Forty days ago, Wrigley Field was a different place.
Ryne Sandberg was where he should be-where he always should be-playing second base for the Cubs. Doing that little skip when he missed a curveball. Diving headlong into short right field to snare a blur of a ball. Breathing life into a game that is less without him.
Harry Caray was where he should be-where he always should be-broadcasting every Cubs game. Moaning and groaning. Suffering and celebrating. Breathing life into a game that is less without him.
Sandberg’s surprise retirement and the fall that put Caray into a hospital for two weeks were merely exclamation points on a miserable season in which public-address announcer Wayne Messmer was shot in the throat and the Cubs have wallowed in last place all year.
But for a few hours Friday, at least, the magic will be back at Wrigley with Ryno and Harry.
Sandberg is coming back to have his marble plaque enshrined in the “Walk of Fame” at the corner of Clark and Addison. He is one of five former players to be honored this year, joining Don Kessinger, Rick Reuschel, Cap Anson and Stan Hack.
The plaques will be in place when fans arrive for Friday afternoon’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, but ceremonies at which Sandberg and Kessinger will be presented with replicas of their plaques will be held inside the ballpark at 1:45 p.m.
Caray was inducted into the Walk of Fame last year and the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. But he says just being able to come back to work after missing 26 games is nearly as important as either of those honors.
“I’ve seen every game on TV, and I tell you, the fans have been terrific,” said Caray, who is making his second big comeback with the Cubs. The other was in 1987 when he had a stroke on Feb. 18 and missed the season’s first two months.
“The mass cards, the prayers and all the well-wishes from the fans have been wonderful, but I went through that in even bigger order when I had my stroke. This time, they more or less realize I’m going to be back. When I had the stroke, not only didn’t they know whether I’d be back, I didn’t know whether I’d be back, either.”
Caray collapsed in the 90-degree heat and 70-percent humidity at Joe Robbie Stadium on June 23 as he walked out of an air-conditioned clubhouse onto the field to do his pregame radio show with manager Tom Trebelhorn. He spent two days in a Miami hospital and 13 more at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago while doctors tried to control an irregular heartbeat they discovered after the fall.
“The Miami thing was a surprise, because just a couple of weeks before, I had a complete (medical) exam,” said Caray, 74. “I have a complete exam every three months since my stroke.
“I was walking through that ramp in Miami and it was cold, but as soon as I hit the sunlight, it was like a furnace door opened on me. The next thing I know, I’m on the ground. When I got to the hospital, the doctors noticed I had an irregularity of the heart. Now they got it controlled with medication.”
Caray, who has been known to quench his thirst with a cool beer or two now and then, says one side effect of the medication, which he probably will have to take the rest of his life, is that it doesn’t mix well with alcohol.
“I’m hoping that will change,” he said. “Seems to me that once the medication settles things down, a guy could drink moderately. And you know, I never drank any way but moderately to begin with.”
Caray does plan to cut back on his travel schedule. He might only make one more road trip this season-a three-day swing to Philadelphia Sept. 2-4. And a strike by the baseball players could wipe that out.
Doctors talked Caray out of making next week’s trip to Pittsburgh and St. Louis, where he got his start as a big-league broadcaster and worked for 25 years.
“I’m not happy about it, but what are you going to do when the doctors say they think you should stay home?” Caray said. “You say: `Yes, Mr. Gorilla,’ and you follow their advice.”
The Cubs only have three more trips after the next one, but two of those are grueling coast-to-coast junkets. They go to Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York Aug. 12-22 and to San Diego, San Francisco and Miami Sept. 16-25.
“I’m not going to do that three-time-zone thing again,” Caray said. “Even the players have trouble dealing with those.”
Caray could break up one of the trips and just go to Atlanta, for example. But that probably won’t happen. The only trip Caray is fairly certain about is the one that takes the Cubs to Montreal and Philadelphia Aug. 29-Sept. 4.
“I won’t go to Montreal, but I’m planning on Philadelphia,” he said.
Montreal can be a hassle because of customs, and a night game on the last day of the trip means the Cubs would be arriving in Philadelphia in the early morning hours. Instead, he can fly on his own and meet the team in Philadelphia for the weekend series.
If the strike doesn’t wipe out that trip, it could be his last with the Cubs. He says he still is inclined to give up all road games next season.
“That would make sense,” he says. “You know, (St. Louis announcer) Jack Buck is talking about doing it. We were well on the way toward it earlier this summer. There was a story (in the Tribune) about me wanting to get off the road. They (WGN) know that I would prefer to only do home games next year. I think we can work it out.”
