...after WGN-TV briefly got the White Sox package in '81, Harry Caray and Jack Brickhouse did a weekly studio show together, and they weren't afraid to get into arguments on-camera. It was perhaps the best sports TV show I ever saw...KeithE4 said:Corky Marlowe said:
I always liked Brickhouse, but I liked him even better when he was doing Sox games instead of that minor-league team on the north side.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Favorite memories of regional Major League Baseball announcers
- Thread starter Mike Stroud
- Start date
Milo Hamilton also had a stint with the Chicago Cubs between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros. When we first got cable in 1982, Harry Carey was doing the 1st, 2nd & 3rd innings on WGN-TV and then went tothe radio broadcast for the 4th, 5th & 6th innings before returning to the television booth for the 7th, 8th & 9th innings while Milo Hamilton handled the radio broadcast for the Cubs during the 1st, 2nd & 3rd innings, as well as the 7th, 8th & 9th innings while handling the TV booth during the 4th, 5th & 6th innings.Mike Stroud said:
I always got the impression that Harry Carey and Milo Hamilton didn't care for each other or at least Milo Hamilton didn't care for Harry Carey. I seem to recall Milo Hamilton made a few disparaging remarks about Harry Carey after his death that Skip Carey didn't really appreciate and called Milo Hamilton out on.
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
jwk1979 said:
Between the Braves and Cubs he also spent a 3 yr. stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates, in the unenviable role
of trying to fill the shoes of the legendary Bob Prince the year after he had been fired. There were tremendous
hard feelings in Pittsburgh over that, and Hamilton was not treated especially well here, despite his Hall of Fame
abilities. He did get to call their 1979 World Series championship season though.
Hamilton's broadcast partner in Pittsburgh was Lanny Frattare, who stayed with the team for 33 seasons.
One of my strongest memories is of sitting in the car with my dad in a shopping center parking lot in 1975, waiting for
my mom to come out of a store. We were listening to Bob Prince call a game on KDKA radio. In the third inning
he announced a special guest, Lanny Frattare, voice of the Pirates' AAA farm team in Charleston, WV.
Frattare turned in a sprited two innings of work, at the end of which Prince interrupted him and said
"Slow down there, young fella. I want to have a job next season!"
Of course, he didn't...
jwk1979 said:
Hamilton did 3 tours of duty in Chicago: With the Cubs on WIND radio in the 50s and on WGN-TV in 1980-83, and with the White Sox on WCFL in the mid '60s.
The feud between Caray and Hamilton went back to 1954, when Milo was fired from the Cardinals' radio booth to make way for Joe Garagiola. Hamilton always blamed Caray for the firing, although it was supposedly a Busch family decision to bring Joe G. in. The fact that Jack Brickhouse had named Hamilton as his successor, then turned around and hired Caray when he left the White Sox, made him even more bitter and angry (Brickhouse later admitted that he'd handled it badly).
Hamilton was always an excellent play-caller, but his hyper-sensitivity tended to get him in trouble. The fact that Caray wasn't always the greatest guy to his co-workers (Jimmy Piersall and Steve Stone being notable exceptions) was another factor.
Tim L said:
IIRC, Joe Tait and Bruce Drennan were on the TV call on WUAB/43 for Len Barker's perfect game.
KeithE4 said:
I stand to be corrected, but while Brickhouse indeed suggested Hamilton as his successor, I don't think he had much, if anything, to do with bringing Caray on board. IIRC that move came from higher-ups at Tribune and the Cubs.
There were stories earlier about encounters with baseball announcers....here's my quick one.
Late '60s, I'm at a Cubs game seated near home plate with the girl who a a few years later became Mrs. Cyberdad. Brickhouse came strolling by us on his way back to the booth after concluding pre-game on field interviews. My wife-to-be calls out to Brickhouse for an autograph. "Can't do it, sorry...no time".
Fast forward 20 years to a spring training game In Arizona. I'm seated in an almost identical spot near home plate, but this time I'm with my sons. Brickhouse strolls by again after having been on the field. But now he's retired, not calling the game, and not in a hurry. The boys asked him for an autograph, and I used the occasion to relate the incident of that long ago summer. Brickhouse chuckles....and then with a smile and a twinkle in his eye he graciously signs the program. Adding a smiley and a "Hi Mom" beneath his signature!
