Growing up in Indianapolis, I became a Cubs fan because of Harry Caray and WGN. WGN showed reruns of The Waltons(which was on of my mom's favorite shows) and almost every other commercial during the spring and summer was for Cubs baseball at Wrigley Field with Harry Caray. He made every game(even the crappy ones) exciting to watch. He was also famous here in Indy because our local shock jocks, Bob and Tom, parodied him and Marge Schott(owner of the Reds, another beloved team in Indy) for over a decade. RIP Harry, Cubs games never sounded better, or less tragic, than when you called them.
When I was young Harry was on ch44 doing the sox games. Before he did the Bud thing his beer of choice was Falstaff. , That being said Wrigley field is kind of pricey now to say the least. If u take your GF to a game you might want to have $200 at least. BTW. Wait til the 3rd inning and you will get cheap seats from the scalpers .
We got 1 televised game here in Detroit of our Tigers when I was growing up. I used to go to sleep at night listening to Ernie Harwell on the radio. WGN gave me visual baseball everyday even if it wasn't my home team. I absolutely loved listening to Harry call games. The guy was an absolute legend and was one of the reasons I became the baseball fan that I am today. For that Harry I will always be grateful.
I just now found this video. I grew up in Missouri listening to Harry broadcast Cards baseball on the radio. It took me a long time after that to get used to other broadcasters. He was definitely a "homer", broadcasting from the view point of a Cards fan. I still remember him saying "This is the Griesedieck Brothers Baseball Network". Griesedieck Brothers was a beer and sponsored the Cardinals before Anheuser-Busch bought the team.
***** ohhh most obits didn't know because nobody really knew Harry's age... LAT listed 77, NYT listed 78, Wiki says 83.. The CNN/ESPN obits I have posted said 78... The WGN Obit I have posted said 77... nobody knew for sure.
+michaeloptv CNN muffed it too. You have to look at what you're writing, and think, "Would a 25 year old get the job calling a major league baseball franchise?" Someone with Caray's largesse just may have.
This Sox fan still enjoyed Cubs games because of him, and I was thrilled for the Cubs faithful when they finally won another. Even to the point of being moved when I thought of how much we needed Harry to celebrate with them.
The beautiful, baseball - loving soul of Harry couldn't be diminished by his death. He loved life, and baseball even more. Here speaking as a life-long Cardinals fan, may I humbly remind that we had him first, in his youth, in his heyday, in his prime, when he was calling the exploits of Stan Musial, Gibson and Brock among others, this fun loving soul from South St. Louis. But nothing would've made me happier to hear him call in real life, the winning of the World Series for our beloved arch rivals, the Chicago Cubs. This commercial was the next best thing. So long everybody.
Not ESPN's fault. It was weeks after his death that it was made public his real birthdate. Most of his family didn't even know his real birthdate until going through his belongings.
