The
MLB Network aired its Harry Caray special last night, and it ended up about two
shades short of a whitewash. Mentioned
was an incident where Caray warned the Cardinals’ Ken Boyer “I can make you or
break you with this,” his microphone, but little else of how Caray could turn
on a player. Allow me three examples
from the time Caray resurrected his career in the 1970s with the White Sox.
First,
of course, is Bill Melton, who must’ve stepped on Caray’s toes one day or
refused to pick up a bar tab for him in Kansas City. Either way, Caray rode Melton like a horse to
the slaughterhouse. Why no Melton
interview to see what it was like to be on the wrong end of Caray’s microphone? Or how about Luis Alvarado?
Alvarado
was a journeyman infielder with the Sox in the early ‘70s whose fielding never
met Harry Caray’s high standards. If
Alvarado struggled under a pop up in a day game, Caray let go with something
along the lines of: I don’t know what his problem is. I mean, he’s from Puerto Rico. They got sun there, right?
Or
Caray would build up a player like rookie shortstop Harry Chappas, only to tear
him down, and he’d goad broadcast partner Jimmy Piersall into doing something
dumb enough to get suspended over. My,
how quiet Harry Caray got then, hoping that his good friend would be back in the
broadcast booth real soon. Again, why
not interview Piersall for his take on the man?
But the documentary
did offer a glimpse into the man as seen by his grandson, Braves’ broadcaster
Chip Caray. The younger Caray was a
12-year old Little Leaguer playing a game his grandfather happened to be
at. Chip went up to Harry, who didn’t
recognize him. For me, that says it all.
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