...any reaction from "Mom"? ;D ...cyberdad said:
B
BobSacamano
Guest
I grew up listening to the Orioles and Chuck Thompson, who had his own colorful phrases (.."Ain't the beer cold!") to go with his booming voice..even though he eventually lost his sight...he still would visit Camden Yards in his later years,..
cyberdad said:
Brickhouse was not only the Cubs' PxP guy, he was also the Executive VP of Broadcast Sports (or some other fancy title) for the Tribune Company. He was the one ultimately responsible for hiring and firing in the sports department of WGN radio and TV. He admitted his errors in his own autobiography, "Thanks for Listening."
IIRC, Caray had been an employee of both the Sox and WGN during the years they were on WSNS-TV (WGN-TV had produced the games). His contract for radio work was with the Sox and his TV work was with WGN, at least through the 1980 season. I believe there were a few times when Caray had to step in and do a few sports segments on Channel 9's newscasts.
When Jerry Reinsdorf bought the team in 1981 and WSNS went with ON-TV fulltime, the games were carried on WGN-TV, but Caray worked strictly for the Sox that year. He turned down an offer to remain with the team for 1982, not only because of SportsVision, but also because of the way they treated Jimmy Piersall. Contrary to rumors of the time, neither he nor Piersall were fired. Piersall spent the 1982 season as a SportsVision & WFLD studio host and was fired early in the '83 season.
I think that's how it worked out. Getting old....memory fading.... ;D
That's a great story! ;D
Waite Hoyt did the radio play-by-play of the Cincinnati Reds from 1942 through 1965. In all but the last three seasons that he was on the microphone, the Reds did not have a 50,000 watt station as a part of their network so many may not have had the opportunity to hear him. Hoyt broadcast in the past tense. Instead of saying "Frank Robinson drives a ball to left field...", Hoyt would say, "Frank Robinson drove a ball to left field...". He explained that doing it in that manner was just a matter of accuracy because the event had already taken place.
Hoyt had been teammates with Babe Ruth and during breaks in Reds games - such as rain delays - he would tell stories of the Babe and other goings-on of the Yankees and other matters of those times. It should be noted that Hoyt won 237 games as a pitcher during his major league career and in 1969, he was enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Hoyt did make it to network radio three times during his days with the Reds. He shared the microphone for the broadcast of the 1953 All-Star Game played in Cincinnati on the Mutual Broadcasting System. He also did the same for the second All-Star Game of the 1960 season on NBC Radio. Then he was one of the two announcers on NBC Radio when the Reds met the Yankees in the 1961 World Series.
His sponsor during the entire 1942-1965 span was Burger Beer and the group of stations that carried the Reds was called the "Burger Beer Baseball Network". When Burger ended their sponsorship of the radio brodcasts after the 1965 season, Hoyt retired as the play-by-play man rather than continue on for another beer sponsor. He did return as one of the announcers on Reds games on TV for the 1972 season. He passed away in 1984 at the age of 84.
Hoyt had been teammates with Babe Ruth and during breaks in Reds games - such as rain delays - he would tell stories of the Babe and other goings-on of the Yankees and other matters of those times. It should be noted that Hoyt won 237 games as a pitcher during his major league career and in 1969, he was enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Hoyt did make it to network radio three times during his days with the Reds. He shared the microphone for the broadcast of the 1953 All-Star Game played in Cincinnati on the Mutual Broadcasting System. He also did the same for the second All-Star Game of the 1960 season on NBC Radio. Then he was one of the two announcers on NBC Radio when the Reds met the Yankees in the 1961 World Series.
His sponsor during the entire 1942-1965 span was Burger Beer and the group of stations that carried the Reds was called the "Burger Beer Baseball Network". When Burger ended their sponsorship of the radio brodcasts after the 1965 season, Hoyt retired as the play-by-play man rather than continue on for another beer sponsor. He did return as one of the announcers on Reds games on TV for the 1972 season. He passed away in 1984 at the age of 84.
Cincinnati Kid said:
But the play as a whole was still going on. Announcing it in the present tense is fine.
I don't know his rationale for that, unless he thought it would be traitorous to Burger Beer drinkers that had been his fans for decades - despite it being no fault of his own that the beer sponsor changed.
Harry Caray may be best known as a hawker and guzzler of Anheuser-Busch products when he was with the Cardinals and Cubs, but he also pitched Griesedeick Bros. beer when calling St. Louis Browns & pre-AB-ownership Cards games, and Falstaff or Stroh's (depending on the year) during his White Sox tenure. I don't know which beer sponsored the Oakland A's when he was there (1970).
Apparently it didn't bother him all that much to switch beers. After all, he was paid very handsomely to endorse, as well as drink on-camera (did anybody else get away with this?), their products.
- Status