Harry Caray

From Sports Library

Brush With Greatness - by the Sloth

This story is short on excitement and hilarity, but to me, long on cosmic significance.

During the latter part of his career - sometime in either the 1995 or 1996 seasons, Harry suffered physical setbacks related to his 1987 stroke. Therefore, he did not do the announcing for most away series.

On a Friday night during that period, (perhaps June 2, 1995?) my buddy Brad and myself stopped in Harry Caray's Restaurant in Wheeling, IL to catch a few innings of the game. It was quite early in the evening, so it must have been an East coast game, in Florida perhaps. We took a peek at the menu, and for those of you not familiar with Harry's establishments, entrees are taken seriously. His places are not standard athlete-sports-bars-with-barfood. Few of the selections were under 15 bucks, so we decided to forego dinner, just go sit at a table in the bar, eat some free popcorn, and swill some Bud. For it would be sacrilegious to swill anything else.

So how surreal would you suppose it was, to be sitting there, watching the Cubs game, finishing our first Buds, and have Harry his ownself come up to our table, thank us for coming in, and buy us our next beers? I felt I kept myself surprisingly in check, while Brad, a noted loudmouth, was struck speechless. For even he felt the cosmic significance of sitting in the Man's bar, watching the Man's team, and having the Man buy us the Man's beer.

I saw him several other times over the years, in the concourse at Wrigley Field, and other places. And maybe he wasn't the greatest family man. But he was keenly aware of what the fans meant, to him, and as opposed to other "idols" I ran into over my lifetime, Harry Caray did NOT disappoint.