Born To The Booth

"Hi, Elvis," said Harry, figuring that it was just another fan and that Elvis was a popular name in Tennessee.

"Been listening to you for years," said the voice. "How are the Cardinals gonna be this season?"

"I think we're going to be O.K.," Harry replied. "We've got a good ball club."

"You don't even know who I am, do you?" the voice said finally.

"Elvis," said Harry.

"This is Elvis Presley," said the voice. "How long will it take you to come down to the street and see for yourself?"

Ten minutes later Caray was downstairs, and sure enough, a Cadillac pulled up with Elvis inside it. He took Harry to Graceland for the afternoon, dropped him off at the game and picked him up afterward. That night, Harry and Elvis shot the breeze, drank beer and ate ribs.

Until he had a stroke in February 1987, Harry had never missed a day's work, despite a Hall of Foam nightlife. He ended up missing only 32 Cub games that season, and WGN replaced him with an impressive succession of celebrities: Bill Murray, Jim Belushi, George Wendt, George Will, Mike Royko, Pat Summer-all, Dick Enberg, Brent Musburger, Bob Costas. If Elvis had been alive, he probably would have done a game, too. But the honor of replacing Harry Caray meant the most to Harry Caray II.

Skip was so emotional the day he was to do the Cub game, April 16, that he had the cabdriver stop a quarter mile from Wrigley Field so he could walk and compose himself. Everything went fine until the seventh inning. Said Skip, "In the bottom of the seventh, Steve [Stone] engaged me in animated conversation for quite a while before I realized he was trying to take my mind off things while they played a tape of my dad singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game. That was the only time I came close to losing it."

Skip actually got into broadcasting because Harry tricked him into it. Here's how Harry tells it: