I walked down to the ballpark this afternoon to watch them rededicate the Harry Caray statue. Let me tell ya - I was none too pleased with the ceremony. Sure it was grand to see Ernie Banks strolling around and Dutchie Caray is looking great, but I do not care for the rest of them.
I guess to the Cubs braintrust - to Chairman Tom Ricketts and Marketing Guru Wally Hayward - Harry Caray was nothing more than a beer drinker with some funny glasses. That sure was the message they obviously worked at delivering. Every Suit from the Cubs front office stood there wearing their over-sized spectacles, holding newly opened Budweiser bottles - just a prop to help get the message across.
Now I'm not saying Harry was the most noble of men and I agree with one article I read this morning that said Jack Brickhouse should have had a statue well before Mr. Caray's, but there were politics involved with that decision. I don't care to get into that. What I do care about is how the Cubs decided to take Harry Caray's contribution to baseball and to this franchise and condense it down to beer, glasses and the 7th inning stretch.
They decided to make this ceremony more about marketing than about honoring - more about filling seats for their meaningless game that followed than anything else. It was thoughtless and I think it made a mockery out of Harry Caray's career.
But I'd expect nothing less from Mr. Ricketts and his crew.
The hubbub over Harry Caray, who was always more of a Cardinal fan than a Cub fan, is really getting boring. No announcer, none, should ever have been immortalized in a statue. Real fans go to the park to see the athletes, the players, the game. Not the loyal announcer who worked for the As and the White Sox before the Cubs and who loved Bud when they signed the checks. In St. Louis he was a big Falstaff man. And no one wearing the cartoon glasses can ever be taken seriously!
ReplyDeleteWrong, its all about entertainment.Harrymade the game better!
DeleteAs I like to say "the drunk, Cardinal, White Sox guy" never should have had a statue. Look at all the statues in baseball Yount, Musial, Aaron but the Cubs put up a statue of "the drunk, Cardinal, White Sox guy". St. Louis didn't honor him, why should we have???
DeleteThe look on Len Kasper's face in the background says it all.
ReplyDeleteTom Ricketts is turning the Cub organization into a bigger disgrace than it was under Tribune Co.
ReplyDeleteBob
Harry was always a caricature of himself. He was always more mascot than announcer. He was horrible, but we loved him anyways...sound familiar?
ReplyDeleteI can't say anything about his career pre-1988 (when I started watching) but he always got players names, plays on the field and analysis just plain wrong! It wasn't til a few years after that (as I got older) that I realized why he was always slurring his words. So we can stop this "Harry was a great announcer" farce right now, thanks.
"What was he?" you might ask. He was a shameless promoter of himself and whatever anyone paid him to. In this process, he did some great things for the team, but in the marketing dept., never as an announcer. You say "7th inning stretch" or "Take me out to the ballgame" to people who never watched baseball and they'll say "Cubs!"...but what did he really do besides that?
As far as this article, I disagree with the premise almost entirely.
-Harry made a mockery of himself. That others follow along is a tribute in and of itself.
-Harry WAS nothing more than a beer drinker (read: alcoholic)who wore funny glasses. But he was that in a loveable-loser manner, befitting the cubs.
-If Harry was alive, he would have been right there, pleased as punch (or Bud) that people remember him fondly (or at all). It was a promotion and promotion was what Harry was all about.
Oh yeah...and if anyone really wants to talk about a REAL announcer and Cub fan that the organization DID screw over, I'll talk to you about Steve Stone all day.
Steve STONE sUCKS
DeleteYou sound like a fucking baby...
ReplyDeleteCome on, we're not talking about Vin Scully, Ernie Harwell, Jack Buck, or Jack Brickhouse; we're talking about Harry Caray. I loved the guy, watching Cubs games on WGN growing up, but he was only with the team for 15 years (after 3 or 4 other teams). And the reason he was so beloved is because of his clownish characteristics.
ReplyDelete"the drunk, Cardinal, White Sox guy" was NOT beloved, he was a slurring joke!
DeleteI like how he's sipping on his beer. Oh and nice stash' Mr. Owner. How about we worry more about fielding a team that has its big $ guys playing with heart.
ReplyDeleteLay off of the anti-Harry comments. We all know Ricketts and his crew had this type of thing in mind because they are sellouts. It's a matter of time before the "raise revenue" excuse is used to sell the naming rights to beloved Wrigley Field.
Nice post Wayne. I found it when writing my own thoughts about Mr. Ricketts. I hope you don't mind me leaving a link to mine. Feel free to take a look and leave a comment.
ReplyDeletehttp://sportsfixchicago.com/2010/09/06/forget-the-past-ricketts/
i was a kid during the 69 Cubs with Jack Brickhouse. Now there was a anouncer. Not at The park, his statue. So why is Harry?? never will understand that
ReplyDelete