He Only Got to Second Base With Harry
Skip Bayless of the Chicago Tribune fondly remembering Harry Caray:
“During our teenage years, Harry was to my buddies and me what Wolfman Jack was to ‘American Graffiti.’ Harry’s voice was omnipresent on hot nights in Oklahoma City. You ate dinner and did your homework to Harry.
“You cruised for ‘chicks’ with Harry on the radio of your ’65 Mustang or ’67 Camaro. Girls wouldn’t go out with you a second time because you wouldn’t let them change the station. Who needed the Beatles or Stones when you could listen to Harry rock and fire?”
*
More Bayless: “Harry was not as eloquent as [Vin] Scully or as folksy as [Mel] Allen, but he could tell stories as effectively as either. For my money, he was more consistently entertaining than Scully or Allen because he was more passionate.”
*
Trivia time: Sandy Koufax pitched the first four no-hit, no-run games for the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Who pitched the fifth?
*
Bytes ‘n’ pieces: Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Sun Times writes that during the second half of the men’s NCAA basketball title game, Kentucky guard Jeff Sheppard crashed into press row, taking out the Sun-Times’ Herb Gould and Gould’s laptop computer.
“Gould emerged from the incident shaken but unhurt. But the same, sadly, cannot be said of his computer’s hard drive, which has no memory of this or anything else and has been forced to retire.”
*
Standard policy: Comedy writer Jerry Perisho commenting on the Arizona Diamondbacks’ first game last Tuesday:
“They had thousands of fans lined up outside well into the game. Hey, they play at Bank One Ballpark. Only one ticket booth was open.”
*
Add Diamondbacks: Phoenix contractor Jim Sanderson, who took his two young sons to the team’s opening game, paid $150 for three tickets, $10 for parking, $40 for baseball caps for his sons, and $75 more for food, programs and baseballs:
“It’s two hours to game time and I’m about tapped out.”
*
The good life: Justin Leonard, winner of last week’s Players Championship, commenting on the advantages of low scores in the early rounds of a tournament and getting later tee times as a result:
“It’s nice to be able to play well and be able to sleep in and watch cartoons in the morning.”
*
Looking back: On this day in 1983, Lorenzo Charles scored on a dunk after Derek Whittenburg’s 35-foot desperation shot fell short, giving North Carolina State a 54-52 victory over Houston in the championship game of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament.
*
Trivia answer: Bill Singer, a 5-0 victory over Philadelphia on July 20, 1970.
*
And finally: Marty Blake is looking forward to the NBA draft.
“There are 60 guys who could go in the first round,” said Blake, the league’s director of scouting.
Maybe so, but there will be only 58 players drafted.