Fans raise glasses for 25th annual Harry Caray toast
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago's most beloved broadcaster was honored with the 25th annual Toast to Harry Caray on Wednesday.
At 5:30 p.m., fans raised a glass to the iconic baseball announcer at all Harry Caray's Tavern restaurants. A live radio broadcast documented the event at the Navy Pier location.
The toast at Navy Pier will be led by Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg, followed by "Take Me out to the Ball Game."
This year's theme is "VOTE FOR HARRY: Re-Elect Harry Mayor of Rush Street." You can cast your vote online.
"It's fun to see people still love Harry 25 years later," Owner of Harry Caray's Grant DePorter said. "He's larger than life."
Caray was elected the Mayor of Rush Street in his own lifetime – back when he was a broadcaster for the White Sox.
"Harry was elected Mayor of Rush Street in 1980 because he would go out to bars every night - six bars a night every night," DePorter said. "He kept diaries because he thought he could write it off on his taxes. He said, 'This is the bar I'm at with Wilt Chamberlain, or Ernie Banks.'"
In honor of Caray, DePorter sought out endorsements. The list is quite a long one – among many other past and present elected officials, it includes Gov. JB Pritzker, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, retired Mayor Richard M. Daley, former U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Also on the endorsement list are celebrities like Bonnie Hunt, Bill Murray, and Eddie Vedder – and CBS 2 anchorman emeritus Bill Kurtis, whose voice voice you may have heard on TV urging people to vote for Caray.
Crowds were already at the Navy Pier Harry Caray's bright and early Wednesday morning. Forer Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster, Harry Caray impersonator Matt Wagner, and the Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band all turned out as CBS 2's Jackie Kostek reported live – and everyone sang an early round of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" just like Caray used to in the seventh-inning stretch.
Former Cubs and White Sox stars Dempster, Ryne Sandberg, and Ron Kittle all shared their stories Wednesday of their run-ins with Caray and how he influenced their careers.
Cubs Hall of Famer Sandberg said this is an event he's tries to attend every year.
"He was critiquing my play every single game that I played so I needed to play well," Sandberg said. "I tried my best to play good baseball."
Dempster said although he did not get to meet Caray, "I feel like I knew him for a long time through the relationships I have with people and it's special.
But DePorter says for a man who rubbed shoulders with the brightest stars in the worlds of sports, entertainment, and politics, it was the fans who he loved the most. And they loved him right back.
"When we started the toast, we didn't realize he had fans in every country in the world. We had 150 countries participate in this toast - over 5 million people over the years," DePorter said. "He's one of these people - the legend of Harry just keeps growing and growing and growing."
Caray was born in 1914 in St. Louis, and began his broadcasting career on radio with the St. Louis Cardinals and the former St. Louis Browns in the 1940s. After one season broadcasting with the Oakland Athletics in 1970, Caray arrived in Chicago – broadcasting games for the White Sox from 1971 through 1981, and the Cubs from 1982 through 1997.
Caray passed away on Feb. 18, 1998 – 25 years ago last month – at the age of 83.
