Welcome to White Sox Enemies List, an occasional feature in which we, in the spirit of running our democratic site with an iron fist, take a look back through Sox history at those who have wronged the club, its players, its fans, or some combination (or derivative) thereof. In this edition, we examine a key figure in the evolution of the Sox-Cubs rivalry and his impact on the way we watch the games we watch today.
Name: Harry Caray
Occupation: Broadcaster, Spokesman
Relationship to Sox: Covered television broadcasts from 1971 to 1981; considered, along with partner (and former major league outfielder) Jimmy Piersall, to be the gold standard in South Side media tandems.
Reason for Inclusion: Harry left the Sox after the 1981 season amid griping from players that he too harshly and frequently criticized them (in his defense, the club lost an average of 83 games a year in that ten-year-span) to work for the Cubs, of all teams; the Cubs’ offer, ironically, was less than what the Sox offered him, although the Sox’ move to SportsVision meant a smaller audience; Caray then changed his allegiance from Falstaff beer to Budweiser, a doubly-ironic move in light of Caray’s alleged firing from the St. Louis Cardinals for an affair kept up with Mrs. Augustus A. Busch, Jr.; Caray complained later the Sox wanted him to be a “company man,” although as Cubs broadcaster he became enough of a homer to make his successor look impartial; made South Side-born tradition of singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” incorrectly synonymous with North Side baseball.
Likelihood of Reconciliation: Already either absolved or forgotten, depending on when you were born. To anyone under the age of 24 when Harry and Steve Stone worked the Cubs broadcasts, he was the goofy old fan who’d somehow snuck into the press box, someone too charismatic and entertaining to be threatened by; to anyone over 40, he was too much of a drunken disgrace to take his affronts seriously; to both camps, he came to represent everything the Sox no longer had in a TV personality (and probably won’t for some time). Were Harry still in the booth, chances are he’d be having the time of his life calling the Battle of North and South right now. All things considered, those tuning in at home probably would be as well.
Andrew, your facts are not entirely correct. Harry left the Sox primarily because The Chairman and Eddie Einhorn wanted him to do the games on cable on Sportsvision.
While in 2009, watching cable in the Chicago area is no big deal, in 1981 it was…few people outside of people in the far out suburbs (McHenry County, Will County) had it. The Sox had most of their games on free TV then as did the Cubs.
Einhorn wanted to change that with a local cable sports network which would be owned, in part, by the White Sox. That was his reason for investing in the first place. While Comcast sports net is a part of every Sox fans life today, back then this idea started a revolution. Remember, in 1981, ESPN was nothing like it is now and there were very few cable channels.
The Chairman, a reality lawyer, had land in Addison he wanted to develop into a ball park. That was his reason to invest in the Sox.
The boys came in cocky and even said that Bill Veeck was “a penny ante operator.”
Harry, not liking or trusting the new owners and not wanting to do 120 games on cable for the twelve homes that were wired at the time, told them to stuff it and walked. Andy Mckenna, a former Sox investor under Veeck and the new chairman of the Cubs, asked Harry to come to the North side. Although reluctant at first, Harry saw this as a great way to get back at Jerry and Eddie.
Harry isn’t the traitor here. The parting of the ways with harry was just the first in a series of many misteps by The Chairman.
BTW, for what it’s worth, Harry told me the story himself.
Chip –
Thanks for pointing that out. My intent wasn’t to paint Harry’s departure as a one-way middle finger-giving, and I hope it didn’t come off that way when the worst thing I can say is he was looking out for himself. Personally I thought the benevolence Harry publicly showed towards his former employer was very classy, even when things behind the scenes were less than pleasant.
I don’t doubt Harry (or anyone close to the organization) understood Reindsorf and Einhorn’s motivations for coming aboard (and the SportsVision fiasco and 1988-Addison-St. Pete trifecta alone could land entries on this list in its own right), but the version of Harry’s departure retold by more than one locally-famous sports media figure points to a situation not too far off from what eventually happened with Steve Stone and the Cubs, the difference being that Sox brass didn’t care what the players thought of Harry as long as he could bring an audience with him to SportsVision.
Harry, the story went, coupled the players’ acrimony with the smaller audience and realized his job was about to get a lot worse, even with the raise he was offered. If living well is the best revenge, Harry definitely got his.
(Considering their ages and résumés I suspect these folks’ information didn’t come the man himself. This, I suppose, is what I get for trusting second-hand information. Or local gossip passed on as gospel truth by certain Chicago sports media personalities who spend their evenings at hard-drinking social functions. Or both.)
Back when I went to the ’85 Crosstown Classic game (and my mom just parked on the street a few blocks from the ballpark after the long drive down – from Schaumburg!) and I remember thinking how odd it was to hear Harry sing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” TWICE. Once for the Cubs, and once for the Sox.