Skip to content
You are here: Home News Cubs Broadcast History - Page 8
Cubs Broadcast History - Page 8
Written by Ken   
Thursday, 26 July 2007 12:18
Article Index
Cubs Broadcast History
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
All Pages

CARAY ON WAYWARD SON

But nothing lasts. Brickhouse, who had been in the business for nearly 50 years, announced late in the strike-addled 1981 campaign that he would retire at season’s end.

Milo Hamilton, a well-traveled veteran who WGN hired in 1980, was scheduled to take over as the team’s TV voice in 1982. But the Tribune Company, which had purchased the Cubs in 1981 from the Wrigley estate, had other ideas.

Harry Caray, for a decade the biggest star the White Sox had, departed the club during the winter of 1981–82 in a disagreement over owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s decision to put a majority of the team’s games on his new cable television setup, SportsVision. Caray didn’t want to lose the exposure of free TV, feeling he was established enough not to have to “start over” with a new venture.

Caray, known as the “Mayor of Rush Street” in honor of his well-known penchant for cocktails in Chicago’s best-known nightlife neighborhood, took the initiative. He called the Tribune, then met with company officials in a whirlwind courtship, and signed a deal with the Cubs in early 1982.

Hamilton was stunned. The top job had been promised to him, and here he was, deposed by man he personally disliked. But Hamilton stayed on board in Chicago, and the team threw him a bone—in 1983, he dislodged Lloyd from the radio play-by-play role for six innings, then went to television for the middle three when Caray took over on radio.

This meant that the venerable Lloyd, a full-time play-by-play man since 1965, was now relegated uncomfortably to color work, and Boudreau’s continuing presence made for a confusing three-man radio booth.

Caray, a calculated, intelligent professional, never looked back; he knew he could call the shots, and took over the North Side has he had the South a decade earlier. His beery “Holy Cow!” calls, enthusiastic “Voice of the Fan” persona, and unquestioned knowledge of baseball quickly made him perhaps the most popular Cubs broadcaster ever.

For 1983, Caray teamed for the first time with Steve Stone, a former Cy Young Award winner with Baltimore who had also pitched for both the White Sox and Cubs in the 1970s. Witty, smart, and blessed with a fine broadcasting voice, Stone—despite a relative lack of experience behind the mike—proved immediately, and enormously, popular partnering with Caray (and Hamilton) on WGN-TV.

With WGN added to most basic cable systems during the 1980s, Caray and the Cubs became America’s sweethearts. It was quite an irony given Caray’s initial lack of interest in cable television.

The Cubs’ 1984 NL East title further cemented the franchise as a national cause célèbre. Following that season, Hamilton departed for Houston, while Astros #2 man Dewayne Staats made his way to Chicago.



Last Updated on Thursday, 26 July 2007 12:31