harry caray

St. Louis, Missouri, United States Died February 18, 1998 (aged 83)

Rancho Mirage, California, USA Occupation Announcer This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008) For other uses, see Harry Caray (disambiguation).

Harry Caray (b. Harry Christopher Carabina, March 1, 1914, St. Louis, Mo.; d. February 18, 1998, Rancho Mirage, Calif.) was an American radio and TV broadcaster for four Major League Baseball teams, beginning with a long tenure doing the games of the St. Louis Cardinals and ending as the announcer for the Chicago Cubs, both of the National League, in between which he also served time as the announcer for the Oakland Athletics (for one year) and the Chicago White Sox (for eleven years). Contents [hide] 1 Career 1.1 St. Louis Cardinals 1.2 Oakland Athletics 1.3 Chicago White Sox 1.4 Chicago Cubs 1.5 The seventh-inning stretch 1.6 Personality and style 1.7 Bigotry Controversy 1.8 Non-baseball work 2 Death 2.1 Legacy 3 Honors and special events 4 References 5 External links //

Career

St. Louis Cardinals

Caray caught his break when he landed the job with the Cardinals in 1945 and, according to several histories of the storied franchise, proved as expert at selling the sponsor's beer as he'd been in selling the Cardinals on KMOX. Caray was also seen as influential enough that he could affect team personnel moves; Cardinals historian Peter Golenbock (in The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns) has suggested Caray may have had a partial hand in the maneuvering that led to the exit of general manager Bing Devine, the man who had assembled the team that won the 1964 World Series, and of field manager Johnny Keane, whose rumored successor, Leo Durocher (the succession didn't pan out), was believed to have been supported by Caray for the job.

In 1969, however, after the Cardinals had won back-to-back National League pennants and the 1967 World Series against the Boston Red Sox, Caray was unexpectedly fired as the Cardinals' lead broadcaster (Jack Buck subsequently replaced him). Golenbock and other Cardinal historians have suggested the cause was a purported affair Caray had with the daughter-in-law of Cardinals owner August Busch, Jr. (who also owned Anheuser-Busch brewery, the club's owner and broadcast sponsor); Caray first called it a business grudge while never necessarily denying or affirming the rumors. He was with the St. Louis Cardinals for 24 years, his longest tenure with any sports team.

Oakland Athletics

He spent one season broadcasting for the Athletics before, as he often told interviewers, he tired of owner Charles O. Finley's interference and accepted a job with the Chicago White Sox. (Apparently the feeling was mutual; Finley later said "that shit [Caray] pulled in St. Louis didn't go over