigley Field Bleachers – thanks to that wonderful 16-ounce cup to the left.

One of the things you see bleacherites doing is cup-stacking their beer cups.  

It’s a great way to show everyone how many $6 beers you consumed and (not coincidentally) how much of a drunken tool you’re going to be during the last few innings of the game, if not at Bernie’s after the game.

Mind you, I’ve never seen Wrigley Cup-Stacking like this before …

Looks to be a group effort.  I don’t think even the most weathered functional alcoholics that you find at Wrigley could put that many away. 

I take it back.  Harry Caray could do it and ask for more.

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Well with the temperature at Home Run Derby headquarters currently at -7 degrees (wind chill of -29) and not expected to rise above zero for the next 27 hours … I was trying to stay warm by thinking about baseball.

Crack of the Bat, lush green grass, hot August sun, an ice cold beer, and a Kosher dog with grilled onions doused with the Stadium Mustard my brother in law sent me (hey Mike, I need more) and another ice cold beer.  That warmed me up for a while …

And then I accidentally clicked on Wrigley Field’s Webcam and saw this disturbing sight …

Singing at the Winter Classic may be all done, but it’s still winter at Wrigley.  And I got to wondering what the other MLB playgrounds look like in the snow and cold.   Let’s find out.

Staying at Wrigley, it looks like Harry Caray and Ernie Banks are keeping a quiet and chilly sentry along Addison Street.

Anyone else afraid of how cold it will be when if the Cubs do ever win the World Series? I hope I’m retired and living in Green Valley, Arizona by then.

Heading South, as in the South Side of Chicago … when last we saw US Cellular Field, it was in the midst of a “Blackout.” Now it’s in the middle of a “White-Out.”
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So the NHL staged its now-annual Winter Classic outdoor hockey game at Wrigley Field yesterday.

I watched most of the game yesterday (MLB Network hadn’t gone on the air yet) wondering if they’d sing “Take me out to the ballgame” at some point during the proceedings …

They did.  Whereas it was pretty cool to see a ton of Chicago Hall of Famers all in the booth … but their performance made me cringe …

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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 …

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We all know that Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Caray (the Patron Saint of Home Run Derby) was a famous pitchman for beer, primarily Budweiser and Falstaff. 

And a while back we learned he was a hater of Cracker Jacks.

But did you know he shilled for Mexican Food too?

From 1980, here’s Harry Caray in a television commercial for La Preferida, a Chicago-based manufacturer of fine Mexican Foods like chorizo, salsa, jalapenos, taco shells, and beans.

Don’t talk with your mouth full, Harry.  And nice jacket.

Of course, this begs the question …

If you were a taco and you were starving …
would you eat yourself? 

I know I would.

Anyone who regularly (or even occasionally) reads this site knows that I am a huge Harry Caray fan. 

• HRD found video of Harry and Steve Stone celebrating in 1984
• HRD broke the story of the Dead Goat on the Harry Caray Statue
• HRD reminded you about his singing on the South Side
• HRD found audio of Harry Caray ripping on Cracker Jack.

But did you know that Harry Caray kept a published phone number?   He did.

I know this because I called him once … One evening during my freshman year of college in Chicago, some friends and I were looking up someone’s number in the phone book.  Near the bottom of the page, the name just stuck out.

Caray, Harry

“Dude … Harry Caray’s in the phone book!”
“No way.”
“I’m calling it.”
“It’s not him. No way. It’s just some guy with the same name.”
“He would be listed under Harold if it was some other guy.”
“I’m calling it …”

Three Rings.  I pushed the speaker button as soon as the gravelly voice that I had heard for over ten years on WMAQ and WGN said “Hello”

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February 18, 1998. 

Baseball lost one of its most beloved voices.  Harry Caray, the longtime broadcaster of the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, and Chicago Cubs passed away ten years ago today.

It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since Harry left us.  His voice is still everywhere.  At both US Cellular Field and Wrigley Field, Harry is remembered in the seventh inning of every game when fans sing “Take me out to the Ballgame.”  A tradition he didn’t invent, but he made into an integral part of Chicago Baseball.

There’s a huge statue of Harry outside of Wrigley which will probably have a small brewery’s worth of Budweiser around it by the end of the day today.  So long as there’s no goats.

One of the things that made Harry Caray different from many other broadcasters was that he called the game like a regular guy.  He had criticism for players and management when they deserved it and he enjoyed baseball more than anything else.  He said things that we would have said if we were in the booth.  He danced and sang while the organist played.  He kept his number listed in the phone book.

He broadcast games not just for the fans, but as a fan.  He truly loved the game of baseball.  Too many announcers treat it as a job.

Let’s go back and recall some of Harry’s finest moments behind the mic …

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You know, there are things that scar you for life.

• Leon Durham letting a ball roll through his legs
• Bill Buckner letting a ball roll through his legs
• Seeing the Milwaukee Racing Sausages without their heads
• Seeing the KC Royals’ Mascot get humped by a fan

But if you’re legendary baseball announcer Harry Caray, you get scarred for life when you apparently didn’t get a prize in your box of Cracker Jacks as a kid …

Listen as Harry goes on a rant against Cracker Jacks …

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Harry Caray is associated most famously with the Chicago Cubs as their longtime play-by-play announcer, beer swiller, and seventh inning stretch conductor.  God rest his soul.

But lest we forget (before WGN-TV put Harry in the living rooms across America and not just on UHF in Chicago) he began singing “Take me out to the Ballgame” not at Wrigley Field … but while he was the broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox on the South Side of Chicago. 

From 1971-1975, Caray just used to sing the song in the booth for himself – he said it was the only song that he knew all the words.  But owner Bill Veeck noticed that the crowd was singing along with Harry … so someone planted a stadium mic in the booth, and the Comiskey Park crowd ate it up.

Everybody has seen lots and lots of video of Harry conducting the crowd at Wrigley … but how about back when he was on the South Side, root root rooting for the White Sox?

Well, here you go … from the summers of 1979 and 1980, here’s nearly twenty times Harry sang at Comiskey Park (sorry about all the bare chested men at the world’s largest outdoor saloon)

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