Just recently the group sent me the latest installment of a case that takes place in the winter of 1969 after a long tenure broadcasting the St. Louis Cardinals & St. Louis Browns the voice of the man that you see up on top of this post was let go by the Busch Family due to fact that Harry was drinking too much of a rival beer as well recovering from a car accident that happened earlier in the 1969 season. During the 1970 season found Harry in an unfamiliar area not within the Midwest where you may ask, Oakland, California yes Oakland the former home of the Athletics who were gearing up for their 3rd season being removed from Kansas City.
Harry spent one season with the A's the entire 1970 then Charlie Finley let him go citing that "All those Midwestern Ideas that this announcer had won't do here in Oakland." Harry felt the same way he disliked how Charlie wanted him to change his infamous "Holy Cow" Expression to "Holy Mule!!!!" to put more focus on the Athletics unofficial mascot Charlie O instead.
At the Start of the 1971 season Harry moved back to the Midwestern area again this time he was calling the games for the South Side Sluggers known as the Chicago White Sox. It was Chicago the town he would stay until 1981 before joining the under the new management of the Tribute Company who recently acquired the Chicago Cubs from the Wrigley Family for the North Side staying until his death in 1998 on Valentines Day. Harry has never been forgotten by fans his antics with the South Side Sluggers back in 1975 the owner of the White Sox Bill Veeck asked Harry if he would be interested in leading the crowd after secretively hiding a microphone to get a recording of Harry singing his signature song "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." At first Harry was against it but when Bill told him he had a recording of him doing it,Harry reconsidered the offer only if he could get organist Nancy Faust accompanying him on the song & the rest was history before Harry took his act to the North Side cause Bill Veeck sold the club after the 1981 season.
Now you're wondering thanks for the information about Harry but what is the "What If........." part of the story. Ahhhh!!!! patience my reader the group gave this synopsis they wanted to know had Harry & Charlie Finley not clash after the 1 season. Would Harry have been in the booth to call the call "Swinging A's" World Series Triumphs(1972,1973 & 1974) after all Harry wasn't a stranger of the post season after calling World Series games for the 1964,1967 & 1968 for NBC. Most of the group mentioned that knowing Harry being Harry they don't blame him for leaving for Chicago & without him coming back to the Midwest there wouldn't have been such a cult following & we wouldn't have a reason to sing during the 7th Inning stretch like we do now. So I now leave it to you my avid reader did we go off key in this presentation of Harry Caray or do we open up a can of Budweiser even though the choice for most Cubs fans is Old Style (In my Opinion I prefer a Labatt Blue cause I am 5th Generation of the Labatt Family over Budweiser though I did have an Old Style during my only trip to the "Friendly Confines" back in 2013.) & continue to sing praises to this legendary broadcaster every 7th inning we encounter & do our best rendition of the man himself. As always I am reminded of what Rogers Hornsby once said about signing autographs "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist."
a. Harry Caray worked for the A's? Not sure how this tidbit escaped my sports knowledge. I'm gonna have to see if I can find any A's memorabilia related to him.
ReplyDeleteb. I grew up in the era of Bill King, Lon Simmons, and Ken Korach broadcasting for the A's. Not sure I'd want to rewrite that, but I guess if there was going to be a "what if", Mr. Caray would be an interesting one.
Like Fuji, I did not know about Carey with the A's and I actually thought you made up the Holy Mule bit until I looked it up.
ReplyDeleteLiving in New York I'm glad we got WGN in the late 1990s so I could enjoy listening to Carey. We had Phil Rizzuto here in New York who had his own quirks that made him a delight to listen to, though despite the "Holy Cow" similarity they were different in their quirks.
I guess if Carey stayed in Oakland for much longer he would have outlasted Finley. Probably would have been great to listen to him announce the Billy Ball teams of the early 80's. Then him being around long enough to announce the Bash Brothers probably would have been the best gateway for him to get a national audience. Right around that time ESPN started doing baseball, maybe he could have gotten to do the Game of the Week, that would have been cool.
Also being a Labatt do you know the story of when the Blue Jays came into the league, Labatt was one of the team's sponsors and wanted the team to be the Blue Bats, which in French would be Les Bats Bleu (Labatt's Blue).
DeleteInteresting topic. I feel like Harry kind of connected with the Chicago fans cause he was down to earth. Not sure how that would’ve went down with Oakland fans. He may have lasted until the Bash Brother era, but my gut just tells me that he wouldn’t have connected with the underdog/hip hop crowd that started to make up the city and he would’ve been outed in the early ‘80’s. Not sure where he would’ve ended up cause I’m not sure which teams had longtime broadcasters during that era. Dodgers, Tigers, and Milwaukee definitely had no job openings back then. Maybe me made it to Minnesota and connects with the fans and is there for 1988 and 1991 titles.
ReplyDeleteAs for beer, I’m not a beer guy so I can’t tell you if Bud or Miller or whatever is better. I’m generally an Angry Orchard guy and tend for sweeter flavors like Strawberry or Raspberry. Blake’s Beeries is a good mix, and generally any kind of berry hard cider or apple hard cider is good with me.