Harry Caray became a popular baseball broadcaster, in part, because he seemed so familiar to listeners and viewers. It’s not until someone digs under the surface that a much fuller, sometimes surprising, version of him emerges.
Mike Mitchell has written the definitive Harry Caray biography, “Holy Cow St. Louis!” An entertaining and informative read, the book is available on Amazon and at the author’s webpage.
A superb researcher, Mitchell separates fact from myth about Caray’s life, and shows how he became a cultural icon. In addition to telling a compelling story about Caray, the book explores how radio and television shaped baseball. Bonuses for readers include insights into Harry’s son, Skip Caray, and other broadcasters.
“Holy Cow St. Louis!” is Mitchell’s third book. He’s also written “Mr. Rickey’s Redbirds: Baseball, Beer, Scandals and Celebrations in St. Louis” and “Show-Me Kings: Bootheel Ball, the Cookson Clan and a Run-And-Gun All-Star Show.”
Here are excerpts from a March 2023 e-mail interview with the author about the Harry Caray book:
Q: Congratulations on the book, Mike. Other books have been written about Harry Caray. What makes yours different?
A: Thank you. This is the first book to focus on Harry’s St. Louis years. Because he spent so many seasons calling baseball on television in Chicago, many forget that Harry spent more time with the Cardinals than any other team. I interviewed a relative of Harry’s in Webster Groves, Mo. (where Harry graduated high school in 1932). I was the first journalist he had spoken with. I have pictures and stories about a young Harry and his parents that no one has ever published. Beyond his youth, focusing on his time in St. Louis allowed me to delve into details of Harry’s professional career that many have either forgotten or never known.
Q: Harry Caray died 25 years ago, but yet he remains a prominent baseball figure. Why is that?
A: A big part of it is the breadth and depth of his career. Harry spent more than 50 years broadcasting baseball. He deeply connected with fans in two cities (St. Louis and Chicago) and three fan bases _ Cardinals, White Sox and Cubs (and don’t forget two years of Browns games and a season calling baseball in Oakland). Combine thousands of games with a man who loved to spend a night on the town means everyone has a favorite Harry story. Fans look at sports as fun and entertainment. So did Harry.
Q: Was Harry Caray a good baseball broadcaster or a good showman?
A: He was both, but it all started with his broadcasting ability. Long before he ever stood up to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” Harry was a voice on the radio that stirred great emotion among fans. I have a chapter in the book titled “Listening to Harry.” He influenced a generation of sportswriters and broadcasters, with more than one saying they were disappointed the first time they ever attended a baseball game. The actual contest paled in comparison to Harry’s descriptions. “He could make a foul ball sound exciting,” said Indiana University broadcaster Don Fischer.
Q: What did you learn in your research about Harry that most surprised you?
A: Many things. We primarily think of Harry as a baseball broadcaster, but he worked year-round. Besides the Cardinals, he broadcast more seasons of University of Missouri football than any other team. He called St. Louis University and later St. Louis Hawks basketball in the winter. Early in his career, he broadcast wrestling, boxing, hockey, and even some high school football. When he wasn’t describing a game, he was making appearances and doing speaking engagements all over the Midwest. As far back as the 1940s, someone, somewhere, was listening to Harry nearly every night of the year.
I spent a lot of time researching the papers of Al Fleishman, the man who ran public relations for Anheuser-Busch. He and Harry had a stormy relationship almost from the moment the brewery bought the ballclub. The sheer amount of memos that flew between Fleishman-Hillard and Anheuser-Busch makes it clear that many people spent an awful lot of time worrying about things Harry said or did. Even after Harry left the Cardinals and Anheuser-Busch, the brewery still kept tabs on him. As I write in “Holy Cow St. Louis!,” any surprise at Harry’s dismissal in 1969 is replaced by another thought: How did he last as long as he did?
Q: Was Harry Caray as big a drinker and partier as his reputation makes him out to be?
