WASHINGTON -- Radio and TV broadcaster Harry Kalas, whose baritone delivery and signature "Outta here!" home run calls provided the soundtrack to Philadelphia baseball for nearly four decades, died Monday after collapsing in the broadcast booth before the Phillies' game against the Washington Nationals. He was 73.
"We lost our voice today," Phillies president David Montgomery said. "He has loved our game and made just a tremendous contribution to our sport and certainly to our organization."
Familiar to millions of sports fans outside Philadelphia for his voice-over work with NFL Films, "Harry the K" was beloved at home. Since 1971, he was the man who was the bearer of news -- good and bad -- to those who followed the losingest franchise in major professional sports.
When the Phillies won their second World Series title last fall, Kalas -- who normally called only the middle three innings on radio -- was in the booth for the last out of the clincher. He then joined the on-field celebration, grabbing a microphone to sing Frank Sinatra's "High Hopes."
That song was among several Kalas standbys that endeared him to Phillies supporters. Another: He would call homers by a certain Hall of Fame third baseman by noting the player's full name -- "Michael Jack Schmidt."
Many people asked Kalas to record outgoing messages on answering machines -- or more recently, cell phone voice mail -- using his "Outta here!" line. And he always complied with those requests, said Phillies radio broadcaster Scott Franzke.
"Players come and go," Franzke said, "but 'Outta here!' -- that's forever
No comments:
Post a Comment