10 Things You Didn’t Know about Harry Carey

He was tremendously entertaining.

Creative Commons: bryce_edwards

One of the best things about listening to broadcasts of Chicago’s professional pro sports teams was the announcers. There were truly some great ones. And that came in handy since most of Chicago’s pro sports team stunk during that era. And out of those great sportscasters, one was my favorite. Harry Carey. And that’s saying a lot since I grew up listening to another great broadcaster, Jack Brickhouse.

Near the end of his career Harry might not have been the announcer he was, but he was still hugely beloved. Even near the end of his career, Harry still called a great game, it just wasn’t necessarily the one being played on the field.

But it was more interesting and entertaining.

Now, on to some things you might not have known about Harry Carey.

1: He wasn’t Hindu.

Despite one of his signature calls being, “Holy Cow!” he was not advocating any religion with it.

2: Harry was a notorious homer.

And maybe that was why his local audiences loved him. In my case, I like the idea of an announcer being as emotionally involved in the game as I was. The fact that he was often drinking beer made him perhaps even more emotionally involved.

3: Harry was rumored to have had an affair with Susan Busch, wife of August Busch III. August was then an executive with Anheuser-Busch, owner of the Cardinals. Harry was calling Cardinals games at the time.

I’m not sure Harry’s love of Busch was confined to beer.

4: Harry’s final resting place is All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.

I loved to listen to Harry, but maybe that place should be known as, “Most Saints Cemetery.

5: After being fired by the St. Louis Cardinals, Harry spent a year doing Oakland A’s games.

Harry was working for the colorful owner of the Athletics, Charles O. Finley. Finley wanted Carey to change is trademark call from, “Holy Cow’ to “Holy Mule.” And Harry lasted a year?

6: From Oakland, Harry went on to do White Sox games from 1971–81.

While Harry’s style of telling it like he saw was popular with fans, it was not so popular with White Sox players. If Harry had watched this year’s White Sox team, they would probably have refused to play. And Sox fans would have been better off.

7: Harry also had a famous home run call.

His, “It might be… it could be… it is!” had a method behind it. It helped Harry not to call a home run prematurely. It came in especially handy later in his career as his eyesight got even worse. Otherwise, his call might have been, “It might be…it could be…what happened?”

8: Harry used to enjoy figuring out how a player’s name would be pronounces when read backwards.

That’s because Harry studied Hebrew, which is read from right to left. Hang on, being told that’s not true.

9: While working for the White Sox, Harry would broadcast some games from the bleachers.

Sometimes Harry would do it sans shirt. Harry promoted beer, and it showed. But everybody in the bleachers seemed to have a good time.

10: Then White Sox owner, Bill Veeck, got Harry to start singing “Take Me out to the Ballgame.”

Bill’s reasoning was, “Anybody in the ballpark hearing you sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ knows that he can sing as well as you can. Probably better than you can. So, he or she sings along.” Harry definitely did it his way. Just like the way he called the game. And the fans loved.

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