A: There is no doubt Harry enjoyed his alcohol and loved to go out. He was an extrovert who drew his energy from being around people. He enjoyed a quality adult beverage or two and a good bar argument. At the same time, Harry was a master of public relations and a beer salesman. He was directly employed by breweries his entire St. Louis career. Harry knew that if fans thought he was drinking and having a good time, they would be more inclined to do the same. Harry’s best friend, Pete Vonachen, spoke of many nights in bars where they would leave drinks on the counter if Harry didn’t like the atmosphere. The buzz and the vibe were more important than the beverage.
Q: Will we ever see the likes of a baseball broadcaster like Harry Caray again?
A: What Harry accomplished will never be repeated. He dominated two entirely different media eras. He began his broadcasting career with radio as the dominant medium. His St. Louis years are preserved in his radio calls. He joined the Cubs as cable television exploded in popularity. That’s our Chicago memory of Harry. With KMOX, his voice reached fans nationwide. With WGN, his image was beamed across North America. No one better navigated the transition from 50,000-watt clear-channel radio to cable television superstation than Harry.
Q: What do you think Harry would have thought about grandson Chip Caray becoming the Cardinals’ TV broadcaster?
A: I’m sure he’d be extremely proud. Chip was supposed to work with Harry in 1998, then Harry passed away. Twenty-five years later, Chip joins the Cardinals. His grandfather called Cardinals baseball for 25 seasons. If Chip can make it until 2045 with the Cardinals (the year he turns 80), baseball will celebrate a century of Carays (Harry, Skip, and Chip) broadcasting major league baseball. No other family can say that.
Q: Harry Caray spelled backwards is Yrrah Yarac. Think he’d enjoy trying that one out on the air?
A: No one enjoyed spelling _ or attempting to pronounce names _ backward more than Harry. My favorite was listening to Harry’s attempt to pronounce Mark Grudzielanek _ forward or backward.
RetroSimba 
Thanks Mark. I’m going to try to get this book. There will never be another Harry Carey. Not just because the culture and society we live in won’t allow it, but also because MLB has become a “yes man” corporation that is only interested in making money.
I agree with your astute comments about MLB, Phillip.
The “Holy Cow” book has many shocking insights into the Nixonian efforts made by Gussie Busch advisers to try to muzzle and discredit Harry Caray over the years.
Great interview.
As Mr. Mitchell stated, Caray lasted one season in Oakland and didn’t like tyrannical owner Charlie O. and fellow broadcaster Monte Moore very much. (Finley exclaimed, “that shit [Caray] pulled in St. Louis didn’t go over here.”) Finley also wanted Caray to change his broadcast chant of “Holy Cow” to “Holy Mule.”
I think things worked out for the best, and I’ve watched and enjoyed many drunken, slurring Caray/Cubs broadcasts in my youth. Besides, I think artist/hippie/intellectual Bill King was a perfect fit in the Bay Area as a cultural icon just as Caray was in Chicago.
Holy Mule! I enjoyed your comments and insights, Gary.
Holy Toledo! I’m glad you mentioned Bill King. He was one of the best, for the reasons you state _ and more. A joy to listen to.
In a 1990 interview with Bay Area Radio Digest and posted online by the Bay Area Radio Museum, Bill King explained why he liked doing radio rather than TV broadcasts: “Radio is the theater of the mind. There’s nothing left to the imagination in television. On radio, you have to be all senses. That is the source of satisfaction. There’s a bit of the walking-the-high-wire aspect to it. If you blow the call on the instant of the play, you can recap brilliantly, but you’ll never have the opportunity to do it again. That’s the exhilaration and energy-creating force of doing radio.”
Great interview, Mark. Clearly, Mike has a passion for baseball and Harry both. Caray was one-of-a-kind to be sure. Glad I got a chance to hear him do his thing.
Passion is a good choice of a word to describe Harry Caray, Bruce. He had a fan’s passion right until the end.
When Harry Caray died in February 1998, Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas told the Philadelphia Daily News, “I don’t think any broadcaster who ever lived had more of a relationship with his fans. He was just a joy to be around.”
