Harry Kalas, 73

Harry Kalas, who died yesterday at 73, was the longtime radio announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies. For many years, he was paired in the radio booth with Richie "Whitey" Ashburn (a former Phllies player). This is from Phil Mushnick's column in today's NY Post:


The story that might best capture the Kalas-Ashburn pairing concerned late-running games, hunger and a thinly disguised order placed to a South Philadelphia pizzeria, Celebre's. We'll let Kalas, as he recalled in an interview with Philly's WIP Radio last year, take it from there:

"If it was a long game and Whitey would be getting hungry, he'd say, 'Well, I wonder if those people down at Celebre's Pizza are listening tonight.' Within 15 minutes, two pizzas would be delivered to the booth. This went on for a couple of months.

"Now, Phillies management called Whitey and they said, 'Rich, Celebre's is not a sponsor. You can't be throwing their name out there on the air all the time.'

"So, shortly after he was told this, maybe two or three weeks, there's an extra innings game; he's really hungry, and we do birthday wishes. Whitey said, 'Well, Harry, we have special birthday wishes tonight: To the Celebre twins, Plain and Pepperoni.'

"Fifteen minutes later, the pizzas arrived."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04142009/sports/moresports/harry_kalas_dies_at_age_73_164293.htm