For another take on Harry Caray, check out The Long Season by Jim Brosnan, the last ballplayer who actually wrote a book his name appeared on.
Brosnan was a struggling relief pitcher for the Cards in the late 50’s and felt he was repeatedly cheap-shotted by Caray on the air.
Brosnan’s books (he wrote one other) are intelligent and funny and honest and I highly recommend them.
I was at Wrigley on Tuesday night, seeing the Mets lose thanks to John Franco’s inability to touch first base and catch a bill at the same time.
In the Wrigley Field program, it stated that lights were originally planned to be installed way back in 1941, but the owner at the time ended donating all the electrical materials to the war effort.
I had never heard this before, and found no mention of this on the Cubs website. Does this sound reasonable to any of you guys?
The story about Wrigley donating the lights to the war effort has been around for a long time AFAIK no one has disproven it.
Yes, I have read the 1941 lights story a number of times as well.
Harry also left the White Sox because he did not get along with management. He was one of the early members of the “I hate Jerry Reinsdorf” club – an organizations whose ranks have swollen immeasurably over time.
Harry should never have come back after the stroke. It was just sad.
And perhaps the WORST radio team ever was the Cubs’ outfit in the mid-to-late '80s when they had Jim Frey and two other guys who’s names have mercifully escaped me. The ball would be hit, and you’d hear this trio react, saying “Oh wow, look at that!” “Did you see that?” “I can’t believe it.” About 30 seconds later, when the play was over, once of them would remember this was RADIO and get around, lamely, after-the-fact, to describing the play. It was excrutiating. It was worse than… well, worse than watching the Cubs play.