The Legendary Harry Caray: Baseball's Greatest Salesman

The Legendary Harry Caray: Baseball's Greatest Salesman

by Don Zminda (Author)

Synopsis

Harry Caray is one of the most famous and beloved sports broadcasters of all time, with a career that lasted over 50 years. Always a baseball enthusiast, Caray once vowed to become a broadcaster who was the true voice of the fans. Caray's distinctive style soon resonated across St. Louis, then Chicago, and eventually across the nation. In The Legendary Harry Caray: Baseball's Greatest Salesman, Don Zminda delivers the first full-length biography of Caray since his death in 1998. It includes details of Caray's orphaned childhood, his 25 years as the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals, his tempestuous 11 years broadcasting games for the Chicago White Sox, and the 16 years he broadcast for the Chicago Cubs while also becoming a nationally-known celebrity. Interviews with significant figures from Caray's life are woven throughout, from his widow Dutchie and grandson Chip to broadcasters Bob Costas, Thom Brennaman, Dewayne Staats, Pat Hughes, and more. Caray was known during his final years as a beloved, often-imitated grandfather figure with the Cubs, but the story of his entire career is much more nuanced and often controversial. Featuring new information on Caray's life-including little-known information about his firing by the Cardinals and his feuds with players, executives, and fellow broadcasters-this book provides an intimate and in-depth look at a broadcasting legend.

$41.17

Quantity

9 in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 12 Apr 2019

ISBN 10: 1538112949
ISBN 13: 9781538112946

Media Reviews
Harry Caray springs to life, thanks to Don Zminda's meticulous research. Caray's artistry and his personal flaws are under Zminda's microscope, and the reader benefits from this rare analysis of one of broadcasting's most controversial characters. -- Bill Brown, veteran MLB broadcaster
Zminda's book on Harry Caray fully captures the bluster, color, and brilliance of baseball's raspy-throated clown prince. -- Chris Erskine, columnist, Los Angeles Times
Don Zminda's deep dive into Harry Caray's amazing life and broadcasting career is a must-read for baseball fans of every generation. Caray was intimately linked to no less than three big league franchises-the St. Louis Cardinals and both Chicago franchises, most notably the Cubs, with whom he became a national TV treasure. It's a wild and riotous ride with tons of laughs, iconic moments, and yes, beer. -- Len Kasper, play-by-play announcer, Chicago Cubs
If I were asked what all-time baseball announcer most loved the pastime, I would almost surely answer Harry Caray, its irrepressible, incorrigible, unforgettable Falstaff behind the microphone. Don Zminda shows why, as was once said of Bill Veeck, Harry made of baseball a Carnival, every day a Mardi Gras, and every fan a King. -- Curt Smith, author, Voices of The Game: The Acclaimed Chronicle of Baseball Radio and Television Broadcasting
Harry Carabina, as he revealed on my nationally syndicated Talking Baseball television show (I had never met him before he walked into the studio), sure worked his way up from selling newspapers on the streets of St. Louis as a boy. You gotta love a guy who says, I sing `Take Me Out To the Ballgame' because it's the only song I know the words to. -- Ed Randall, host of Ed Randall's Talking Baseball on WFAN Sports Radio and Remember When on SiriusXM
Harry Caray's life could be and should be the basis for a major motion picture. And when that happens, this is the book that should be used for the source material. It's an insightful, well-researched, at times hilarious and frank look at the man, the myth, the mistakes, the madness and the magnificence of this one-of-a-kind legend. -- Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times and WGN radio
There was no one in baseball quite like Harry Caray. And now, through Don's words, we get to know the storyteller, character, and brutally honest force of nature behind the seventh-inning stretch and Will Ferrell impression. It might be ... it could be ... it is a joy to read. -- Joe Posnanski, national columnist, The Athletic
Author Bio
Don Zminda spent more than two decades with STATS LLC, where he was Director of Research for STATS-supported sports broadcasts that included the World Series, the Super Bowl, and the NCAA Final Four. Zminda is the author and editor of over a dozen sports books, including the annual STATS Baseball Scoreboard (1990-2000) and Go-Go to Glory: The 1959 Chicago White Sox. A Chicago native, Zminda has been a member of the Society for American Baseball Research since 1979.