Holy cow! Caray made impression on Dempster
Ryan Dempster had already brought the house down a couple of times before doing his Harry Caray routine as a guest on Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me! last summer.
Well, not quite the house — the National Public Radio program was being broadcast live outdoors in front of a crowd that was bigger, the Gibsons native reminded the audience, than many he pitched in front of as a Florida Marlin.
“It was amazing. It was at Millennial Park in front of 20,000 people,” said Dempster, who will be inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame May 31 at a reception at Parq Vancouver.
And it sounded like all 20,000 of them loved his impersonation of the late Harry Caray, the oneof-a-kind announcer who called Major League Baseball games for 53 years, the final 16 of them as the voice of the Chicago Cubs.
“I remember watching Harry when I was 10 years old. It was ’87. One of those I-got-it-you-got-it balls in centre field fell in for the tying run. It should have been a Cubs win and I remember Harry on WGN going (in Caray’s voice), ‘There’s a drive to left field, it should be the game, oh Jesus Christ.’ I was like ‘What? Who is this guy?’
“So whenever Cubs games were on, it was fun to listen to him. The fact he could talk for an entire inning and it meant nothing about baseball was just, to me, incredible.”
A difficult question is posed to Dempster: which of his many accomplishments is he most proud of ? There’s a ball diamond named after him in his hometown, there are the two appearances for Canada at the World Baseball Classic or the fact he’s a two-time National League all-star.
So where would playing in an NHL all-star celebrity game in 2002 rate?
“That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life,” Dempster said. “I was on a line with Jari Kurri and Phil Esposito.
“Growing up, I loved Jari Kurri and his ability to score. (Former Stanley Cup champ) Butch Goring was our coach and he said, ‘You’re going to be on a line with Kurri and Esposito.’ Espo looks over at me and says, ‘Hey kid, when we’re out there, put your stick on the ice and we’ll find it, don’t worry.’ “
Sure enough, Dempster said, the puck kept winding up on his tape.
“It was uncanny and so much fun. One of my fondest memories.”
Then there are those two World Series wins, one as a player with the Boston Red Sox in 2013 and one as an executive with his beloved Cubbies in 2016, the team’s first World Series title since 1908.
“Winning the World Series as a player stands taller personally,” Dempster said. “But for the overall worth of the Cubs winning the World Series after 108 years, what that meant to so many ... it was epic to see everyone go through it all.”
Dempster, 41, was 132-133 lifetime in the majors. Divorced, he has three children: Brady, 12; Finley, 7, and Riley, 9, who is in third grade. She is doing fine, her dad said, after being diagnosed with DiGeorge syndrome days after birth. The syndrome affects swallowing, breathing and speech and causes heart defects and gastrointestinal problems among other maladies. Riley spent the first two months of her life in hospital. To spend more time with her was one of the reasons Dempster retired from baseball with a year remaining on his contract in Boston.
The Dempster Family Foundation will hold its ninth annual charity event June 23 in Gibsons, raising money for DiGeorge syndrome awareness.
“Riley still has some little challenges here and there, but she’s doing very well,” he said.