One of the joys of my
childhood began at age six when my dad introduced me to the joys of St. Louis Cardinals
baseball on radio.
Until that time, my
acquaintance with the Cardinals and other major league baseball players was
solely through the cards on the back of Post cereal boxes.
Now I could listen night
after night as Harry Caray and Jack Buck detailed the adventures of my favorite
baseball team, whether they were in St. Louis, New York, or my favorite games,
the ones I listened to after everyone else had gone to bed from Los Angeles and
San Francisco. Even when the skies were cloudy and every other word on KMOX-AM
was interrupted by static, I kept listening.
I don’t remember the opponent
the Cardinals were playing the first night I listened, but I remember as
clearly now as on that summer day in 1962, Harry Caray’s call when catcher Gene
Oliver hit the game-winning home run. “It could be, it might be, IT IS…a home
run.” That was Caray’s signature call, but I did not know that at the time.
I was hooked.