Kalas recalled, “Back when he was doing Cardinals games, they had a shortstop, Dal Maxvill, who was a light hitter. So Harry would say something like: ‘Bottom of the ninth, tying run at third, two outs and Maxvill coming to the plate. We’ll be right back with the recap.’ “
He may have been a great broadcaster, but; the way he treated Jack Buck and the Busch family when he got busted fooling around with Auggie’s daughter in law was implorable. In the end, he was a slobbering drunk . He bad mouthed Jack Buck and stabbed him in the back.
Thanks for commenting. Do yourself a favor and read the book. It gives a full, factual and credible account of Harry Caray’s life and career.
Great interview Mark. Thanks for sharing this. You know how some things stay lodged in your memory forever. I don’t remember much but I remember Harry’s impromptu songs about players like Jody Davis.
“Jody…..Jody Davis, catcher with the long ball swing. Jody……Jody Davis, catcher without a fear.”
Harry put fun into baseball as it should be and him announcing “a ground ball to third” when in fact it was a pop up to short will always be refreshing to me, the imperfection, the human side and him sitting in the bleachers with fans….kind of beautiful.
I am glad you mentioned the Jody Davis song, Steve. Oh, what a joyful delight that was. As Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune wrote, “Harry Caray made a generation of Cubs fans love Jody Davis.”
I agree with your eloquent description of why Harry was a terrific broadcaster.
When Harry died, his former broadcast partner, Jack Buck, told the Tribune, “There’s going to be a loud silence” in baseball.
One more from the Tribune’s Paul Sullivan: “”Caray’s voice was unmistakable. Fingernails on a chalkboard to some, as calming as the sound of the ocean to others. The sound of baseball to all.”
I’m afraid there is never going to be another generation of baseball broadcasters like Harry Caray and his contemporaries.
Yes, so many broadcasters today seem terrified to say anything that would be deemed as controversial or unsupportive of the team and the franchise. The broadcaster has become, in many instances, an on-air marketer.
My copy arrived yesterday. Even the footnotes at the end of each chapter are interesting.
I am so glad you got the book and that you appreciate the gems that are the footnotes. Mike Mitchell puts a lot of work into those footnotes and, as you have discovered, they are a reader bonus. Enjoy!
In 2019 I visited the Cardinals Hall of Fame and museum. There was a picture when I entered the museum of Harry interviewing a player, and I pointed to it and told the guy at the counter, “He belongs here.” I can’t understand how Harry is not a member of the Cardinals Hall of Fame.
A big part of my Cardinals’ passion is from my dad, who would tune in KMOX from our home in Wyoming and listen to Harry and Jack call games in the 1960s. When I had to go to bed before the game ended my dad would fill me in on the events, often saying what Harry had commented on the action. Listen to those old Cardinals’ highlight records, and passion Harry brought to a broadcast blasts out. Even his “TWO strikes and a ball” description is powerful, the way he would emphasize “two.”
Bill King – another legend. I listened to San Francisco and later Golden State Warriors games as a kid, dialing in KNBR. One nice thing about growing up in Wyoming back then was the ability to access many 50,000 Watt stations, from the midwest to the west coast. I met King at a Nuggets-Warriors game in Denver years ago, and have a great story about him. But I cannot share it here – it is rated X, for foul language. :-)
I really enjoyed your comments, Michael. Thanks for the splendid stories and remembrances of Harry Caray (you are correct about him being a “must” for the Cardinals franchise hall of fame) and Bill King. it says so much for the skills of Harry Caray and Bill King that they could make such strong and lasting connections with listeners.
Really interesting Cubs-Giants broadcast from 1986. Harry wearing a red Budweiser jacket, I guess no hard feelings. I never heard anyone say most split-fingers are actually spitballs, but that’s what Harry says as George Frazier strikes out Will Clark. As Mark Davis is warming up in the bullpen, Harry says, “he’s had a lot of trouble against the cubs,” and then he opens the door to a 5-run inning by throwing the ball away at third fielding a bunt. Leon Durham visibly pissed at being pinch-hit for by Lopes when he already has two hits. Lee Smith blows the save on a pinch-hit homer by Candy Maldonado, his 3rd of the season and it’s only May 13. Only 17,000 in the stands on a cold day.
Oops, here it is.
Good stuff. Fun to see and hear. Thanks for sharing.