Author Topic: The Bleachers  (Read 113011 times)

brs2

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3825 on: August 18, 2022, 09:24:57 pm »
Beyond the Midwest. As a child in South Florida, I could hear KMOX’s 50,000 watt signal (with a lot of white noise). Couldn’t hear WGN (local station blocked it out). I listened to a lot of Cardinals broadcasts (especially when they played the Cubs). Harry was very good.

Think that most folks realize that Harry's prime was with the Cardinals doing radio.  One summer in Chicago, I listened to Harry a lot on radio when he did the White Sox games and he was fabulous.  Later, of course, he had the stroke and was a different level of broadcaster than earlier.  But, like many, Harry shined on the radio pre-stroke.

Bill James was a big fan of Harry.  This excerpt is from the 1985 Bill James Baseball Abstract:

"I love Harry Caray. You have to understand what Harry Caray was to the Midwest in my childhood. In the years when baseball stopped at the Mississippi, KMOX radio built a network of stations across the Midwest and into the Far West that brought major league baseball into every little burb across the landscape. Harry’s remarkable talents and enthusiasm were the spearhead of their efforts.....This effect covers a huge area and encompasses millions of people, many times as many people as live in New York. A Harry Caray-for-the-Hall-of-Fame debate is in progress. To us, to hear New Yorkers or Californians suggest that Harry Caray might not be worthy of the honors given to Mel Allen or Vince Scully is a) almost comically ignorant, sort of like hearing a Midwesterner suggest that the Statue of Liberty was never of any real national significance and should be turned into scrap metal, and b) personally offensive...

But besides that, the man is really good. His unflagging enthusiasm, his love of the game, and his intense focus and involvement in every detail of the contest make every inning enjoyable, no matter what the score or the pace of the game. His humor, his affection for language and his vibrant images are the tools of a craftsman...He is criticized for not being objective, which is preposterous; he is the most objective baseball announcer I’ve ever witnessed. He is criticized for being “critical” of the players, when in fact Harry will bend over backwards to avoid saying something negative about a player or a manager. But Harry also knows that he does the fans no service when he closes his eyes and pretends not to see things. A player misses the cut-off man, Harry says that he missed the cut-off man."