Name: Harry Caray on Letterman, July 31, 1986
Uploaded: 2016-08-11T04:57:16.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Harry Caray on Letterman, July 31, 1986' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2016-08-11. Transcript available. Harry's first of two appearances on Late Night.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Harry Caray on Letterman, July 31, 1986' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2016-08-11. Transcript available. Harry's first of two appearances on Late Night.

Our next guest tonight has been calling baseball games, this is hard to believe,
42 years this man has been doing play-by-play.
He is considered one of the best and certainly one of the most colorful of
anyone in the business.
If you happen to be at Wrigley Field and you can make it through seven innings
of watching the Cubs, it's only a joke, it's only a joke.
You'll see him during the stretch. Take a look now at this man in action during
the seventh inning stretch.
Here he is, Harry Carrier.
All right!
Let me hear you good and loud!
Ah, one!
Ah, two!
Ah, three!
Take me out to the ball!
Yes, sir. It's like some kind of religious ceremony, isn't it?
Please welcome Harry Carrier.
Harry!
Good to see you, Harry. How are you? Come on up here.
How you been, Harry?
I didn't realize there's so many true music lovers.
Yeah.
As there are here.
Now, how did that start? You do that every game at Wrigley Field?
You know, I've always sung. Whenever I heard Take Me Out to the Ball Game, I'd
sing it, but only in the booth.
And the first six years I was with the White Sox, John Allen owned the ball
club, and the only people who heard me sing was Jimmy Pearsall and our producer.
The guys you worked with there.
Yeah, right, in the booth.
Yeah, I said, Take Me Out to the Ball.
Well, Bill Veck bought the ball club, and he noticed that, just lip reading,
that I was singing.
And then after a couple of days, he noticed the fans right below the booth were
singing with me.
And then one day, without my knowing it, he had a public address microphone put
in the booth.
Right.
And I'm singing, Take Me Out to the Ball Game. All of a sudden, I hear my voice
come booming back at me, along with about 15,000 others.
So after the game, I went up to Bill, and I said, What was that all about?
He said, Harry, I've been waiting 35 years to find the right guy to do this.
You know, I'm getting a little pumped up. I think he's flattering me.
He said, Yeah. He says, As soon as I heard you, he said, I knew that any fans
sitting in the ballpark, as soon as he heard you sing, would be happy, happy to
sing along.
Because they knew, every one of them, that they could sing at least as good, if
not better than you.
It makes you feel at home. It makes you feel comfortable.
Whereas if you had a good voice, you said, you would intimidate them.
They lose their inhibition, and everybody turns it into a party.
And of course, that's the whole thing, the fans singing.
Now, do you ever, Harry, I don't know if this is putting you on the spot or not,
but do you ever, on a hot day, like it probably is now, when you go back to
Chicago after the road trip, hot afternoon, it's a day game, do you ever pound
down some buds?
While you're calling a game, Harry, do you ever do that?
Now, David, what do you think I've been doing the last half hour, waiting to
come on?
I had a six-pack of Budweiser when I heard you complaining about the fact that
you didn't have enough beer out here.
I almost brought the six-pack out.
One lousy case.
Listen, you've been doing these games for 42 years.
Has there anybody been doing play-by-play longer than that, or even close to
that?
Well, I think maybe Ernie Harwell with the Detroit Tigers, an outstanding broadcaster.
Then Scully, I started in 45, and Scully started in 48, so he's close.
And they told me when they hired me, it was a temporary job.
Yeah.
You started out with whom?
Well, I...
Cardinals?
I was born and raised in St. Louis, and you can imagine, the Cardinals were my
favorite team from the day I could remember.
And all of a sudden, the miracle of life, I'm broadcasting Cardinal games.
Big thrill for you.
And I own the town, and I broadcast them for 25 years, and I thought they were
going to give me a gold watch, and they gave me a pink slip.
They dumped you.
Yeah.
Then I went out to work for Charlie Finley for a year, and that's par for the
course.
Yeah.
And then I came to Chicago, and I was with the White Sox 11 years, and now with
the Cubs.
Yeah.
Yeah, you must like it in Chicago.
I love Chicago.
Have you ever missed a game in 42 years?
Never missed a game, never missed a time at bat, never missed a half inning
that I was supposed to do.
You know, Chicago is such a marvelous city, David.
Hey, we got some Chicago people in.
You know, I made several...
I made several visits to Indianapolis, and everybody...
You must have had a million friends there, because everybody would come up to
me and say,
Hey, I knew David Letterman.
Yeah.
Well, I'm a very well-liked man.
Not only in Indianapolis, I'm a man.
Yeah, but now, Harry, now, also, I happen to know that you're a man who enjoys
relaxation after the ball game,
and you go out to Chicago, various places.
You stay out late, which you're certainly entitled to do.
Have you ever worked a game when you have been a little less than, you know?
Listen, Dave, you know very well that you never succeed in this business
until you have the experience of working with a terrible hangover.
Not until you've been able to come through with flying colors under those
circumstances
can you consider yourself a professional.
And Lord knows, I've had more than my share of hangovers.
But never miss a day, folks.
Never miss a day?
Never miss a day.
Never miss a night, either.
Do you hang around with players?
Oh, sure.
Who's your favorite player?
Oh, Stan Musial of the Cardinals.
Forever and ever and ever.
I saw him throughout his career.
He was not only a great ball player, but a great man.
To this day, he tries to contribute, give something back to the game of
baseball
because he appreciates how much good baseball did for him.
Everybody isn't that way.
Stan the man.
Stan the man.
My first baseball glove was a Stan Musial, three-fingered, left-handed fielder's
mitt.
How come you couldn't use it very well?
How do you know I couldn't?
They told me in Indianapolis.
Now, Harry, the Cubs are what, 23 out or something?
You have to ask questions like...
No, but they're not doing well this year.
No, they're not.
Well, they've been playing...
How far out are they?
They've been playing about 24 games out.
Now, how do you make a game like that exciting?
Say they're playing a series with the Dodgers or somebody,
and they're not doing well this season either.
How do you...
Yeah, Dave, it's impossible not to be excited doing Chicago Cubs baseball
especially at Wrigley Field.
You know, I hear the Cubs 24 games out.
They played the Phillies the other afternoon.
The Phillies were 21 games out.
It was sort of a hot, humid day.
Wednesday afternoon in Chicago, 38,000 people paid.
We had the All-Star break.
The first day after the All-Star break,
every other team played at night.
The Cubs played the only day game.
The Cubs outdrew everybody in baseball,
and they played the only day game.
It's a great franchise.
Yeah, but that's not my question, Harry.
I don't.
How do you make the broadcast exciting
for the folks who can't get off work to go out to Wrigley Field?
Well, I have great partners.
I've got Steve Stone, Arnie Harris, our TV producer,
Lou Boudreau, Dwayne Statz, Vince Lloyd.
It's guys that are easy to work with and off of, you know?
And plus you're drinking beer.
You know, that does throw a different light on the whole situation.
Makes almost any game exciting.
It's amazing how rosy pictures can look.
Listen, Harry, have a great second half, and good luck.
Nice to see you.
Thank you.
Harry Carey, folks.
We'll be back with Martin Smith.