On ballplayer/broadcaster Richie "Whitey" Ashburn:
From 1971 until Ashburn’s death, he was joined by Harry Kalas in the
booth, where the two became best of friends and almost inseparable on
road trips. During his speech at Ashburn’s Hall of Fame induction
ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York, Kalas paid tribute to his colleague
and friend of nearly 30 years in the most fitting way by acknowledging
Ashburn’s professionalism as an astute broadcaster and his sense of
humor as a regular person. Kalas said the following:
>> People ask me what it was like working with Richie. His
Whiteness and I were together for 27 years, and it was such a joy. He
not only brought to the booth baseball experience but also laughter.
Whitey had a marvelous sense of humor. I remember doing games with him,
and it would be getting late in the game, late in the evening, and
Whitey would say on the air, “I wonder if the people at Celebres Pizza
are listening tonight?” Well, within 15 minutes, bang, pizzas are
delivered to the radio booth.
This went on for a while, and pretty soon the Phillies management
summoned him and they said, “Richie, Celebres Pizza is not one of our
sponsors. We can’t give them free plugs.” Now we do birthday and
anniversary announcements on the air, so shortly after his meeting with
the Philadelphia brass, it’s getting late in the evening and he’s
getting hungry. He said, “Well, I have very special birthday wishes to
send out tonight to the Celebres twins—Plain and Pepperoni.”
1 comment:
Czar,
Haven't seen you since a recent rare appearance at Haiku Monday. Come visit Serendipity and join in.
Post a Comment