Cultureshark Remembers Harry Kalas

First, let me give a nod to two other members of the baseball universe who also died way too soon recently: Nick Adenhart and Mark Fidrych.

Secondly, let's forget my usual vehement anti-Philly bias here. The only reason I even bring it up is to say that Harry Kalas, who died Monday at 73, was such a great announcer and such a great guy (not that I knew him, but by all accounts he was a class act), I'm almost glad the Phillies won the World Series last year. I didn't know until this week that the longtime voice of the team didn't get to call the games when Philadelphia played the Royals in 1980. So getting to call last year's championship was a special thing for him, obviously, and I'm glad he had the experience.

You see, though I couldn't stand the Phillies, I could always listen to that awesome voice doing their play by play. The central Pennsylvania in which I grew up titled more to the west side (of the state, that is) than the east side, so I didn't have regular access to Phillies telecasts except for a short period when we got Philly NBC affiliate WBRE, which showed some of the games. Kalas owned every telecast because he owned every syllable. It was a pleasure to hear the man say anything, let alone a baseball game. I can still clearly hear him say something like, "Di-ving CATCH, Len-ny DYK-stra." He was one of those guys you can't help but try to imitate but can never duplicate.

It's amazing that he was a legend in baseball broadcasting while also serving as the Voice of the NFL for many years through his narration for NFL Films and his stellar voice-overs for--I'm dismayed that I haven't seen people posting clips of these or even mentioning these this week--those awesome interstitial segments that aired during the games: IBM's You Make the Call and Alcoa's Fantastic Finishes. Those segments were--let's face it--often better than the games themselves, in large part because of Kalas' voicework, which was always authoritative but accessible.

That's an awesome combination in a baritone, to make everything you say sound definitive yet never put the listener at a distance. He was one of the all-time best, and his passing is a reminder that we need to appreciate these legendary announcers while we can. For a heartfelt appreciation from a true fan who listened to Harry Kalas a whole lot more times than I ever did, I recommend that you read my friend Jim's tribute here. But though I'm a casual fan, I feel the loss, too, as does all of the baseball community in this week of tragedies.